The ECA Alumni Small Grants Program, a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) or the US Department of State, provides grants to alumni of selected ECA-sponsored programs for community and professional development activities.
The purpose of the ECA Alumni Small Grants Program is to further the professional development of ECA alumni. Grants are a maximum of $3,000 and allow alumni to do the following:
Initiate a public or community service program

• Launch a pilot program at a nongovernmental organization or academic institution
• Organize training programs or conferences for professional colleagues and/or other alumni
• Fund travel of US colleagues to eligible Eurasian countries for conferences, training programs and professional collaboration
• Development and publication of curricula, textbooks, or related reference or educational materials
• Publish public information pamphlets or brochures
• Conduct any other projects judged by the selection committee or ECA to be in the interest of program goals

Currently, alumni of the Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program (MUSKIE) and the Eurasian Undergraduate Exchange Program (UGRAD) are eligible to apply. The Alumni Small Grant is competed two times a year.

Application no longer accepted until the next round of ASGP.

2009 PROJECT SMILE

Project Smile is a community development program for alumni of select Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) sponsored programs. Grants are awarded to alumni to implement community service activities that will benefit an underprivileged group in their local community such as children at an orphanage, the disabled or the elderly.

Selected projects benefit an underserved population and are community service-oriented. Sample project ideas include cleaning a schoolyard, planning an activity at a childrens hospital or orphanage, and coordinating a book drive. Project Smile is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State.

The purpose of Project Smile is to help the youth of Eurasia and the US through community-based activities. Possible activities include:

• Cleaning a school yard or community playground
• Planning a visit or activity at an orphanage or hospital
• Organizing a children's book drive to benefit a local library, school, orphanage, or hospital
• Conducting any other projects judged by ECA and/or IREX to be in the interest of program goals

The grant maximum is $250.00. Each project must be led by an ECA alumnus/a team leader, but not all volunteers must be ECA alumni.

Application no longer accepted until the next round of PS (Project Smile).