Regional Community Engagement Consortia Mini-Grants

Posted by Pennsylvania Campus Compact on July 10, 2017

PA Campus Compact is pleased to announce the availability of five mini-grants up to $1500 each in 2017-18 to support regional efforts among at least two PACC institutions to deepen community engagement either among institutions and/or with community partners. These funds are drawn from an internal grant and have been approved by PACC’s Board.

Aligned with PACC’s strategic initiatives, mini-grants will focus on both building higher education’s capacity to deepen civic and community engagement and strengthen Pennsylvania’s regional communities. These mini-grants will accomplish this through one of the following focus areas: 1) Professional development for campus leaders such as center directors, staff, and faculty. Topics may include faculty development for teaching civic learning, service-learning, community-based learning, and/or community-based research initiatives, enhancing promotion and tenure policies to value community engaged research, and other relevant community engaged higher education themes; 2) Issue-focused convening which highlights a community-identified need and gathers multiple stakeholders for synchronizing efforts to increase impact such as food access, community gardens, refugee/immigrant integration or other issues which draw on collective community efforts.

Mini-grant awards will be based on complete applications, compelling rationale for regional consortium, demonstration of building regional capacity to deepen community engagement, and applications which represent diversity within geographical regions and higher education sector type.

Application Requirements

1. Participation of at least two PACC institutions, but we recommend at least three, or more for greater impact (see attached application).
2. Letters of support from each institution’s president in the consortia, and/or letters of support from community partners contingent on focus area

Grant requirements

1. PACC will assist and guide all consortia in program design and facilitators or speakers enlistment, in order to align and coordinate with other regional consortia events. PACC also offers assistance with registration coordination (participant list and name tags), promotion of event, dissemination of event survey, and Zoom webinar capability for conference calls.

2. Consortia will select a steering committee to work with PACC. This committee will lead in event planning through program design, logistics, budget planning, developing printed agenda, coordination of room and catering. Note that recommended lead-time for promotion is 8 weeks.

3. Mini-grant funds will be applied to programmatic content such as costs associated with logistics for speakers or facilitators (travel, housing, meals), and/or technology. PACC recommends that a nominal registration fee be charged to cover incidentals such as catering.

4. A three page final report from consortia steering committee summarizing the event(s), achievement of goals/outcomes, final expenditures due 30 days following the conclusion of the consortia mini-grant supported event(s). All events must be concluded by 5/31/18.

Application deadlines: August 30, 2017 or January 5, 2018. Approximately 2-3 mini-grants will occur in the fall and the spring.

Submit application via email and electronic files to Char Gray-Sorenson at [email protected]. To obtain the application, contact Char at 717-571-0326 or [email protected].