Planning Grants for 2025-2026

United Way of Connecticut

The United Way of Connecticut will develop an AmeriCorps Connecticut program concept designed to strengthen community resiliency by connecting youth to service opportunities that support their individual development and foster a leadership pipeline and by utilizing a national service approach to increase local nonprofit organizations' capacity to better respond to the needs of their communities.

Two Coyotes Wilderness School

Two Coyotes Wilderness School will develop an AmeriCorps Connecticut program concept that would leverage a national service approach to increasing accessibility to outdoor programs for youth with a wide range of social, emotional, and mental health needs and foster a career pipeline as AmeriCorps members exit service with necessary skills and unique qualifications to either step into a role in fields such as youth development, education, environmental stewardship, civic engagement, or community development.

What is a Planning Grant?

Operating a national service program requires extensive planning and preparation.  Successful national service programs have overcome challenges such as managing government grants, raising matching funds, supervising national service participants, and designing programs that make the best use of members. AmeriCorps planning grants can provide resources to organizations that face some of these challenges.
Serve Connecticut provides AmeriCorps planning grants to organizations that see a community need for services and have an idea for meeting that need, but who have not fully developed a plan to provide the needed services. The purpose of planning grants is to support the development of AmeriCorps programs that will engage AmeriCorps members in evidence-based interventions to solve community problems in future years. Planning grant recipients are expected to be better prepared to compete for an AmeriCorps program grant in future grant cycles. Planning grant recipients are not guaranteed operating grants but will have time and resources to produce very competitive operating grant proposals.
Unlike AmeriCorps program grants, planning grants do not support AmeriCorps member positions. Instead, planning grants provide funding that allows organizations to hire/designate a staff person who is responsible for working with Commission staff to develop a high-quality AmeriCorps program that is designed to meet a community need. In addition to providing funding for a staff position, planning grants may also be utilized to fund some additional operation expenses such as travel, training, and consultation fees. Grantees are required to provide a 24% match to assist with administering the grant, which can be in the form of cash or in-kind contributions.
Planning grant applications are accepted annually as part of Serve Connecticut’s AmeriCorps Formula Funding competition.
For more information on our 2025-2026 Planning Grants, please see the left-hand column.