Promising Practices Grants

In alignment with MCAN’s high school strategy and Michigan’s Sixty by 30 attainment goal, our new Promising Practices Grants are designed to support schools and districts as they enhance systems and structures to improve postsecondary access and success. For us, access is just the beginning. We believe that persistence, completion, and attainment are the true measures of success for all students. To achieve this, we are committed to supporting schools and districts as they work to ensure students have viable postsecondary education plans in place before graduation. At the heart of our vision for this work is the belief that college is a necessity, a public good, and should be accessible to everyone.

We recognize the importance of leveraging school and community leaders and creating statewide communities of practice. Through these grants, we aim to create a network of postsecondary champions across the state. We will also elevate schools’ and districts' exemplary practices and successes in fostering postsecondary readiness and success throughout the state as demonstration sites.

Through the Promising Practices Grants, MCAN will support schools and districts as they institute best practices known to drive postsecondary access and enrollment.

These identified practices are:

• Data Infrastructure: Funds can be used to refine or develop internal data systems that focus on real-time data collection to better inform college going steps, such as FAFSA completion, college match, college applications, college scholarships awarded, Pell Grant/Michigan Achievement Scholarship eligibility, GPA, SAT, etc. Funds could also be used to integrate various school systems into a comprehensive dashboard or automating student-specific reports.
• Postsecondary Advisory Councils: Funds can be used to create a PAC or improve and existing PAC to ensure that a solidified group is established and meeting regularly. This funding can also be used to align schools’ structures to ensure that this work is embedded in current meeting expectations.
• Summer Supports: Funds can be used to create or enhance summer programming that address issues like summer melt, college readiness, FAFSA completion, enrollment efforts, or other barriers to postsecondary access and success.
• Vertically Aligned Schoolwide Postsecondary Readiness: Funds can be used to align schoolwide systems and programs around postsecondary access and success. This may include enhancing MCDM activities, developing a scope and sequence of activities, creating or enhancing resources, and/or alignment of existing platforms (e.g. Xello, Naviance, etc.) for grades K-12.
• Access to College-in-High School Opportunities: Funds can be used to assess and enhance current college-in-high school systems to improve equity and access. This may include rethinking how students enroll in these classes, examining how opportunities are shared, and/or evaluating the articulation of credits around existing courses.
• Pathway Design: Funds can be used to audit current systems and/or explore new college-in-high school opportunities. Many partner colleges will accept high school courses as direct or articulated credit agreements, and this is especially true for CTE courses. Schools and districts can work with local colleges to adapt course offerings and work on developing credit agreements to save students time and money in college.

IMPORTANT DATES

Application Release: Funding opportunity made available on Jan. 25, 2025.
Deadline: Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 25, 2025.
Application Notification: Applicants will be notified by April 1, 2025.

GRANT AWARD

Grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded to schools and districts across the state. These grants are not renewable or intended to be a long-term funding source. Each grant will be awarded for a duration of 12 months.

ELIGIBILITY

All high schools and school districts are eligible to apply for a grant of up to $5,000 to address one of the promising practices indicated above. While this should be a team effort, only one person should serve as the grant applicant and grant lead.

EXPECTATIONS

All awardees are required to attend virtual check-ins and/or communities of practice to support idea generation, problem solving, etc. At the conclusion of the project, awardees will submit a final report with key learnings and outcomes, aligned to the promising practice indicated in the application.

APPLICATION ASSISTANCE

You are encouraged to contact MCAN if you have questions about eligibility or need technical assistance with your application. Please contact Jeneen Hatoum, director of high school innovation, at 517-316-1713 or jeneen@micollegeaccess.org for assistance.

APPLICATION SUBMISSION

Grant applications are only accepted using Michigan College Access Network’s online grants system at mcan.smapply.org. A sample application is available to help you plan for your submission.