A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Arts Education and School Improvement Resources for Local and State Leaders -- April 1997 (Updated March 1999)

SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES STATE IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS

(202) 401-6222 or State Department of Education

The program awards grants to states to establish comprehensive, statewide School-to-Work Opportunities systems based on plans developed through state development grants. These systems will offer young Americans access to education and training programs designed to prepare them for a first job in high-skill, high-wage careers, and to increase their opportunities for further education.

Program Office: National School-to-Work Office
Legislation: School-to-Work Opportunities Act, Title II, Subtitle B, Secs. 211-218, 20 U.S.C. 6141-6148
Type of Assistance: competitive grants (37 states have received, however, states that do not get the larger implementation grants receive development funds)
Who May Apply: The 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are eligible to apply if they have not previously received an implementation grant.

School-to-Work "Opportunity Skyway" program in College Park, Maryland stumbled onto the power of the arts to pique interest in aviation careers when students more easily saw themselves as aviators when taken to the show "Black Eagles" a play about African-American aviation pioneers. The program now works with a playwright to help students write monologues and perform as aviation characters or as themselves imagining a career in aviation.

The Tucson/Pima Arts Council (Arizona) received a six-month $12,000 grant from the Pima and Santa Cruz Counties School-to-Work Partnership for the Council's Multimedia Arts Education Program. The program provides a foundation in arts technology skills in multimedia computers and video for disadvantaged middle school youth in a five-semester program. Youth develop skills in word processing, computer graphics, internet and web page design, desktop publishing, digital photography, computer animation, video production and editing. At the completion of all five levels, youth and their families receive a computer and youth are encouraged to continue their education through the media magnet high school and the community college computer and media arts program.

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[ Technology Literacy Challenge Fund -- State Grants ] [ School-To-Work Urban and Rural Opportunities Grants ]

Last Updated -- March 10, 1999, (pjk)