Call for Proposals: Empowered Parents In Charge (EPIC) Program in Jordan

Goals and Objectives

• The Empowered Parents In Charge (EPIC) program equips Jordanian parents of children with disabilities with advocacy skills, legal frameworks, financial resources, and civic engagement training that will ensure they have the capacity to successfully advocate for their children to remain in school.
• The primary target audience of the EPIC program is parents of school-aged children (age 6-17) with disabilities who live in Jordan. The secondary audience is staff at the Ministry of Education tasked with overseeing and implementing programs for children with disabilities, as well as staff at not-for-profit organizations and public and private educational institutions who work with children with disabilities.
• The EPIC program will offer a multifaceted approach to training:
  • In-person exchanges where U.S. experts come to Jordan to provide advocacy training to parents, and education and implementation training for staff at the Ministry of Education as well as at not-for-profit organizations, public and private educational institutions.
  • In-person exchanges where a cohort of Jordanian parents and leaders of non-profit PWD organizations travel to the United States to partner with American parents and organizations to learn about the ongoing impact of the American with Disabilities Act in education and actionable strategies for implementing similar programs in Jordan.
  • A digital public awareness campaign that highlights the stories of children and adults with disabilities living successful and fulfilling lives. The campaign will also highlight the stories of parents of children with disabilities and how they overcame stigma to successfully advocate for their children.
  • A media campaign to increase coverage of people with disabilities in traditional media, including a non-monetary, certificate of recognition award program to laud media coverage and impactful general reporting.
  • Facilitating networking and strategy-building sessions among disability focused NGOs in Jordan to develop and maintain a coalition for unified advocacy and resource mobilization.
  • Equip teachers with U.S.-modeled education strategies to better support students with disabilities in mainstream classrooms, with a specific focus on methods utilized by American teachers to include science, technology, and artificial intelligence to benefit PWDs, and explore ways Jordanians could apply such innovations to advocating and supporting PWDs.
• The expected outcome of the grant is to increase the percentage of children with disabilities who are enrolled in primary and secondary school by:
  • Improving parental advocacy skills for their children.
  • Increasing collaboration between parents, schools, and government entities
  • Increasing public awareness around the value of education for People with Disabilities.
  • Establish a national disability coordination network of disability-focused NGOs in Jordan modeled after a successful U.S. disability rights network to enhance coordination, resource-sharing, and unified advocacy efforts.
  • Create a U.S.-Jordan training program that certifies teachers in disabilityinclusive teaching, offering practical tools for classroom adaptation, behavior management, and assistive technology use.

Funding Information

• Total available funding: $350,000 pending availability of funds
• Award Amounts: Awards may range from a minimum of $150,000 to a maximum of $350,000 (approximately)

Duration

• Project Performance Period: Proposed projects should be completed in 18 months or less.

Eligibility Criteria

• The following organizations from the United States and Jordan are eligible to apply:
  • Not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks, educational institutions, and civil society/non-governmental organizations
• All organizations must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).
• Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization. If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible for funding.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.