To promote positive school climate initiatives, the New Jersey State Bar Foundation will award mini-grants of $500 to ten schools per fiscal year. One middle school grant of up to $1,000 is also available to a select partner school.
Any New Jersey public, private or charter school may apply.
Questions? Please contact Zoey Guarino, Director of Conflict Resolution and Anti-Bias Initiatives at zguarino@njsbf.org.
Mini-Grant Application 2025-2026
- For: K-12 Educators who have attended an NJSBF Peer Mediation Training
- Number of Grants: 10
- To Be Used for: Training supplies, materials, or photocopies, Awards, giveaways, or stipends for students, snacks and refreshments
- Grant Amount: Up to $500
- Application Deadline: The application portal to 2025-2026 is now closed.
Middle School Grant Application 2025-2026
- For: Grade 5-8 Educators who have attended an NJSBF Peer Mediation Training
- Number of Grants: 1
- To Be Used For: Developing and training a team of student mediators and collaborating with NJSBF to develop a new educator training to be offered to other middle schools and districts starting in 2026-2027.
- Grant Amount: Up to $1,000
- Application Deadline: The application portal for 2026 is now closed.
We turn-keyed the practices learned from NJSBF’s Conflict Resolution and Peer Mediation Trainings. The results were so positive that what began as a single-school initiative is now part of our approved district curriculum, has been presented at Board of Education meetings, and has truly become part of the fabric of our school community. We now have a school culture where disputes decrease, emotional regulation improves, and students recognize that peaceful problem-solving is both possible and expected.
Each year, at a Foundation Peer Mediation Training, our fourth-grade peer mediators model the mediation process for educators, share the benefits from the student perspective, and then coach adult participants as they practice the peer mediation protocol themselves.
Watching our students guide teachers, counselors, and administrators through conflict scenarios illustrates just how deeply they understand and believe in the process.
