Request for Proposals:

Aim High: Supporting Out-of-School Time 

Programs Serving Middle School Youth 


RFP Deadline: 5 PM ET on 

Friday, March 7, 2025.

Link to the Full RFP


Overview

On behalf of the New York Life Foundation, the Afterschool Alliance invites out-of-school time (OST) programs to apply for a competitive grant to support and bolster their ability to help prepare middle school students in low-income and disadvantaged communities for success in high school and beyond.

Why Middle School? 

Research shows that middle school and the transition from 8th to 9th grade has a significant impact on students’ long-term academic trajectory. Enriching OST programs—such as afterschool and summer learning programs—are an effective means of helping middle school students successfully transition from 8th to 9th grade. Programs provide academic benefits, support students’ well-being, and help youth develop the skills they need to thrive—cognitively, socially, and emotionally. The New York Life Foundation’s educational enhancement grantmaking strategy aims to provide opportunities that help students in middle school thrive and become better prepared to complete high school and go on to college, providing them with a brighter future. As youth in low-income and disadvantaged communities have less access to OST programs, Aim High grants focus on youth in these communities.


Why was the Aim High Program created?

The New York Life Foundation created the Aim High grant program to help local community-based afterschool and summer learning programs support middle school students from low-income and disadvantaged communities with the critical transition to high school.


The Aim High Grant Program

15 one-year grants of $20,000 and 15 two-year grants of $100,000 will be awarded. Awardees must be nonprofit organizations serving middle school youth, with at least 75% of those served from families with low incomes. Programs can only apply for one of these grants. One-year grants will begin in August 2025 and end in August 2026. The two-year grants will begin in August 2025 and end in August 2027.


One-Year Grants:

15 one-year, $20,000 general operating grants will be awarded to programs that demonstrate successful student engagement strategies and have strong impact data. Unlike in previous years, applicants for the one-year grants will not have to meet a specific focus or theme. Funding must be dedicated to a middle school OST program that serves low-income or disadvantaged communities and provides support for the transition to high school.


Two-Year Grants:

15 two-year grants of $100,000 will be awarded to middle school programs to support efforts that help reduce school absences and chronic absenteeism, which has a strong impact on educational attainment. Programs must serve low-income or disadvantaged communities, and address how they support youth in the transition to high school.



Application deadline: 5 p.m. EST, Friday, March 7, 2025  

Before beginning your application, we encourage you to review the entire Aim High Request for Proposals here.


New Registrants: 

If you have not already done so, you should begin by clicking on the "Register" button in the upper right hand corner of your screen. After successfully registering, you will be required to fill out a brief set of eligibility questions which will determine the grant tiers for which you are eligible. After finishing the registration process, you will be able to select and begin the application process for any of the grants for which you are eligible.


Returning Users: 

Please note that for this year's RFP, the questions in the eligibility questionnaire have changed. You may need to retake the eligibility questionnaire before you can select and apply for any of this year's Aim High grants. Once you retake the new eligibility questionnaire, you will be able to select and apply to any of the grant tiers for which you are eligible.

The application platform should automatically invite you to retake the eligibility questionnaire. If it does not do so, you may change your eligibility questionnaire responses by taking the following steps:

  1. Click on the “Log In” button in the top right corner of the screen.
  2. Enter your email and password to log into the platform.
  3. Once logged into the platform, click on your name in the upper right hand corner of the screen, then click on “My Account” in the drop-down menu.
  4. On the left hand side of the screen you will see a set of three boxes labeled “My Profile,” “Notifications,” and “Eligibility.” Click on “Eligibility.”
  5. This will take you to the Eligibility Checklist page. Click on the large green button labeled “Update your eligibility profile.”
  6. Review your responses in the Eligibility Checklist to ensure that they are still accurate, and answer the two new eligibility questions (questions 5 and 6). Then scroll to the bottom of the page and click the green button labeled “Save my profile."
  7. Once you have saved your responses, click on the button labeled “Programs” in the upper right hand corner of the screen. This will show you all of the grant tiers for which you are eligible to apply. If it says “Sorry, there are no programs” that means that at least one of your responses in the eligibility questionnaire has rendered you ineligible.


Eligibility requirements:

  • 501(c)(3) status. Applicants for this competitive grant program must have 501(c)(3) status. You will be required to verify your Employer Identification Number as a part of the application.
  • Middle school youth (6th, 7th, 8th graders) served. This competitive grant program is targeted to programs serving middle school students in grades 6, 7 and 8.Organizations applying for funding may serve students outside of this grade range but grant funds are specifically for middle school youth. 
  • High percentage of low-income youth served. Applicants for this competitive grant program must serve a high percentage—at least 75 percent—of low-income youth. For the purposes of this grant program, “low-income” is defined as students who qualify for the Federal Free or Reduced Price Lunch Program (FRPL).


Disqualifications:

The following organizations are not eligible to apply for Aim High grants: 

  • Colleges, universities, and university foundations
  • Schools and school districts
  • Organizations that plan to sub-grant or regrant all of the Aim High grant funds
  • Intermediaries that do not directly provide afterschool or summer programming
  • Local governments
  • Houses of worship/religious organizations that are not registered as 501(c)(3) organizations
  • Organizations currently receiving funding from the New York Life Foundation are ineligible to apply. This includes:
    • National or regional organizations that currently receive New York Life Foundation funding directly
    • Local affiliate organizations or programs that receive any financial support from their national headquarters that originates from New York Life Foundation grants
    • Current and recent NYLF grantees. 
      • Note that Former NYLF grantees (including previous Aim High grantees) whose most recent grant ended before August 2024 are eligible to apply for this year’s grants.


Application deadline: 5:00 PM EST, Friday, March 7, 2025.

Grant awards will be announced by the beginning of August 2025.

To learn more about the past award recipients, please visit the Afterschool Alliance's Award page.

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