Now Accepting Applications for Transportation to Employment Grants

The Foundation is committed to keeping pace with the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing Forsyth County today, and we’re focusing a significant portion of our community investments in two focus areas—Building an Inclusive Economy and Advancing Equity in Education. Access to efficient and affordable transportation is a key priority within our inclusive economy work.

BACKGROUND

A lack of transportation is often a barrier to individuals and families moving out of poverty because they are unable to access and retain employment that pays a living wage. By improving access to efficient and affordable transportation, we can reduce underemployment, increase job retention and family sufficiency, and help individuals and families easily, safely, and affordably get where they need to go. Transit can play an important role in providing efficient and affordable transportation, and other interventions will also be helpful.

GRANT DETAILS

Transportation to Employment Grants will support community efforts that address transportation barriers with one of the following goals:

Assisting individuals in obtaining or retaining employment that can provide family sustaining wages
Enabling individuals to participate in education and training programs that have a clear pathway for career growth

The Foundation is looking for nonprofit and community partners who are committed to engaging with people with lived experience in developing solutions to transportation barriers. We are open to grant requests of any amount, and we will evaluate the funding for each proposal based upon its scope and potential for impact. Organizations can request multiple years of funding.

Grantees will be expected to actively engage with the Foundation and other grantees to share learning from their project. To support this additional required capacity, grantees will receive $10,000 in support above their requested project costs.

APPLICATION TIMELINE

There will be two deadlines for submitting applications. The first will be December 1, 2021 and the second will be February 1, 2022.

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, visit the Foundation’s Grant Application Portal and register for an account (please register at least two weeks before the deadline so our staff has time to approve your registration). For more information about creating an account, read our registration instructions.

Once in the portal, select “Access to Efficient and Affordable Transportation.” The application contains brief organizational questions followed by a few open-ended questions. We may contact organizations for additional follow up to learn more about their proposals.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Organizations are encouraged to reach out to Program Officer Charlie Gardner before submission to discuss ideas. To set up a conversation, you can contact him at cgardner@wsfoundation.org.