Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs

FY2025: Inspired Fellowship Grant

Fund Code: 0207

Purpose:

This targeted grant is for districts with staff participating in the InSPIRED Fellowship. InSPIRED Fellows are In-Service Professionals who are committed to increasing the diversity of our teacher workforce by leveraging their backgrounds, personal stories, and connections to inspire future diverse educators. Funds from this grant will be used by districts to support staff that were selected to be InSPIRED Fellows.

Eligibility:

Only the following districts are eligible to apply for this grant opportunity:

  • Boston
  • Burlington
  • Framingham
  • Holyoke
  • Libertas Academy Charter School
  • Methuen
  • Peabody
  • Seekonk
Funding Type:

Trust Funds 1599-2056

Funding:

Approximately $13,500 is available. Districts are eligible to receive $1,500 for each staff person participating as an InSPIRED Fellow.

This RFP is the governing document for these grant funds.

Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding becomes available it will be distributed under the same guidelines that appear in this RFP document.

Fund Use:

Funds are meant for district staff participating as InSPIRED Fellows. These funds should be claimed and provided to the Fellow(s) as soon as possible. These funds are designed to support the Fellows' time spent developing presentations for InSPIRED events and attending various InSPIRED events across the Commonwealth.

Project Duration:

Upon Approval* – 6/30/2025

* Grant start date cannot be prior to DESE receiving a substantially approvable Application Submission as directed in this RFP's Submission Instructions. Goods and Services cannot be procured prior to Grants receiving and approving an application submission. Funds cannot exceed the project duration end date.

Program Unit:

Center for Strategic Initiatives

Contact:

Lola Shoyinka

Phone Number:

781-338-3545

Date Due:

Friday, February 14, 2025

Proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00p.m. Eastern on the date due.

Submission Instructions:

The FY25 FC 0207 Inspired Fellowship Grant will be submitted in our new GEM$ system. GEM$ is a cloud-based fiscal and program management grant system that will eventually phase out the use of EdGrants.

Grants for Education Management System (GEM$)

Please Note: Grant Submission at the LEA level requires roles to be established for Grant writer for the specific fund code, LEA fiscal for financial review/approval, and Superintendent/Chief Executive sign off. All these roles should be established prior to the grant due date and all appropriate forms should be either uploaded to GEM$, maintained at the LEA level or sent in to the DESE RFP contact as described on the individual forms. The user guidance documents and forms are found on the GEM$ homepage under DESE Resources. These form can be accessed without logging in to the system.

Last Updated: January 2, 2025