Google and National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) are committed to providing equitable access to CS education opportunities across the country. As part of our efforts, we are pleased to announce the new CS Outreach Program Evaluation Network (CS OPEN) designed to improve opportunities and empower underserved girls through computer science (CS) education. Google will provide expertise to improve NGCP programs by offering professional development to promote evaluation of CS education initiatives within the NGCP network. * This pilot will offer opportunities for NGCP programs to learn about exemplary evaluation practices in studying CS education and provide an opportunity to apply for small evaluation grants funded by Google over the coming year. * Funded evaluations are expected to impact programs that reach at least 5000 girls over the next year. The goals of these evaluations will be to produce knowledge that will improve individual programs and inform the field of CS education. We are hosting an informational webinar on Monday, October 5, 2015 from 9:30am-11:00am. This webinar will prepare you for submitting a grant application as well as provide important program evaluation resources. In this webinar you will be presented with a process and resources for planning program evaluation in four parts. The first step is to make sure you can describe the program including its purpose, who it serves and how it works. Second you will see ideas for how to define the evaluation with its particular purpose, focus, audience and context. Next you will see ways to plan the evaluation with specific questions, procedures, analyses and reporting strategies, and finally we will share ideas for managing evaluation including ways to define responsibilities, managing time frames and budget. This webinar will be recorded. The recording and slides will be sent to all registrants. If you are interested, but unavailable, please register and you will receive a link to the recording. Register for the Application Webinar here: http://www.ngcproject.org/cs-open-application-webinar. The grant application will open on Monday, October 5, 2015, close on October 19, 2015. Programs must first confirm eligibility before accessing the complete application. To be eligible for CS OPEN, applicants must meet the following requirements. 1. Be a non-profit organization or educational institution involved in the implementation of a program serving girls in K-12 computer science (CS) education. 2. Managing a program that can be implemented and evaluated by the end of Summer 2016. 3. The applying program or organization must be registered in The Connectory<http://www.theconnectory.org/>. The application and resource website will be available on Monday, October 5. . Google has provided $100,000 for this grant program. We expect to make approximately 10 awards ranging from $3,000 to $25,000. Feel free to forward this to programs who meet our eligibility criteria. Karen Karen Peterson, Chief Executive Officer The National Girls Collaborative www.ngcproject.org<http://www.ngcproject.org> @ngcproject