The U.S. Education Department has named the top 25 applicants in the latest round of its Investing in Innovation (I3) program, a list that includes several organizations working in GLR Network communities or closely aligned with our work. The potential grantees must secure matching funds by Dec. 11 to receive part of the $135 million in federal funding available for the I3 program. Those connected to our work or communities include:

• United Way of Greater Atlanta seeks to launch Partners Advancing Childhood Education, an innovative approach to early childhood education that uses family engagement and family-school partnerships to improve outcomes from Pre-K to grade 3.
• The Children’s Aid Society seeks to expand its Parent Leadership Institute into New York City’s South Bronx community, bringing a full set of parent engagement strategies to the disadvantaged neighborhood.
• The Providence Plan plans to implement Empowering Families, a project that builds the capacity of families with children in grades K-3 to support their children’s social-emotional and cognitive development.
• Pennsylvania State University plans to develop a model in Chicago Public Schools to promote social-emotional learning among children from low-income families.
• Waterford Institute seeks to expand its home-based UPSTART project in rural Utah school districts to improve school readiness preparation and reading development.  The curriculum also will be used in summers after kindergarten and first and second grade.
• Casa de Maryland plans to launch initiatives that train parents and families with limited English proficiency to support their children and improve academic outcomes in the Langley Park Promise Neighborhood near Washington, D.C