Supporting Your Passion
OPTIMISE is here to help you advance your career and obtain the resources you need to become the best special educator you can be.
Career Development / Educator Well-Being Grants
Talent Together helps you become a certified teacher. The program also helps elevate the professional credentials of existing teachers with “add-on endorsements” and mentorship training to be lead with “teacher apprentices” at the school district.”
The GYO Staff grants support partnerships between PK-12 schools and educator preparation providers to develop pathways for school support staff to earn initial teacher certification or for certified teachers to earn additional endorsements.
You may receive up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness if you were a highly qualified full-time mathematics or science teacher who taught students at the secondary school level; or a highly qualified special education teacher (at either the elementary or secondary level) whose primary responsibility was to provide special education to children with disabilities, and you taught children with disabilities that corresponded to your area of special education training and demonstrated knowledge and teaching skills in the content areas of the curriculum that you taught.
This grant can be used to cover tuition costs up to $800.00 per credit hour for a maximum of 18 credits over three years
The Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children (MIAEYC) states, “T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® MICHIGAN is a statewide scholarship program designed to help child care center teaching staff, preschool teachers, family child care providers, group home owners, center directors, early childhood professionals, and administrators meet their professional development goals while continuing their current employment in regulated early childhood and school-age care settings.
The NEA Foundation, a national nonprofit, provides grants for teachers to fund their participation in professional development programs such as summer institutes, conferences, seminars, travel abroad and action research.
Grants for public school teachers for the improvement of education, grants for classroom supplies, innovative teaching strategies and professional development teaching opportunities. Find classroom grants for school funding, grants to public school educators to enhance teaching, provide support for STEM professionals and for the pursuit of careers in teaching.
The Teacher Next Door Program offers substantial housing grants to all Michigan teachers and educational staff, ranging from $1,000 to $8,000. This grant, aimed at facilitating home ownership, can be applied to any home purchase and is complemented by up to $10,681 in down payment assistance. Additionally, participants may be eligible for state-specific government housing grants to support their home-buying efforts further.
Eligible Staff: Teachers, Paraeducators, School Psychologists, Social Workers and other staff
The Association of American Educators offers grants and scholarships for teachers. Grants can be used on classroom supplies, while scholarships can be used for professional development.
The McCarthey-Dressman Education Foundation offers academic enrichment grants and teacher development grants.
Fund for Teachers supports professional development projects that are directly and materially beneficial for the teachers’ students. Application requirements vary by state.
The McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation awards grants to individual teachers and groups of teachers who want to integrate fresh pedagogical strategies that encourage critical inquiry. Such interventions should include observations of how these strategies impact students.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms program allows U.S.-based educators to bring international perspectives to their schools by funding their participation in a one-year professional learning opportunity and an international exchange lasting a few weeks.
Career Development Programs
We’ve helped improve student, teacher, and leader performance at schools that reflect the full diversity of American education—charter, district-run, independent, alternative and nontraditional. How can we help yours?
Courses from workshops and condensed highly detailed information to fine-tune your learning experience.
Classroom Resource Grants
The Arts Fund supports art education at all levels.
The Social-Emotional Wellness Fund supports teachers in addressing their students’ social-emotional wellness.
The Inclusive Classroom Fund provides educators with the supplies they need to meet the diverse needs of their students.
The Racial Equity in Schools Fund supports students and teachers of color by providing flexible funding for multicultural books, professional development, school supplies, and funding for equity initiatives.
The STEM Fund supports science, technology, engineering, and math initiatives.
Colibri offers grants for K-12 educators to spend on large special projects in their classrooms. There are no restrictions on the subject of the projects, but it must benefit more than fifteen students.
The purpose of the Educational Technology, Media, and Materials for Individuals with Disabilities program (ETechM2 Program) is to improve results for children with disabilities by (1) promoting the development, demonstration, and use of technology; (2) supporting educational activities designed to be of educational value in the classroom for children with disabilities; (3) providing support for captioning and video description that is appropriate for use in the classroom; and (4) providing accessible educational materials to children with disabilities in a timely manner.
The Special Education Resource Grants Program has brought numerous benefits, resulting in resources to teachers to maximize the skills of their students – teaching them to read, write and even speak, for the first time
Teachers post their needs on the Donors Choose website and donors—both private individuals and big-name retailers such as Amazon and Best Buy—decide which requests to fund.
The P. Buckley Moss Foundation offers funding for art supplies, with a special focus on students who learn differently.
Mini-Grants for students with disabilities, encourage the development and implementation of new and innovative techniques, materials, or programs, to special educators across Michigan through MAASE members. Funding is awarded on a competitive basis. Committee members are involved in determining the grant amounts, reading and ranking applications and disbursing funds.
Sponsored by Voya Financial, the Voya Unsung Heroes awards fund effective and innovative projects that improve student learning.
Each teacher served will receive two large boxes filled with enough core school supplies to last for at least one semester. Pencils, pencil pouches, folders, notebooks, sharpeners, erasers, rulers, and pens are included in every box. Additional items are included based on grade level, such as crayons and markers for younger grades, and highlighters and colored pencils for older students.
The grant will provide funds for materials, equipment, and other resources necessary to carry out a project that would otherwise not be covered by the school’s budget.
AAE Foundation grants can be used for books, software, calculators, math manipulatives, art supplies, audio-visual equipment, lab materials and various other supplies and projects. Funds must be used within one year of the application deadline.
The Awesome Foundation is an ever-growing worldwide community devoted to forwarding the interest of awesome in the universe. Created in the long hot summer days of 2009 in Boston, the Foundation distributes $1,000 grants, no strings attached, to projects and their creators. At each fully autonomous chapter, the money is pooled together from the coffers of ten or so self-organizing “micro-trustees” and given up front in cash, check, or gold doubloons.
