greenlights
Camila and Matthew McConaughey launch new grant initiative to make schools safer
"The parents in Uvalde asked us to do one thing – to ‘make their lives matter.' We hope the Greenlights Grant Initiative can help do just that," the couple said in a release.
In the 14 months that have passed since the Robb Elementary school shooting, Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves have been at work. The couple has created a new initiative through their Just Keep Livin Foundation (stylized just keep livin) to bridge the gap between school districts and federal funding for school safety.
The Greenlights Grant Initiative, which launched July 20, provides schools, teachers, and families easier access to grant writing support and funding from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) that became law in June 2022.
The act allocates funding to help school districts create safer environments for their students through mental health support and gun control measures, but has been criticized for its complexity and accessibility issues.
"While the legislation is crucial in protecting America’s youth from violence, it remains far too difficult for school districts to apply for and receive federal school safety grants," said the couple in a statement. "[The] launch of the Greenlights Grant Initiative is a meaningful step toward providing school districts across the country the grant writing support and the resources they need to keep kids safe in our schools."
The shooting at Robb Elementary was devastating for the entire community, including Uvalde-born McConaughey, who met with families of the victims in 2022 before his visit to the White House to advocate for bipartisan gun safety. The couple has made their support for children widely known, even writing a recently announced children's book.
McConaughey and Alves continued, "The parents in Uvalde asked us to do one thing – to ‘make their lives matter.' We hope the Greenlights Grant Initiative can help do just that."
In addition to helping districts receive funding to improve school safety, the initiative will also provide them with in-depth tutorials and resources, and free grant writing services to certain "high-need, low capacity districts." The project will also push lawmakers to simplify the grant-making process and improve accessibility.
Texas Senator John Cornyn, who is a co-chair of the Greenlights Grant Initiative, said in a press release that the project will go above and beyond to provide aid after the BSCA has already provided "hundreds of millions of dollars" to schools statewide and nationwide.
"The Greenlights Grant Initiative will take the success of this law one step further by helping connect more schools with available funding and providing resources on navigating the grants process," Cornyn said.
More information about the Greenlights Grant Initiative can be found at greenlightsgrantinitiative.org.
