Alaska Children’s Trust: Tier 2 – Innovation Grants

The Alaska Children’s Trust: Tier 2 Innovation Grants aim to improve child welfare in Alaska by funding innovative projects that prevent child abuse and neglect. Grants range from $10,000 to $50,000 per year, supporting new ideas or enhancing existing programs. Focus areas include early childhood development, youth empowerment, and community resilience. The initiative seeks to foster safer environments for children, ensuring they grow up healthy and secure. Organizations must demonstrate research-backed approaches to effectively address these critical issues.

NOTE: Full proposals are accepted by invitation only. Organizations interested must submit a Letter of Inquiry (LOI).
About ACT
Alaska Children’s Trust is the statewide lead organization in the prevention of child abuse and neglect. We work towards our vision of an Alaska where all children, youth, and families can thrive through strategic advocacy, investing resources, generating funds, and convening organizations.
Do you have a new and innovative idea that would prevent child abuse and neglect? Do you have a current program that if it had more support could have a greater impact? ACT’s Tier 2 Innovation Grants were created to stimulate the development and adoption of groundbreaking approaches and technologies to prevent child abuse and neglect. Tier 2 grants fund projects above $10,000 up to a maximum of $50,000 per year. Requests can be single year or multi-year, up to three years.
Innovation is either introducing something new or infusing a current product/program with more resources to strengthen its reach and impact. It is usually driven and supported through data. It is compelled by an organization’s desire to understand and meet the ever-changing needs and challenges of the people they are serving while trying to prevent child abuse and neglect. As a catalyst for change, ACT has introduced the Innovative Grants to stimulate new ways of preventing child abuse and neglect and strengthen the current methods that have proven successful.
Think bigger, think differently.
Funding
Total Award Available: Above $10,000 to a maximum of $50,000 per year
There are no application deadlines, but please note that due to the process, it normally takes six to nine months to process, evaluate and take final action on each request. If LOI is selected, the organization will be invited to complete a full proposal which will be due 3 months from date of invitation.
Focus Areas
ACT has identified three core areas of focus on the prevention of child abuse and neglect:

• early childhood developmentempowering youth, and building community resilience.
• These core areas promote thriving children, healthy families, and community development.
• Early Childhood Development

ACT will provide grants that support early childhood development work based on research that highlights the importance of social-emotional development in the first three years of a child’s life. Organizations funded under this portfolio area will have a specific focus on ages 0 to 3 years. ACT chose this age because of its importance in ensuring children have safe, healthy, secure, and engaging environments that allow them to develop social attachments, acquire physical and intellectual abilities, and build positive self-identities and trust of others. It is also the age range where the largest service gaps exist in Alaska, with childcare and early education programs for infants being the least available and affordable. The rapid brain growth that occurs during this time influences all future functioning and long-term school success. ACT will therefore prioritize funding for organizations that emphasize social-emotional learning and development and infant mental health including, but not limited to: high quality, evidence based home visitation programs and parent skills training programs.
Empowering Youth
These grants will invest in organizations that are developing, modifying, implementing, and/or evaluating effective and proven curriculum to help students ages 12 to 16 learn the major tenets of developing healthy, intimate relationships. Curricula will have a clear focus on sexual education, be medically accurate, culturally-responsive, and LGBTQ-inclusive. Topics addressed will include, but not be limited to: issues of consent; domestic and sexual violence, delaying parenthood; and; effective reproductive health interventions. Grantees in this area must be able to show how their approach is researched-based and can be effectively evaluated.
Building Community Resilience
ACT will invest in community-based efforts/initiatives focused on preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and building resilience. ACT recognizes communities know their children and families best and know how to help them prevent child abuse and neglect and heal those who have experienced trauma..