2021 GRANT RECIPIENTS

Since ATN launched in the summer of 2020, we have given out over $150,000 in grants. Each year, we will continue to award grants to those who strive to disrupt inequalities and injustice within their schools, communities, or both. Submission of applications will occur each fall and awards will be announced in December. 

Watch this space in late 2022 to explore upcoming grant opportunities

ATN sought applications from those whose work is abolitionist education in the following categories:

• Educators
• Early Care Educators:  those working with learners birth - age 5 and/or their families in formal or informal educational settings
• Educators Working for Disability Justice: those working for the abolition of carceral logics and spaces as they intersect with ableism

We define "Educator" broadly to include anyone who works in an educational capacity with learners of any age. This designation can include but is not restricted to teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, mentors, before- and after-school program educators, coaches, and other titles. "Educator" includes those who work with learners on academic subjects as well as social-emotional learning, the arts, physical education, and all other realms of learning.

ATN recognizes that Early Care Educators are underpaid and disproportionately Black and Brown. They are less likely to have funding for professional development from their programs and their work is critically important in ensuring that Black and Brown children retain their joy.

Many educators are familiar with and have experience with multicultural education, antiracist education, and inclusive education. We are primarily interested in abolitionist education. Here's how we are thinking about the differences between the four types of education:

• multicultural education: a teaching approach that centers the knowledge, histories, traditions, cultures, and contributions of diverse groups
• antiracist education: a teaching approach that centers on acknowledging racism, whiteness, and how racist ideas become policy, creating inequities
• inclusive education: a teaching approach that educates children with identified disabilities and children without identified disabilities in the same setting
• abolitionist education: a teaching approach that centers on abolishing oppressive educational system, while loving, protecting, remembering, and healing children of color and their communities

We want to be clear that we are looking to fund abolitionist education and work. We understand that these are not discrete categories and there is overlap in the work we do, but proposals that reflect a focus only on multicultural education, antiracist education, or inclusive education are unlikely to be funded.

Applications closed at 11:59 PM EST on Monday, November 29, 2021.

ATN sought applications from those whose work aligns with our mission in the following categories:

• Single Mom Educators: Educators who are also single moms, who are often Black and Brown women with limited resources and who do a lot of the heavy lifting for educational justice.
• Queer Educators: Educators who are also queer, who often teach in settings that are hostile to their very identities.
• Community Members/Caregivers
• Youth
• Formerly Incarcerated Youth Development Mentors

Applications closed at 11:59 PM EST on Monday, November 29, 2021.