The New Jersey Department of Education recently announced a notice of grant opportunity for exploring careers in the Esports industry.
The NJDOE intends to award five districts up to $50,000 each to create new esports programming in grades 5-8.
This grant opportunity intends to harness the popularity of esports to increase middle school student awareness of high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand career pathways within the esports industry, and to increase equity, access, and engagement of special population groups to career and technical education programming. Studies indicate that students involved in esports tend to have higher school attendance, fewer absences, and a reduced risk of suspension. Esports has also been instrumental in reducing chronic absenteeism and improving friendships, often serving as the first co-curricular activity for many students.
The grants are being offered to local education agencies that serve students in grades 5-8 and send students to a local high school or county vocational school district that has one or more CTE programs of study in computer programming, game and interactive media design, marketing, meeting and event planning or radio and television broadcasting. Priority consideration will be given to districts that serve a high population of students who are multilingual learners or other special populations, as identified by Perkins V legislation.
The notice of grant opportunity is now available on the Office of Grant Management webpage. Grant applications will be completed using the electronic web enabled grants system, which can be accessed through the NJDOE’s Homeroom web portal.
The grant application must be submitted by 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. A technical assistance workshop will be held via webinar at 10 a.m. on Jan. 14, 2025. Preregistration is required by Jan. 10, 2025.
For more information regarding the Esports Industry Career Exploration NGO, please direct questions to the Office of Career Readiness. For technical assistance regarding access to EWEG, please direct questions to the EWEG help email account.
