Michelson 20MM is committed to helping individuals and communities impacted by the criminal justice system forge a brighter, more prosperous future through educational attainment. In keeping with this commitment, we’re launching our latest Michelson Spark Grants funding round!

Our Smart Justice funding cycle will be open for proposals from November 30, 2026, to December 14, 2026. Through this cycle, we seek to fund macro-level projects that advance systems-level strategies, create impact at scale and inform public policy. The vision for the Spark Grant Program is to introduce an innovative just-in-time grantmaking process to fill urgent needs for organizations that are well aligned with our focus areas.

The Smart Justice Initiative (SJI) at Michelson 20MM launched in 2019 to leverage higher education as a catalyst for personal transformation and justice reform. SJI’s focus areas include higher education in prison, reentry, support for justice-involved students on campus, workforce development and economic success models, racial justice, and gender justice, with a particular focus on policy and systems change. Previous Smart Justice Spark Grantees include the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program, UCI LIFTED, the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Impact Justice, Root and Rebound, Vera Institute of Justice, RAND Corporation, and the Campaign for College Opportunity.

Explore all past SJI and/or Michelson grantees and last cycle’s grant awardees and their proposed projects. 

Funding Cycle Focus Areas

We are interested in supporting projects that advance:

• Higher education in prison (HEP): Efforts that protect, scale up, and/or improve access to higher education for incarcerated individuals, including:
  • Innovative approaches to higher education in prison (HEP) programming, including expansion within the California State University and/or University of California systems.
  • Transfer pathways that help HEP participants with associate degrees enroll seamlessly in bachelor’s degree programs.
  • Training for HEP educators in pedagogy and practice that ensure a quality education for incarcerated students.
  • Support services that increase retention and completion rates for individuals in prison and those recently released.
  • Programs that promote, ensure, or evaluate racial equity in access to HEP. 
  • Efforts that build a continuum of higher education across all justice-involved populations, including people in prison, on community supervision, and in reentry programs. 
    
    
• Workforce development and reentry support: Efforts that scale workforce opportunities and stabilizing supports, such as housing and coordinated services for formerly incarcerated individuals, including:
  • Partnerships between community organizations, colleges, and employers that create education and workforce pathways for people impacted by the justice system.
  • Innovative approaches to reentry housing, including student housing for formerly incarcerated individuals. 
  • Efforts to improve service coordination among key reentry stakeholders.
    
    
• Policy and systems change: Evidence-driven policy to remove barriers and institutionalize opportunity for successful re-entry, including:  
  • Policy advocacy to scale HEP programming across California’s higher education systems and carceral facilities, while ensuring educational quality.
  • Efforts that remove barriers in continuing higher education after release. 
  • Efforts that improve consistency in data collection to better understand the impact of HEP and reentry programs. 
  • Publications or toolkits that support the replication of successful models and translate research and advocacy into concrete policy strategies. 
  • Policy advocacy that addresses employment barriers for people with criminal records. 
  • Powerbuilding and coalition-building efforts that expand HEP and workforce development opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals.

Funding Cycle Details

• The Spark Grant Program is available to United States–based nonprofits and educational institutions. For this round, we have decided to focus our impact on organizations that are doing work in California. Organizations whose work does not impact California will be ineligible for this opportunity. 
• We will be awarding grants of up to $25,000 to nonprofits and educational institutions looking for support of projects that address one of our focus areas. Please note that your project must address at least one of our focus areas in order to be considered.
• We welcome proposals where Michelson Spark Grant funds are part of a larger overall project with multiple funding streams.

Join Us to Learn More

On November 19, 2026, at 11:00 AM PST, Smart Justice Senior Program Manager Sergio Rodriguez Camarena and Director of Operations and Programs Ryan Erickson-Kulas will host an informational webinar to provide an in-depth overview of the Spark Grants program, highlight past awardees, and share detailed updates on the Smart Justice funding cycle.

---

About the Michelson 20MM Foundation

Michelson 20MM is a private, nonprofit foundation working toward equity for underserved and historically underrepresented communities by expanding access to educational and employment opportunities, increasing affordability of educational programs, and ensuring the necessary supports are in place for individuals to thrive. To do so, we work in the following verticals: Digital Equity, Intellectual Property, Smart Justice, Student Basic Needs, and Open Educational Resources (OER). Co-chaired and funded by Alya and Gary Michelson, Michelson 20MM is part of the Michelson Philanthropies network of foundations.

To sign up for our newsletter, click here.