Grantmaking | Youth & Families
The Community Foundation manages the funds for several different area-of-interest funds that are focused on supporting Lehigh Valley youth & families. The Community Foundation’s goal in awarding Youth and Families fund grants is to offer flexible funding to organizations that provide comprehensive approaches in engaging youth and their families in seeking a pathway for meaningful life aspirations.
Funding Priorities for the 2022-2023 Cycle
Youth & Families | Early Childhood
Early childhood is one of the most critical periods of a child’s development. Ninety percent of the brain has developed by age 5. In addition to the importance of quality childcare for children and their families, quality childcare is a fundamental requirement of a vibrant, healthy economy. Yet, in the Lehigh Valley, and across the country, there is a crisis occurring in early childhood education. There are simply not enough high-quality childcare centers for the number of children that need care in the Lehigh Valley.
In the Lehigh Valley,
• 61 childcare centers and 146 childcare classrooms have closed since 2020.
• 1,015 children have been impacted by these closures.
• 2,688 additional children could be served if programs were fully staffed.*
The crisis state of early childcare is impacting children, families, communities, and the entire region’s economy. Children are not able to be in safe, quality care during a critical age, communities are not able to gain increased employment and tax revenue, parents are not able to enter or re-enter the workforce creating worker shortages while also increasing poverty for the region.
*Data provided by Start Strong PA
Funding Focus
The critical issues that LVCF is focusing funding on in the 2022-2023 Youth & Families grantmaking cycle for supporting the early childcare sector (ages 0-5) are the following:
- Centers that are expanding the number of children that can be served in high-quality early childhood centers in the age range of 0-5 years old. LVCF will give preference to centers that are providing high-quality care for children beyond the hours of 9:00 am – 3:00 pm.
- Programs that focus on addressing challenging behaviors and/or diagnosed mental health needs in children (ages 0-5)
- Programs or services that equip childcare workers with the necessary resources to care for children with challenging behaviors and/or high mental health needs
- Programs or services that provide high-quality care for children with challenging behaviors and/or mental health needs
- Home visitation programs in which health and/or early education professionals routinely visit the home to provide care and/or services for children from 0-5 and their parents.
Organizations that are delivering programs or services to address one or more of the above stated issues will be prioritized for receiving a general operating grant.
Additional Considerations
In addition to those specific areas being addressed, LVCF prioritizes funding for organizations that are:
• Working towards improved regulations, funding, or policy for early childcare providers
• Guided by the community they serve
• Learning organizations
• Serving children and families most at-risk of exiting the safety net
Examples of children at risk include: immigrant families, LGBTQ+ families, those children who have exited the school system, single guardian households, foster care children, very low-income families, children with disabilities, or whose family has been involved in the criminal justice system.
In order to apply you must:
• Be a qualified charitable organization:
• 501(c)(3) public charity or verified charitable entity (e.g., schools, colleges and universities, religious institutions, town and municipal governments, etc.)
• Organizations may apply through a fiscal sponsor.
• Deliver early childcare services or programs in Lehigh or/and Northampton county(ies). Definition of youth is those who are ages 0-5 years old.
Grant Awards
• Funding amount available: Nearly $200,000
• Grant amounts will range from $5,000 – $20,000
• Grants are planned to be general operating awards.
Funding provided by the following funds or people:
• The Edward & Inez Donley Fund
• Walter & Alma Bastian Fund
• Frances L. Barnard Fund for Children
• Robert D. & Gwendolyn-Jane Romeril Campership Fund
• Lucille F. Driver Fund
• Support from Roger & Kathy Yott
Key Dates
The application window opens on Monday, January 9, 2023, and closes on Monday, February 27, 2023.
Applications can be submitted either by written text or video/voice submissions.
• January 9, 2023
• February 24, 2023
• February 27, 2023
• March – April 2023
• April 2023
• November 2023
Applications Launches
Youth & Families Virtual Q&A Drop-in session from 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon.
If you have questions about the grant application or this funding opportunity, please drop in during our Zoom session to speak with a staff member. No registration necessary: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88966950130?from=addon.
Grant Submission Date
Evaluators will review proposals
Notifications of grant award status
Report submission due on the use and impact of grant funding
How to Apply
Step 1 – A preview copy of the application questions will be made available upon launch on January 9, 2023
Step 2 – Apply on the Foundant site.
NEW! — Organizations who wish to apply for this grant MUST complete an Organization Profile Form prior to the Application. To access the profile form, log into Foundant. Click the Apply icon on your homepage and select LVCF Organization Profile Form. Below are PDF previews of the forms.
• LVCF Organization Profile Form PDF
• Youth and Families Application PDF
• For Foundant guidance, please click here.
Step 3 – Applicants interested in video or voice submissions, please review our Video or Voice Upload Instructions PDF.
Step 4 –Questions:
• Contact Monique Saunders Moreno for technical assistance questions at monique@lvcfoundation.org
• Contact Megan Briggs for grant model questions at megan@lvcfoundation.org
Our Commitment:
Lehigh Valley Community Foundation is committed to incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in our grant processes and strives to fund organizations and programs that represent the full diversity of the community. Organizations led by individuals who identify as Black, Brown, Latinx/o/a, Indigenous or a Person of Color; LGBTQ; or a person living with a disability are encouraged to apply.
How Applications are Evaluated
Applications are evaluated by the Youth & Families advisory grant committee. Members on this committee are representative of both content and context experts in the field of youth and families. The committee representatives include several diverse perspectives including age, geography, race, ethnicity, income, and gender. Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
• Area of focus: organization, program or service addresses the critical areas of focus of the grant opportunity
• Population Served: children and families most at-risk of exiting the safety net.
• Organization guided by the community that they serve.
• Organization provides high-quality programs & services.
• Organization is a learning organization.
• Organization is working towards improved regulations, funding, or policy for early childcare providers.
Community Leadership | Youth and Families
Foundation staff serve on the Steering Committee for Allentown’s Neighborhood Partnership Program (NPP), administered by Community Action Lehigh Valley. The program is focused on serving youth in center city Allentown.
ASK MEGAN | Learn more about the community investments/grants opportunities at LVCF
Megan Briggs
Vice President of Community Investments
Lehigh Valley Community Foundation
840. W. Hamilton Street, Suite 310
Allentown, PA 18101
610 351-5353, ext. 11 | megan@lvcfoundation.org