Kessler Foundation: Signature Employment Grants

The Kessler Foundation awards Signature Employment Grants yearly to support non-traditional solutions that increase employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities. Grants are awarded nationally to fund new pilot initiatives, demonstration projects or social ventures that lead to the generation of new ideas to solve the high unemployment and underemployment of individuals with disabilities. Preference is given for interventions that overcome specific employment barriers related to long-term dependence on public assistance or advance competitive employment in a cost-effective manner. Innovation lies at the core of all signature employment grants, defined as a process that brings together various novel ideas in a way that has an impact on increasing employment for people with disabilities. Innovation involves deliberate application of information, imagination, and initiation for generating new ideas that can serve as a catalyst for better solutions to obtain and maintain employment.

Amount: $100,000-$250,000 per year, with maximum project funding at $500,000. Grant periods are for two years.

Eligibility: Non-profit agencies, public or private schools, and public institutions, such as universities and government (state, local, federal) based in the United States or any of its territories.

Link: http://kesslerfoundation.org/grantprograms/signatureemploymentgrants.php

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