Educational Opportunity Fund
In 1994 the Board established the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF), which is aimed at providing modest, highly flexible support for the educational and training aspirations of homeless or formerly homeless individuals. Grants are made on an annual basis up to the limit of $7,500.
The Fund has its origins in queries from activists and providers who had been unable to obtain the relatively small sums that would enable people who are homeless or formerly homeless to cover costs related to attendance and participation – e.g. day care, transportation, tools, uniforms, and books.
Since the Fund was launched, over 500 individuals have been served through grants totaling $475,000 to community organizations throughout Connecticut. The uses of these funds have been creative, diverse, and highly cost-effective. The decision-making structures to determine recipients have been equally inventive – in some cases they have become peer review processes.
On applying: Only those agencies already providing services to homeless people may apply. EOF criteria were developed with the assistance of providers and remain simple. All support:
- Must go to finance an individual’s educational expenses;
- Is to be used to fill in gaps not provided by other assistance programs;
- May be applied to any related cost that could keep someone from realizing his or her educational pursuits;
- Cannot be used to cover any of the sponsoring organization’s administrative or programmatic costs.
Please limit the narrative of your proposal to two pages and provide an estimated budget. Please direct questions and completed proposals to:
Aimee Hendrigan
Senior Program Officer
ahendrigan@melvilletrust.org
