Arnold Ventures Gives $17 Million for Reimagining Prison Program (Grants Roundup)

Here are notable new grant awards compiled by the Chronicle:

Arnold Ventures

$17 million to the Urban Institute and the Vera Institute of Justice to improve the criminal-justice system. The Urban Institute has received $10 million for its Prison Research and Innovation Initiative, and the Vera Institute will use $7 million for its Reimagining Prison program.

W.K. Kellogg Foundation

$15.5 million to Grand Valley State University to help more students from Battle Creek Public Schools, in Michigan, go on to college and pursue jobs in the health-care and education sectors.

Crawford Taylor Foundation

$10 million to the Muny for the St. Louis performing-arts center’s education programs and capital campaign.

X Prize Foundation

$10 million split between the Kitkit School and Onebillion to develop open-source software to improve childhood literacy worldwide. Kitkit is a video-game company based in Berkeley, Calif., and Onebillion is an educational nonprofit headquartered in London.

American Bar Endowment

$6.8 million to the American Bar Foundation and the ABA Fund for Justice and Education and 11 programs that offer law-related research, education, public service, and grass-roots projects. The foundation and the ABA Fund have each received $3.2 million, and another $414,000 has been disbursed to community and grassroots organizations.

Duke Endowment

$5 million to Duke University to expand the visitors center and enhance programs at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, a 55-acre outdoor space on campus.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

$1.5 million to Generation USA to upgrade its technology and expand job-training programs in the health-care industry in Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Dallas, and Miami.

New York Life Foundation

$1 million over two years to the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Library to support their summer reading programs and other opportunities for youths in New York City.

Windgate Foundation

$1 million to John Brown University to endow scholarships in honor of John Brown III. Brown retired last year after 25 years as executive director of the Windgate Foundation and before that served as president of the university for 24 years. He is the grandson of the university’s founder.

New Grant Opportunity

The Best Buy Foundation is accepting proposals for grants from nonprofit groups that work with teenagers in learning technology skills outside of school. Grants of up to $15,000 will be given to projects in software development, robotics, 3D animals, mobile and game application design, website development, cybersecurity, and other areas of technology. Preference will go to programs that exclusively serve girls. Organizations must be located within 25 miles of a Best Buy store or corporate offices, warehouse, or Geek Squad Service Center. Proposals are due May 31.

Send grant announcements to grants.editor@philanthropy.com.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy subscribers also have full access to GrantStation’s searchable database of grant opportunities. For more information, visit our grants page.