Thursday is education & youth day on The Grant Brief.

Two credible funders open now for education and youth work — one national, funding a specific and often-overlooked population; one regional, backing youth development in Northeast Florida. Both take real applications, and both fund outside organizations, not their own affiliates.

What we know: ECMC Foundation is a national funder focused on postsecondary completion for students from underserved backgrounds. It made 198 grants totaling $60.1 million in its latest year, at a $27,500 median, with recipients including the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association and the University of Southern California. The Parenting Student Success initiative funds work that helps the roughly one in five college students who are also parents stay enrolled and graduate — a population most higher-ed programs overlook. Intake is a Letter of Inquiry year-round.

Realistic fit: colleges, systems, and nonprofits with a concrete program to improve persistence and completion for student-parents, backed by data and a plan to scale what works.

What we know: The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida is one of the region's largest — 2,248 grants totaling $76.2 million in its latest year, at a $5,000 median. This program funds youth development through sports, leadership, and life-skills programming at nonprofits serving young people in the Jacksonville area. It's regional by design, so if you're outside Northeast Florida, it isn't your grant.

Realistic fit: Jacksonville-area nonprofits running youth-development programs — athletics, mentoring, leadership, or life skills — with a track record of serving local young people.

The honest read: ECMC is national but narrow (student-parents in higher ed); the Community Foundation is broad on youth work but tightly regional. If you fit one of those two lanes, both are open and winnable right now.