UPDATE INCLUDES: 

OPPORTUNITIES & AWARDS  

• Apply to be a State or National School of Character  

• Apply for the United States Senate Youth Program

• Character.org Forum 

• Grant Opportunities 

INSTRUCTIONAL TOOLS & RESOURCES  

• Free Webinars 
• National Suicide Prevention Month 

• NYLC International Service-Learning Forum

• On-Demand Professional Development Series for Character Education

School of Character Application Is Now Open    Has your school or district cultivated a supportive and caring community? Do you think your staff, students, and the larger community have successfully implemented the 11 Principles of Effective Character? Apply this fall for State and National School of Character to receive valuable feedback for improvement whether you reach School of Character status this year or not. The 2023 School of Character Application deadline is Friday, November 11, 2022.   Learn More and Get Started!

The United States Senate Youth Program

Application materials are now available for the upcoming United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP).

The USSYP provides an educational opportunity for juniors and seniors interested in pursuing college coursework in history or political science to spend a week in Washington D.C. meeting Senators, cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, and officials from various federal agencies and the White House.   

• Two student winners will be selected to represent North Carolina. 
• These two winners will each attend the Washington Week program, March 4-11, 2023, and receive a $10,000 undergraduate college scholarship.

North Carolina application materials can be found on the North Carolina Senate Youth Website August 1 – October 2.    

Access materials:  https://bit.ly/ncsenateyouth 

Character.org Forum October 19-20, 2022    ✓  Several Keynote speakers to inspire you on topical issues ✓  A celebration of our 2022 National Schools of Character ✓  Learn new approaches and initiatives when we recognize schools for their 2022 Promising Practices ✓  Share best practices and emerging strategies with like-minded individuals from across the United States and around the world ✓  Learn new character development programs (especially those offered by our Forum partners) ✓  Opportunity to ask questions and share your own experiences ✓  Exhibitor Booths   REGISTER

Grants 

50by250 Lead Organizer Grants - Deadline: Sept. 30

YSA, with support from The Allstate Foundation, will award twenty $5,000 grants to recruit & support at least 50 local partners in your school district, city, or state to participate in the 50% Youth Participation by America250 (50by250) initiative.

Read more

The Awesome Foundation Grants - Deadline: Ongoing

The Awesome Foundation is an ever-growing worldwide community devoted to forwarding the interest of awesome in the universe. Each local chapter supports awesome projects through micro-grants of $1,000, no strings attached, to projects and their creators, usually given out monthly.

Read more

Building Relationships with Your Students AND Staff: A Groundbreaking Conversation

Monday, September 19, 2022 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm EDT

Register

Join Chicago Public Schools award-winning turnaround school leader and MTSS consultant Mioyshi Knox and Student Special Services Advocate Darius Weatherspoon as they share the secrets behind building student and staff relationships for academic success and mental wellness.  Attendees will learn:

• The five best ways to make students and staff feel safe and build trust
• What administrators need to know their staff wants; and what staff need to know their administrators want—but are afraid to tell each other
• The best trauma-informed strategies and tools for building students’ coping skills around their real-world challenges
• How to lead so that students and staff show up and are motivated to do their best

Text, Twitter, Email, Call: Parents’ Preferences for Communication and Engagement

Monday, September 26, 2022 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm EDT

Register 

Communication with parents is more important than ever, but what really works with today’s parents? During the 2021-22 school year, Project Tomorrow polled nearly 5,000 parents of school-aged children from across the country about their personal preferences for teacher, school, and district communication through the Speak Up Research Project. The resulting data was analyzed and revealed both common aspirations as well as important differences in those preferences.

This edWebinar will share the findings from this nationwide research study and discuss the importance of personalizing school-to-home messaging to meet the needs and expectations of an increasingly diverse parent community. Attendees will gain access to a new e-book with the study findings and additional resources to support more effective communication and engagement with their parent communities.

How the Power of Family Engagement Changes the Trajectories of Students and Teachers

In this Webinar, Andy Danilchick, Co-founder and Director of The Project for Mental Health and Optimal Development at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, will share the impact of harnessing parent engagement and empowering student voice as pathways to academic achievement, social-emotional development, student advocacy, and overall mental health for students, and the impact that has in the classroom. Key takeaways include:

• Consistent parent/family engagement plays a critical role in students’ academic, social, and emotional learning
• Student voice has the power to identify a child’s struggles, joys, and possibilities and change the trajectory of their future
• Student agency, when connected with parent engagement outside of the classroom, has results that lead to higher education, career opportunities, and life preparedness

National Suicide Prevention Month   September brings awareness to suicide prevention and ways that we can support students who may be facing this challenge.  According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), suicidal thoughts are common among teens and young adults. Below are some statistics regarding youth suicide provided by NAMI: About 11% of young adults (ages 18-25) report that they’ve had serious thoughts about suicide About 1–2% report a suicide attempt during the prior year Among high school students — nearly 20% report serious thoughts about suicide and 9% report a suicide attempt Among young adults 15–24 years old in the U.S., the rate of death by suicide in 2019 was about 14 per 100,000 people — slightly higher than one suicide for every 10,000 people in this age group. You can encourage students and their loved ones to contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255/TALK)   In addition to NAMI, 988 is a resource that offers 24/7 access to trained crisis counselors who can help people experiencing mental health-related distress. That could be: Thoughts of suicide Mental health or substance use crisis, or Any other kind of emotional distress Individuals can call, text or chat at 988lifeline.org for themselves or if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support. Printable PDF handouts in English and Spanish explain the basics about 988.

On-Demand Professional Development Series For Character Education    You can find On-Demand Professional Development for your character journey on our NCDPI Character Education website. Topics currently include:  How to apply to become a State and National School of Character  How to use data to implement a comprehensive, intentional, proactive approach for character education  at your school How core values are defined, implemented, and embedded into school culture More webinars will be added throughout the 2022-2023 school year. If you have a topic you would like to know more about regarding Character Education please email Justyn.Burgess@dpi.nc.gov

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