Strategic Grants: Youth Education & Workforce Development

The Strategic Grants for Youth Education & Workforce Development by Fairfield County's Community Foundation aims to empower BIPOC youth through enhanced internships, leadership development, and educational equity initiatives. Starting in Fall 2025, the foundation will grant funds to nonprofits focused on systemic change in Fairfield County, ensuring all students graduate high school and are prepared for future opportunities. This initiative is part of a broader commitment to address educational disparities and uplift underrepresented communities.

NOTE:
Beginning in Fall 2025 we will only have a fall cycle. If an existing grantee would not have been eligible to apply for a grant until spring 2026, we are making a one-time exception to apply in Fall 2025.Applications for those invited to apply will be due at the end of September.
Fairfield County's Community Foundation Strategic Grantmaking
Our Strategic Grantmaking is one way in which we partner with organizations that align with our Fairfield County Forward strategic plan goals. These grants aim to help meet the needs of Fairfield County residents who haven’t always been afforded the opportunity to thrive..
The Community Foundation’s competitive grant process has two stages. The first step in the process is an online Letter of intent (LOI). Throughout this process, you will be asked to identify the Result Area and Primary Strategy with which your proposal aligns best.
Our Key Result Area addressing Youth Education & Workforce Development aims to ensure that all Fairfield County students graduate with a High School degree & are prepared for postsecondary education and/or employment.
Increase internships, career exploration, and postsecondary education for BIPOC young people.Promote equitable, out-of-school leadership and life skill development for BIPOC young people.Develop and implement scalable systems change solutions to educational inequities.Increase measurable progression towards high school degrees or equivalent for BIPOC young people.
Type of Request
​​​​​​The Foundation awards two (2) types of competitive grants to Fairfield County nonprofits described below.
Program Support
Program Support seeks to support specific programs and services that contribute to one of our key result areas, and their corresponding strategies. The Community Foundation prioritizes requests from organizations that are centered in systems change, results-oriented, and have the capacity to measure/evaluate the impact of their work. Reporting will focus on the impact the program has on its primary beneficiaries. We recommend that first-time applicants apply for program support. The average grant size will be $10,000-$15,000.
General Operating Support
General Operating seeks to support highly effective organizations that are critical to the achievement of one or more of our key result areas, center systems-change work that addresses the root causes of inequity, and have a proven track record of effectiveness and impact. Reporting will focus on the organization's overall impact and effectiveness. We recommend that organizations previously funded by the Foundation apply for general operating support. Only those organizations that are highly aligned with FCCF's systems-change priority should apply for general operating support. The grant sizes will range up to $50,000.

Eligibility

In addition to matching the goals set in our strategic plan, applicants must use the funding to serve people who live in Fairfield County.Organizations must also be recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit or 509 (a) public charity, or working under a fiscal sponsor that is a registered 501(c)(3).Additionally, if an organization has received a grant from the Community Foundation, the work that was supported by those funds must be completed, and a final report must be submitted to us before we may consider a new grant application.

Ineligibility

The Community Foundation does not award grants for any of the following purposes:Persuading people to join/support a specific religion, political party, or candidateCapital campaigns or projects (e.g., major building repairs)Covering budget deficitsAnnual fundraising appealsHosting a fundraising eventPurchasing land as open spaceFor-profit, parochial, charter, private, or individual public schoolsNonprofit endowmentsHelping one specific person