Your proposal does not have to be lengthy (a few paragraphs will do), but it should be substantive. As an example, here is a proposal that may provide you an approximate template for the kind of work you may want to do.
Example Proposal:
Name: Dustin Millner
Title: Prison Ministry: Education Behind Bars
Location: Greenfield, MA
General Information About Applicant:
I am an 11th grade student at Deerfield Academy, and I live in Greenfield, MA.
Overview:
Nearly 1 out of 1,000 citizens of the United States are in prison. Needless to say, this fact is shocking, and it is worth stating that the United States, as a nation, has the highest incarceration rate in the world. The warden at the Franklin County House of Corrections has stated that 8 out of 10 inmates released into society generally return to prison. Recidivism, therefore, is rampant in the jail in my hometown. My goal is to educate prisoners in order to help them have the literacy skills to be able to apply for jobs upon their release from prison, allowing them to re-enter society and remain there.
I am requesting $1,000 to lead prisoners in reading and writing classes. Periodically, I will also work with them to write resumes, and to write coherently in order to appropriately express their interest in jobs that may be available in their home communities. Truthfully, their lives, and their families lives, if the prisoner is a spouse or parent, is dependent upon the prisoner’s literacy upon re-entry into society.
The funding would go toward buying books, buying school supplies, covering my transportation to and from the prison, and covering the time I spend away from my summer job, which is a landscaping business. I will make my first visit to the prison in mid-June, and conclude two months later, just before classes begin in the fall. I would visit the prison twice a week for two hours at a time, meeting between 4 and 12 prisoners on each visit. I have already received approval from the warden to pursue this project and this grant, and my contact to this community is my Ethics teacher, who regularly brings students to the jail each term as part of his class.
Finally, one measure of success of this program would be when any of the prisoners with whom I work is hired for employment. In order to gauge the efficacy of this project, I will follow up with the warden, and the prisoners (if possible) upon their release, in order to see how the prisoner do when they are released into society.
Thank you for your consideration of this grant request. If I can provide any additional information, please let me know.
Dustin Millner