Sample Grant Proposal

Amelia Martin

EN 303 Grant Writing

Butler University
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Table of Contents:

Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg.3

Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 3

Project Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 4

Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 5

Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg.6-7

Evaluation Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 8

Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 9

Citations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 10
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Executive Summary:

The Middle School Mental Health Initiative of Indianapolis, founded in 2023, has one mission -
to improve the mental health of middle school-aged children by providing them with adequate
resources in schools and setting them up for future success. It is estimated that one in five
children between the ages of 11 and 14 have mental health challenges (CDC, 2023), of which
only 15-30% receive any form of help (Soneson et al., 2020). To improve this situation, we will
foster community awareness of the importance of mental health by funding more social workers
in middle schools and educational programs for students.

Our project seeks to revolutionize the approach to mental health in middle schools, recognizing
the unique challenges and opportunities presented during this critical developmental stage. The
combination of increased counseling resources, a mindfulness-oriented curriculum, and the
establishment of safe spaces aims to create a supportive ecosystem that fosters emotional
well-being and resilience among middle school students.

The project's components are interwoven, creating a comprehensive and interconnected approach
to mental health in middle schools. Guidance counselors will actively engage with the
mindfulness curriculum, incorporating its principles into their sessions. Additionally, safe spaces
will complement the curriculum by providing practical applications and real-time support for
students applying mindfulness techniques in their daily lives.

Problem Statement:

Middle school students are particularly vulnerable to severe mental health conditions and
suicidal ideations as a result of the rapid changes in their brains, bodies, and responsibilities, yet
they are often overlooked. A study conducted by the CDC found that, since 2020, suicide was
the second leading cause of death among youth aged 10-14 (CDC, 2023). Students suffering
from these conditions are often incapable of doing well in school (Simpson, 2022). Knowing
this, we hope to shift the focus of schools from achievement-only goals to personal, social,
emotional, and academic development to set students up for successful and happy lives.
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Project Description:

Increasing Number of Guidance Counselors: For the 24-25 school year, we want to increase the
number of school counselors to a ratio of 1:250, as recommended by the American School
Counseling Association. We plan to hire a temporary budget manager over the summer to
reassess the budget for our middle schools in order to allocate funds for employee benefits and
salaries for hired counselors. We anticipate this will help students feel more supported at school
and increase the number of reports made to administrations.

Mindfulness Curriculum: We will train teachers in mindfulness techniques that will support
students in class. This includes stress management during testing, breaks between class activities,
and recognizing mental health warning signs.

Wellness Speaker Assemblies: We plan to schedule five wellness speakers to visit our middle
schools throughout the school year. The first will come during our Staff Professional
Development Week, before the start of our first semester, and the others will come at the end of
each quarter. These speakers will be members of our community who are qualified to speak on
the specific struggles in our area and are more relatable to our students. These school-wide
assemblies will be mandatory for students and faculty and open to families as well. We expect
this program to legitimize mental health conditions, increase awareness of warning signs, and
inform students and faculty of the importance of prioritizing our mental well-being.

Daily Recess: We will work with administrators to rearrange the daily class schedule to add 20
minutes to the lunch period so that students may have a short recess outside when the weather
allows. We anticipate that this will allow students to feel more relaxed in class.

Inclusive Physical Education Classes: We want to offer a yoga class to replace the physical
education class to make Physical Education (PE) credits more accessible. This class will include
physical elements but will also include the mindfulness practices of yoga, such as breath work
and self-realization.

Safe Spaces: We want to turn two open office spaces into quiet, safe spaces for students to
decompress. These spaces will include couches, low lights, fidget toys, and tables. The use of
these spaces will be monitored and logged by administrators to keep track of children’s
whereabouts and usage. We expect these spaces will decrease outbursts in class, increase feelings
of safety at school, and generally support students needing decompression. We will monitor the
appropriate use of these spaces by having a mandatory guidance counselor meeting after any
individual student has two logged uses in one week.
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Timeline:

May-July: Begin Phase One (Implementation)

- Work with Budget Manager to purchase supplies and reallocate funds for guidance counselors
- Begin guidance counselor hiring process
- Schedule Wellness Speaker Assemblies for school year
- Rearrange class schedule to fit in 20 minute daily recess
- Construct inclusive physical education class curriculums

August: Begin Phase Two (Action)

- Build Safe Spaces
- Hire guidance counselors
- First Wellness Speaker Assembly during Professional Development Week
- Mindfulness Curriculum teaching during Professional Development Week

October:
- 2nd Wellness Speaker Assembly

December:
- Mid-Project Evaluation
- First round of surveys distributed
- 3rd Wellness Speaker Assembly

January: Phase Three (Refinement)

- Review survey results
- Implement necessary changes according to feedback

March:
- 4th Wellness Speaker Assembly

May: Phase Four (Conclusion)

- 5th Wellness Speaker Assembly
- Final Program Evaluation
- 2nd round of surveys distributed
- Review survey results
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Budget:

The Middle School Mental Health Initiative of Indianapolis is steadfastly committed to its
mission. In order to fulfill the needs of the program and ensure its success, we are requesting
$78,094 in funding. The funding will provide for the staffing personnel, their fringe benefits,
equipment, and supplies that will allow the program's operations to occur. This program and
budget are outlined to support one middle school within the Indianapolis Public School (IPS)
district. Below, you can find a table outlining the amount per category, what specific needs it will
cater to, and what amounts we will be able to match.

