Office of Community Engagement

Community Engagement Mini-Grants

2014-2015

Eastern Washington University’s Office of Community Engagement invites interested faculty (at all levels) to submit proposals for the 2014-2015 Community Engagement Mini-Grants. The Community Engagement Mini-Grant program promotes faculty practice in service-learning, community-based research and community-engaged scholarship. The program offers three $500 mini-grants to encourage community engagement in the form of:

  • Service-Learning Course Development/Enhancement

Mini-grants will fund the design and implementation of new service-learning courses or enhancements to a current service-learning course. Projects should be collaboratively-conceived with community partners, address an unmet need in the community, and address project sustainability. The proposal should also demonstrate clear links between the project and course learning outcomes and include a project dissemination strategy (e.g, Engaged Faculty Forum).

  • Community-Based Research

Mini-grants will fund faculty work with community partners to identify critical research questions, design research studies, and conduct community-based action research. Projects should engage EWU students throughout the process as either research assistants or within a service-learning course. Proposals should identify prospective community partners, outline student learning outcomes, and include a project dissemination strategy (e.g., EWU Research and Creative Works Symposium).

  • Community Engaged Scholarship

Conference Travel:

Mini-grants will fund faculty and staff to attend a professional, academic, or service-learning conference to present work or participate in sessions on service-learning, community-based research, or other community-based learning activities. Applicants should demonstrate the ways in which the professional development opportunity will enhance their work on campus and how they will disseminate learning to the campus community (e.g., Engaged Faculty Forum or Community-based Learning Workshop Series).

Service-Learning Research:

Mini-grants will fund faculty to conduct research on service-learning. Faculty should outline their research agenda, the ways in which it builds upon research in the field of service-learning or their specific discipline, prospective publication/presentation outlets, and how the research will be disseminated to members of the campus community (e.g, Engaged Faculty Forum).

Community Engagement Mini-Grant
Application

Name of Applicant: ______Title/Department: ______

Phone Number: ______Email: ______

Project Title:______

Project Type: Service-Learning Course Development

Community-Based Research

Community Engaged Scholarship

Proposals must be submitted to the Office of Community Engagement in Showalter 115.

No more than 3 pages.

  1. Project Plan
  1. Connection to EWU Strategic Priorities:
  • Student SuccessFor example, how many students will this project impact and in what ways? How does this project strengthen connections between students and faculty members?
  • Innovation
  • Community Engagement
  • Visibility
  1. Dissemination Plan
  1. Project Timeline (Dates or time frame of the project)
  1. Evaluation PlanInclude project learning outcomes and assessment strategies (pre-post-tests, reflection papers and rubrics)
  1. Budget

Allowable Expenses Include:

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  • Travel
  • Student Workers
  • Photocopying Costs
  • Project Materials
  • Books and Resource Materials
  • Refreshments for trainings or community meetings lasting 2+ hours

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Applicant’s SignatureDate

Department Chair’s/Academic Leader’s SignatureDate

Dean’s SignatureDate

THE PROCESS:

Completed proposals will be received by the Office of Community Engagement (Showalter 115). Members of the Community Engagement Advisory Board will evaluate proposals and recommend three to be funded. The Provost’s Office will review the recommended proposals and give final approval. Proposals will be evaluated on the evaluation criteria below. Proposals will be assigned numerical identification codes to provide anonymity and then will be distributed to readers for evaluation and scoring.

DEADLINES:

November 1, 2014 / Mini-grant application must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. to the Office of Community Engagement (Showalter 115).
November 1-15, 2014 / Community Engagement Advisory Board members will review mini-grant proposals.
November 21, 2014 / Mini-grant recipients will be announced.
May 15th, 2015 / Final work must be completed and funds must be expended; final report submitted in hardcopy and in a Word Document to Office of Community Engagement.

Proposal Evaluation Criteria:

Innovation: incorporates new ideas … something beyond the expected.
Community Impact: project provides demonstrable impacts to the campus community and community-at-large.
Scope or Reach: benefits a large number of students, staff, faculty, community members and/or increases regional/national visibility for EWU.
Broad Applicability/ Ability to Replicate: other faculty/staff will be able to use the new materials and concepts.
Student Success: extent to which project influences student success and/or retention.
Clear deadlinesare set on starting and ending dates of the project, including dissemination and assessment activities.
Dissemination: project information will be widely disseminated to a variety of audiences.
Evaluation: clear project evaluation and assessment plan.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MINI-GRANTS
READER REVIEWER’S EVALUATION FORM

Proposal Number: ______

CATEGORY / % / SCORE (0-100)
Examples of scoring:
0=Does NOT meet criteria
50=Meets part of the criteria but is not very organized in thought or explanation.
70=Average, meets criteria
100= Outstanding, thoroughly explained / COMMENTS
Innovation: incorporates new ideas … something beyond the expected. / 15%
Community Impact: project provides demonstrable impacts to the campus community and community-at-large. / 15%
Scope or Reach: the number of students, faculty, staff benefiting from project and/or increased regional/national visibility for EWU. / 15%
Broad Applicability/ Ability to Replicate: other faculty will be able to use the new materials and concepts. / 10%
Student Success: the extent to which this project will influence student success and/or retention. / 15%
Clear deadlinesare set on starting and ending dates of the project, including dissemination and assessment activities. / 10%
Dissemination: project information will be widely disseminated to a variety of audiences. / 10%
Evaluation: clear project evaluation and assessment plan. / 10%
TOTAL POINTS:

Proposal is:recommended for funding

not recommended for funding

REVIEWER:______

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