JAMS Foundation-ACR Initiative for Students and Youth RFP Grant

The JAMS Foundation-ACR Initiative for Students and Youth RFP aims to support conflict resolution education and training for Pre-K to 12th grade students and adults working with them. This initiative encourages peaceful interactions through conflict resolution strategies, addressing cultural understanding and systemic policy changes in educational settings. Funding is available for programs that enhance these skills in various community contexts, ensuring effective transfer of conflict resolution skills from adults to youth.

NOTE: Submissions are due to ACR no later than 11:59 PM local time of the organization’s legal/main location on the deadlines above.
The populations to be served by the funding streams will be both (1) youth in Pre-K through 12th grade age range and (2) adults working with these youth populations in ways that directly transfer CRE skills for adults to the youth populations.
Funding Contexts
The JAMS Foundation/ACR Initiative for Students and Youth provides grant funding for conflict prevention and dispute resolution programs for K-12 students and for adults working with youth populations in ways that directly transfer CRE skills from adults to youth.
Each year, the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) and the JAMS Foundation identify specific subject areas seeking to address otherwise unresolved issues and unmet needs of both general and target youth populations, based on current research and feedback from leaders and stakeholders in the dispute resolution and education fields.
Funding contexts for selected subject areas will vary, and may include community-based organizations, alternative education settings (online education, charter schools), after-school programs, court- or juvenile justice-connected programs, as well as programs operating in traditional K-12 school districts.
Current Areas of Concentration
The focus of the 2026 funding cycle intends to support work at the intersection of culture and conflict. This funding track will implement and evaluate the effectiveness of conflict resolution skills in navigating multicultural environments among middle school youth, grades 5-9 or a subset thereof. Culture is defined as a set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterize an institution or organization. The intent is to foster changes in school or school district policy by employing conflict resolution approaches to improve students’ peaceful interactions with their peers (primary), school personnel (secondary) and in their home environment (tertiary).
It is anticipated that for each designated subject area, 1-2 applicants will be selected each year to receive Year 1 grant funding of up to $20,000 to support their efforts to develop, refine, or expand programming in that subject area. Grant recipients may also be eligible for Year 2 funding of up to $40,000, contingent upon the satisfactory achievement of Year 1 benchmarks and goals.