Project Budget Table

Evaluation: 10% $7,809

Personnel:

Position Time (Hrs) Pay Rate Project Project Requesting Pay Rate
Title ($/Hrs) Total Match Amount Basis
Dollars

Guidance 1,260 $27.00 $34,020 $17,010 $17,010 Link

Counselor

Guidance 1,260 $27.00 $34,020 $17,010 $17,010 Link

Counselor

Budget 600 $25.20 $15,120 $7,560 $7,560 Link

Manager

Fringe:

Labor Type Personnel Rate Total Match Request

Costs

Guidance $34,020 15.00% $5,103 $1,701 $3,402

Counselor

Guidance $34,020 15.00% $5,103 $1,701 $3,402

Counselor

Equipment:

Equipment Quantity Unit Total Basis of Justification of Need

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Item Cost Cost Cost

Projector & 1 $1,000 $1,000 Link Needed for the wellness

Screen speaker presentations,
cannot take existing
ones from classrooms.

New Mindful 1 $8,000 $8,000 Link Resources to use with

Curriculum & students and training for
Staff Training staff.

Safe Space 2 $4,439 $8,878 Link Furniture to make the

Furniture safe space comfortable
Couch for all students

Safe Space 2 $3,349 $6,698 Link Furniture to make the

Furniture safe space comfortable
Table & Couch for all students

Safe Space 4 $80 $320 Link Furniture to make the

Floor Seats safe space comfortable
for all students

Supplies:

Category of Quantity Unit Cost Total Cost Basis of Justification of Need

Supplies Cost

Printer Paper 1 $56 $56 Link Paper is needed for

guidance counselor and
curriculum use

Bulk Stress 3 $20 $60 Link Stress relief toys given

Technique to students during their
Toys 5th visit to the counselor
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Evaluation Plan:

The Middle School Mental Health Initiative of Indianapolis not only wants to put these activities
into action, but we also want to prove that the impacts are accurate and effective for the students.
We firmly believe that this program will have long-term and practical effects. In order to prove
that these actions are effective, we will put some measures and surveys in place.

Logged use of the safe spaces will show how often the students utilize the spaces in order to
recharge throughout the school day. The increased use of guidance counselors as resources can
be proven by taking the data on the frequency of appointments created by students. We can then
survey the students about their outlook on their own mental health and it as a general concept
and cross reference their level of reported mental health with the number of times they have used
the resources implemented by the program. We plan to send out two surveys at the halfway and
end points of our initiative to measure the effectiveness of our activities. These surveys will
follow the model set by Dr. Otto Whal’s 2011 study published by the National Institute of
Health. The survey will have a section regarding the quarterly wellness speaker, and students
will have an opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions on the quality of staff support.

We also plan to reach out to parents to gauge how informed and supported they feel after
attending a wellness speaker session. We will have parents check in at the wellness speaker
events and, at the end, have a QR code linked to a feedback form and survey. This will allow the
parents to review what they have learned, and we will measure the number of returning parents
and how their feedback develops.
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Sustainability:

Besides the financial request above, the Middle School Mental Health Initiative of Indianapolis
is working with other national organizations to provide for the long-term sustainability of our
programs.

We are partnered with the National Institute of Health (NIH), which supplies us with their
resources on mindful and mental health-oriented pedagogy. This will allow us to continue our
efforts towards a more holistic education system.

The wellness speakers are on a completely voluntary basis, which allows the community to
invest in the lives of future generations. This will also create the idea within the children’s minds
that they are backed by more community members outside of familial/teacher relations.

Additionally, we will be able to create toolkits provided for other middle schools within the IPS
district to follow suit. Eventually, we will allow other districts to adopt our new program and
develop more children's minds in positive ways.
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Citations
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, May 8). Facts about suicide. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/index.html

Mental health in middle level and high schools. NASSP. (2018, February 13).
https://www.nassp.org/mental-health-in-middle-level-and-high-schools/

Simpson, S. (2022, March 25). Middle School Mental Health: 6 steps educators can take
to address student needs. AMLE.
https://www.amle.org/middle-school-mental-health-6-steps-educators-can-take-to-
address-student-needs/

Soneson, E., Howarth, E., Ford, T., Humphrey, A., Jones, P. B., Thompson Coon, J.,
Rogers, M., & Anderson, J. K. (2020). Feasibility of school-based identification
of children and adolescents experiencing, or at-risk of developing, mental health
difficulties: A systematic review. Prevention Science, 21(5), 581–603.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-020-01095-6

Wahl, O. F., Susin, J., Kaplan, L., Lax, A., & Zatina, D. (2011). Changing knowledge and
attitudes with a middle school mental health education curriculum. Stigma
Research and Action, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.5463/sra.v1i1.17