PropelNext‘s eligibility requirements ensure that grantees and, ultimately, the youth they serve can benefit from the initiative.
In order to be eligible for a PropelNext grant, a nonprofit must:
- Serve youth, ages 9-24, who are high school dropouts or at risk for dropping out; transitioning out of foster care; involved in the juvenile justice system; or engaged in or in danger of engaging in high-risk behaviors such as teen pregnancy and illegal activities.
- Serve at least 150 of these youth a year by helping them improve their educational skills and achievement; preparing them for the world of work so they can find and hold jobs and achieve economic self-sufficiency; and/or helping them avoid high-risk behaviors.
- Have been incorporated for at least three years with revenues between $1 and $5 million during its most recent fiscal year. (A few promising organizations with varying revenues that meet the rest of the eligibility requirements may be invited to apply.)
- Innovative programs within larger local or regional organizations may apply if they are experimenting with a fresh approach or a new set of evidence-based practices to help disadvantaged youth and meet the rest of the criteria.
- This initiative is not for start-up organizations, on the one hand. Nor, on the other, is it designed for organizations that have codified, long-standing intervention models that are not open for refinement, or for nonprofits that have already reached substantial scale or undertaken significant replication.