Startups are always hard. But if you don’t pursue your dreams, you’ll never know if it stand the chance to be successful. Dreams are all we have. Take them seriously.

We’re all eager to get government grants. (Hey, I’m no exception–I’ve gotten plenty of free government money for myself and my business, and always am on the lookout for more.) One of the most common questions is how to apply for it. Well, the answer is, it depends. Let me explain. You may already know that there are many, many funding programs out there, and they have their own ways of matching their available funding with deserving recipients.

Autism Speaks, the world’s leading autism advocacy and science organization, today announced that it has awarded $450,000 in grants for two projects focused on developing independent functioning and increased participation in community life for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Quite often, if you want to receive grants and funding, you will be asked to submit a grant proposal. How you structure it will depend upon what the grant funder requires and your own decisions on what’s best. Each request for proposals is unique, with varying degrees of how creative you can be. As usual, though, we’re going to follow our rule of doing exactly what the grant provider asks of you, to maximize your chances for grants and funding. To the extent you can, you should make your grant proposal tell a story.

Whether you’re unemployed, underemployed, or just ready for a change, there may be programs that can help you improve your job situation in a variety of ways. First, you can typically access government grants for education to either begin your college career or go back to school, whether it’s academic learning or a trade school.

Samsung announced that the company has awarded 63 scholarships to New Jersey high school students to serve as Samsung Scholars at the Rutgers Summer Science Program in July, which provides participants with week-long science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) immersion sessions. Further, two former Summer Science Program attendees received the first Samsung STEM College Scholarship which grants $2,500 to New Jersey students pursuing undergraduate degrees in STEM fields.

Each of us is just one person, and sometimes we can feel powerless against giant institutions, especially bodies of government. After all, they’re notorious for being bureaucratic and staffed by uncaring workers who take pleasure in thwarting citizens, right? The politicians are no better, promising everything to get elected, then forgetting about us little people once they’re in.

30 College Scholarships for Veterans and Their Families

YouthBuild grants totaling $76M available to help at-risk youth
complete education, develop job and leadership skills. The program helps young people who left school early to complete high school or state equivalency degree programs, and learn critical job skills in demand in the construction, health care, information technology and other industries.

Here’s John Kelly of The Washington Post, in his own words, relating his experience with being offered $9,200 out of the blue, “for being a good citizen.”

Isn’t it nice that even though dozens of federal agencies were shut down, the U.S. Government Grants Department was able to stay open?

That’s who called me last week with the welcome news that I was going to be paid $9,200 — tax-free — simply for being a good citizen.

If you’re like most students, you probably took out student loans to help pay for your education. For some students, their loan debt is a never-ending nightmare that they don’t think they’ll ever get out of. There is, however, an option available for some students called student loan forgiveness – which means you don’t have to pay your student loans back. For students who meet the criteria, it can be an excellent way to stop pouring money down the loan payment drain. Let’s take a look at some different types of student loan forgiveness.

If you are an American homeowner whose mortgage is (or was) with Ally Financial, Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, or JP Morgan Chase, you’ll be interested in this news. You may be eligible for part of a financial settlement to help avoid foreclosure. The settlement will provide as much as $25 billion in relief to distressed borrowers and direct payments to states and the federal government.

You’ll sometimes encounter government grant applications or proposals that need to be very detailed, with a long list of requirements from the funders that you, as an applicant must fulfill. This can be especially true for government grants because of the government’s penchant for bureaucracy. Before I go on, though, I just want to point out that the long, involved grant

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently awarded nearly $10.5 million in grants designed to protect children and other vulnerable groups from health hazards in their homes. This grant funding highlights the link between housing and health and develops cost effective methods for mitigating residential hazards. HUD’s grants are being awarded to academic and non-profit research institutions studying new methods to recognize and control residential health and safety hazards such as asthma triggers, bed bugs, mold, and radon.

You may sometimes think that if you could just go back in time with what you know now, you could be rich from having taken advantage of what turned out to be great opportunities. Getting some Microsoft stock early on, buying a Jackson Pollack painting, purchasing a Brooklyn brownstone, and countless other opportunities could have had you sitting pretty today. Instead of playing the “what if” game, you may actually have the opportunity right now to get in on one of these purchases that will go up and up in value later on.

For many of us, our smartphones and tablets are enjoyable diversions and even an integral part of our work and leisure lives. But they’re even more than that to some persons with disabilities. They’ve helped take the place of other forms of assistive technology. In case you’re not familiar with assistive technology, it consists of devices

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the selection of organizations in 11 states for loans and grants to support job creation efforts and business development, and to strengthen economic growth in rural communities.

The Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund (MMMF) is a $12,000 grant award for women applicants of developing countries to pursue higher education in the USA and Canada. The MMMF also typically invites the recipients to Washington DC to participate in a three day Awards Program organized in their honor.

Applicants must be enrolled (in residence) at an accredited US or Canadian educational institution for the academic year 2013-14 and intend to be enrolled for the 2014-15 academic year.

An MMMF grant covers a portion of the total costs for an academic year. Grant application deadline is January 15, 2014.