The Embassy of the United States of America announces the continuation of the Democracy Commission Small Grants Program. Grants are awarded to non-governmental, non-profit organizations and independent mass media officially registered in Moldova. For the June round, the U.S. Embassy welcomes projects related to one of the following priorities: Civic education, strengthening and promotion of civil society and democratic institutions; gender equality, women’s empowerment and women's rights, ethnic equality and the rights of minorities; ethnic and political harmony, tolerance issues, combating extremism and xenophobia; independent media, free flow of information, transparency in government; public participation in decision making; anti-corruption awareness: campaigns and trainings; and institutionalization of open, pluralistic, and democratic political processes at the local level. Implementation of proposed projects should yield concrete results. Preference will be given to projects that target youth. The program does not support: humanitarian assistance or charitable activities; political or partisan activities; scientific research; conferences and/or individual trips abroad; trade activities; projects aimed at primary institutional development of the organization; The deadline for submitting applications is Friday, June 30, 2006, 16:00. This program was initiated in 1994 as a flexible mechanism to enable American Embassies to support the development of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, and the CIS. The Democracy Commission in Moldova started its activity in 1996.