The National Institute for Literacy’s LINCS website offers a database of more than 400 current funding opportunities available from federal government, state and local government, private industry, foundations, and other funding sources. Entries in the database are continually reviewed and updated by staff of LINCS — NIFL’s Literacy Information aNd Communication System.

To access and search the database, go to the LINCS home page and look for Grants & Funding on the lefthand side menu. The page will automatically come up with funding opportunities that have application deadlines approaching in the near future. Click the “Refine Search” button to conduct a detailed search of the database by subject, sponsor organization type, application due date, type of organizations that can apply, and funding range. Your customized search results will include summaries of the resources and other useful information.

One example of a grant opportunity included in this database is the Hands-on English annual Minigrants program. Hands-on English is a publication for teachers and tutors of adult ESL, which awards a few small grants (up to $200) each year to ESL teachers and tutors for innovative classroom projects. Applications are due by the end of June. The projects are reviewed by a committee of ESL and literacy professionals and the final selections are made by the Hands-on English Grants Manager.

In previous years, Katherine Adams, an ESL teacher in the Even Start Family Literacy Program at Tegeler Career Center in Pasadena, Texas won a grant enabling her students to prepare an informational display on home safety, to be presented at a community health fair. And Rose Galindo, an ESL teacher at El Paso Community College, won a grant to design a multi-level language unit for her students, based on TV soap operas.

For more information on this and hundreds of other current funding opportunities, visit the LINCS home page and click on Grants & Funding.