RBC is offering up to $750,000 in grants for community-based providers of after-school programs for the 2007-08 school year. Interested applicants must submit their proposals by April 30.

“We believe that investment at the community-level can have the greatest impact on our children and their future,” said Stephen Voisin, head of Donations, RBC, in a news release. “By providing grants to organizations that directly serve children we help ensure that students in communities across Canada have better access to after-school programs where they can learn and participate in recreational and skill-building activities in a safe environment.”

With 72 community-based after-school programs currently being funded, RBC is seeking up to 19 new organizations for the next academic year. To qualify for a grant, after-school programs should offer structured, supervised activities in an environment that provides what RBC has termed the “3Ss”: safety, social skills and self-esteem. Other activities that programs should also offer include computer instruction, sports, literacy tutoring, music and art lessons, nutrition guidance, and homework-help.

Committees of local experts, in the areas of children and education, will select the successful applicants in their region. Grant recipients will be announced in July 2007, with each community-based program receiving between $25,000 and $40,000.

Since 1999, RBC has provided grants to 139 after-school programs, totalling more than $12.6 million. Over one-quarter of the RBC Foundation’s annual budget is devoted to education — more than $11 million in 2006. After-school grant applications can be downloaded from www.rbc.com/afterschool.