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CLASS Grants: Getting Started

Five Steps to A Successful Project

Starting a CLASS project need not be a complicated, difficult, or grand-scale endeavor. Students just like you have developed projects and successfully applied for NEA funding.

Whether you're sponsoring a holiday party for disadvantaged children or operating a daily tutoring service, you are reaching out and making a positive difference in your community. Your local affiliate can establish a terrific, rewarding project if you and your members are willing to put in the time and effort, then follow the project through.

Here are five steps you can take to make your CLASS project a success:

1. Build interest.
One person can't make a CLASS project succeed. Start your efforts by discussing your interest in CLASS with your Local Association's leaders. Place CLASS on the meeting agenda of your Local Association's executive committee. Once you have a local commitment to CLASS, organize a committee of people interested in rolling up their sleeves and getting to work.

2. Do your homework.
At your first committee meeting, discuss possible timelines and objectives of CLASS. Go over the suggested topics for CLASS projects included here and discuss how they and others may relate to your community.

As a student chapter, think about projects that will give your members experiences they don't get in their formal teacher education programs. Ask yourselves which projects can meet an educational need in your community and also provide high, positive visibility for your Local Association. Be sure to involve your chapter advisor in all discussions.

Find out what other NEA affiliates are doing in your area. Pre-K-12 teachers, education support professionals (ESP), and retired members will be especially valuable to your group. They have experience and knowledge—and they know people in the community. In fact, they probably have worked with similar projects through their own schools or associations.

The UniServ office can help your chapter make contact with other members.

Identify local social-service agencies and community groups, contact them, and find out what they do. They may already be doing things that your local would want to be a part of —and in that case, much of the hard work is already taken care of.

3. Make decisions.

• Sift through the information you collect and make a decision about the type of CLASS project you'd like to start.
• Be realistic and make sure you choose a task you can handle.
• Decide who will be responsible for the various aspects of the project.
• Decide on some timelines for development and implementation.

4. Plan and organize.

Volunteers are key to a successful project. You may need to designate students for the following positions:

• Project coordinator. This person will try to put all of the pieces together and produce a community-oriented, student-based CLASS project.
• Organizer. This volunteer is in charge of gathering, training, and retaining other volunteers for the project. This is a big job!

5. Follow-up and evaluate.

• Send "thank you" notes to your volunteers.
• Include copies of any newspaper coverage the project received for them to include in their files and portfolios.
• Thank all community contributors and media contacts.
• Complete evaluations and assess the overall project outcomes. Make notes on possible improvements if you plan to repeat the project.