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October 2021
Introducing VELA's Newest Bridge Grantees!
This week, VELA Education Fund awarded six bridge grants totaling $665,000 to organizations that are expanding access to nontraditional educational opportunities around the country. These six recipients were selected from 162 applications through a highly competitive process.

Learn more about our newest grant recipients!

Great Hearts America | Arizona & Texas | $150,000

Modeled after its robust classical liberal arts model of nonprofit charter schools, Great Hearts will utilize VELA’s investment to respond to families' interest and launch four microschools this year in Arizona and Texas. Its microschools will offer flexible programs with small class sizes to meet the dramatic rise in families seeking alternative methods of educating their children. Learn more and follow Great Hearts America.

Smart Girls HQ | Charlotte, NC | $150,000

Smart Girls HQ offers girls exposure to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through everyday activities, hands-on project experiences, mentorship, and toys. VELA's bridge grant will support founder Abi Olukeye's efforts to scale RaisingSmartGirls.com to students in nontraditional environments. Forthcoming features include options for parents of girls interested in STEM to connect with each other and access tools to explore STEM career paths. Learn more and follow Smart Girls HQ.

Weird Enough Productions | Atlanta | $150,000

Weird Enough Productions creates engaging comic books that support social emotional learning, digital literacy, and diverse representation. Even though students of color are most at risk for pandemic-related learning loss, only 30% of children's books feature characters of color; founder Tony Weaver Jr. is working to change that. With VELA's bridge grant, Weird Enough will expand its reach to more than 1 million students, including in nontraditional settings. Learn more and follow Weird Enough Productions.

Engage Learning Oklahoma | Oklahoma City | $135,000

Engage Learning provides in-person afterschool and summer STEM lab programming at a state-of-the-art K-12 makerspace and is expanding its offerings online. By supporting students in learning about the physics of flight, scratch coding, robotics, electronics, and advanced 3D printing, Engage Learning is helping students develop critical skills like creative problem-solving, critical-thinking, collaboration, and communication. VELA’s bridge grant will support their expansion to serve hundreds of students in nontraditional and rural communities throughout Oklahoma and nationwide through live, hands-on distance learning. Learn more and follow Engage Learning.

Black Mothers Forum | Louisiana | $50,000

Black Mothers Forum is a group of Black mothers who have come together to end the school-to-prison pipeline through the creation of safe and supportive learning environments for Black children. The group has launched seven microschools in Arizona and plans to use its bridge grant to expand to Louisiana and open microschools there as well. Learn more and follow Black Mothers Forum.

Free Forest School | Nationwide | $30,000

With more than 200 local chapters in 49 states, Minneapolis-based Free Forest School’s nature-focused program provides traditional and nontraditional educators with training and resources to implement outdoor learning for children. With its VELA funding, the organization plans to expand its membership to at least 50,000 students while piloting solutions to reach families living in lower-income and underserved communities who face the most significant barriers to access. Learn more and follow Free Forest School.
How do bridge grants differ from microgrants?
Bridge grants and microgrants are meant for organizations at different stages. Microgrants are meant to support very early-stage ideas and enable everyday entrepreneurs to test custom solutions that better meet their own needs. Bridge grants are meant to support entrepreneurs who are further along in the implementation of their idea and are extending their solution to many new users or markets.

Through the latest bridge grant process, we learned there's a need for an in-between option, especially for past microgrant recipients—an award that's larger than a microgrant but smaller than a bridge grant. We're developing that program and look forward to sharing more information in the months ahead.

In the meantime, prospective microgrant applicants can now take this quick eligibility quiz—stay tuned for details on our next round of microgrants.
New! Grantee-made Videos
We like to try new things around here, so VELA's video team is working with grantees to help produce their own 1-minute videos! First up: the Mountaineer Homeschool Hub in Morgantown, West Virginia. Thanks to founder Angie Channell for being the first grantee to produce a video through this new format.
Grantees, are you interested in potentially working with our video team to make a video about your program? Share your interest here.
GRANTEES IN THE NEWS
It's raining VELA grantees!
We loved seeing this article in The 74 featuring Green Gate Children's School, Southern Nevada Urban Micro Academy, EarthChild Explorers, Engaged Detroit, and Cultural Roots Homeschool Co-op!

WhatupHomee
Created by Black homeschoolers for Black homeschoolers, WhatupHomee is an online community and platform that provides a safe space for Black homeschoolers to meet up regardless of geographical location. Read more.

Empower Our Youth Foundation
Partnering with school districts and community groups in Columbus, OH and Erie, PA, this program provides at-risk students living in underserved Black communities with cost-free bullying prevention resources and social wellness resources. Read more.
Get Inspired by Our Grantees
Lori White | Metro Homeschool Connections

Connecting homeschool educators with each other in Metro Detroit, this group provides a safe place to network, socialize, share resources, and connect with peers. VELA’s grant is helping founder Lori White to expand her organization’s services to provide curricula, learning kits, digital content, educator lectures, virtual reading events, science labs, and in-person educational events.
Learning Happens Everywhere!
Follow the learning adventures of Abigail and Eva (pictured left and right, with Abigail's mom center), two students who bonded over a mutual love of Shakespeare, and—thanks to their VELA grant—are now set to visit the Bard’s stomping grounds in London next year. Read the first in a series of their own travel posts.
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