CFDA Number: 84.927A
Program Type: Discretionary/Competitive Grants Also Known As: Formerly known as "Ellender Fellowships."

This program provides financial aid to enable low-income students, their teachers, and recent immigrants to come to Washington, D.C., to study the operations of the three branches of the federal government.

The Close Up Foundation administers the program. Participants consist of students, teachers, and recent immigrants, who attend seminars on government and current events and meet with leaders from the three branches of government.

The Close Up Fellowship program pays for economically disadvantaged, middle and secondary school teachers and students, whose families have moved to the United States within the last five years, to spend one week in Washington, DC. Attending seminars on government and current events and meeting with leaders from the three branches of the federal government. The program also supports professional development related to civic education for teachers of participating students.

The Close Up Fellowship program provides a noncompetitive grant to the Close Up Foundation, based in Washington, DC. Funding is available in three areas: (1) fellowships for economically disadvantaged middle and secondary school students, with special consideration given to students with disabilities, ethnic minority students, and students with migrant parents; (2) the foundations' professional development programs for middle and secondary school teachers and its programs to increase civic responsibility and understanding among that teachers' students; and (3) fellowships for the New Americans Program, which serves economically disadvantaged students whose families have immigrated to the United States within the past five years.