Restorative Practices Grant Program

Portal ID:
130635
Status:
Closed
Opportunity Type:
  • Grant
Last Updated:

Details

Purpose:

Restorative Practices is intended to help LEAs adopt, expand, and integrate best practices for restorative practices to existing district initiatives to strengthen efforts to reduce disciplinary actions, enhance student engagement, and improve school climate to promote an inclusive, supportive, and equitable school environments. 

Description:

In recent years, the use of restorative practices in schools has grown rapidly. Restorative practices are designed to proactively build community, improve relationships, and help students amend harm when conflict occurs. A literature review of 34 studies1 conducted in seven countries, including 23 studies from the United States, found that restorative practices improve school climate and safety, improve student well-being, and promote positive conflict management. These studies also found that schools that increased use of restorative practices saw a decrease in schoolwide misbehavior, bullying, substance abuse, disparity, and student mental health challenges.  

Recognizing the benefit of evidence-based approaches to improve school climate and culture, Education Code Section 49055 mandated that the California Department of Education (CDE) develop evidence-based best practices for restorative practices. The best practices for restorative practices developed by the CDE are posted on the CDE’s website at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/se/restorativepractices.asp. 

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible Applicants:

  • Nonprofit
  • Public Agency

To maximize the impact of this one-time grant award, funding priorities will be given to LEAs that currently have implemented restorative practices and planned to use the grant funds to expand, enhance, or sustain additional restorative practices best practices.

Eligible Geographies:

This grant is open to LEAs in California, defined as a school district, charter school, or county office of education.

Matching Funding Requirement:

N/A

Important Dates

The date (and time, where applicable) by which all applications must be submitted to the grantmaker. Time listed as “00:00” equates to midnight.
The date on which the grantor expects to announce the recipient(s) of the grant.
June 30, 2025
The length of time during which the grant money must be utilized.
October 1, 2025

Funding Details

The total projected dollar amount of the grant.
$7,000,000
A single grant opportunity may represent one or many awards. Some grantors may know in advance the exact number of awards to be given. Others may indicate a range. Some may wish to and wait until the application period closes before determining how many awards to offer; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
Dependent
Grant opportunities representing multiple awards may offer awards in the same amount or in varied amounts. Some may wish to wait until the application period closes before determining per-award amounts; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
Dependent
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) provide a letter of intent.
No
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) be able to fully or partially match the grant award amount with another funding source.
No
The funding source allocated to fund the grant. It may be either State or Federal (or a combination of both), and be tied to a specific piece of legislation, a proposition, or a bond number.
  • State

Funding Source Notes:

Senate Bill (SB) 114 (2023-24 Trailer Bill – Restorative Practices) allocates seven million one-time funds to support local educational agencies (LEAs) electing to implement best practices for restorative practices.

The manner in which the grant funding will be delivered to the awardee. Funding methods include reimbursements (where the recipient spends out-of-pocket and is reimbursed by the grantor) and advances (where the recipient spends received grant funds directly).
  • Advances & Reimbursement(s)

Funding Method Notes:

The maximum grant amount is up to $100,000 per LEA. Project start date is October 1, 2025, and end date is June 30, 2027.

How to Apply

State agencies/departments recommend you read the full grant guidelines before applying.

Resources

For questions about this grant, contact:
Tom Herman, 1-916-319-0914, rp@cde.ca.gov