Service-Learning Faculty Grant Program The Office of Engagement is inviting applications for the Service-Learning Faculty Grant Program designed to expand and institutionalize service-learning into the academic fabric of Purdue University by fostering the development of service-learning academic courses and curricula, projects, and scholarly pursuits in engagement by Purdue faculty. Faculty who aspire to and have an interest in this pedagogy, and who demonstrate potential for creating innovative, high-impact transformational learning experiences are encouraged to apply. It is expected that individuals receiving grants will incorporate service-learning into their courses and departmental curricula, as well as become campus-wide service-learning resources and advocates. This year we have re-invented our grant program in partnership with local non-profit agencies and the United Way. Five community partners have been invited to submit project proposals seeking support from a variety of different disciplines. Community partner proposals include: project goals, key staff that will support the project, benefits to the partner, learning opportunities for Purdue University students, and a timeline. Faculty are invited to submit applications for service-learning courses relevant to these projects. Up to $5,000 is available per project. Preference will be given to applications that demonstrate long-term, sustainable collaboration with the community partner organization and Purdue University. Faculty are encouraged to apply as interdisciplinary teams. Interested faculty must submit a completed application on or before Monday, May 1, 2017 (Apply Now). Announcements of award recipients and connections with community partners will be made on or before Friday, May 5, 2017. The program will officially begin in May of the selection year and end in May of the following year. Grant terms of service and community partner projects below. Completed proposals must be submitted on or before Monday, May 1, 2017. Terms of Service May May Meet & greet with SLFG cohort & community partners (May/June) Collaboratively develop a plan for course and project implementation (Summer/Fall) Attend semester kick-off breakfast meeting (August) Participate in SLFG cohort meetings once a month (Fall/Spring) Attend end of year celebration in a large group meeting to share final reports (April) Present at the annual Engagement & Service-Learning Summit, apply for an Indiana Campus Compact grant, and/or produce a scholarly contribution (on-going) Contribute to the assessment of service-learning (on-going) Expected Uses of Funds No funds may be used for salaries or honoraria. Funds may be used for travel needed to support the course/project. Funds may be used for materials, supplies, publicity, printing, postage, etc. needed to support the course/project. Page 1 of 7
Application To apply, click HERE. In addition to basic demographic information, the application itself requires the following narrative listed below. In no more than two single-spaced pages, 12-font, describe your proposed course including the following: Organized service-learning activity and course that meets identified community need(s) Linkage of course content and/or discipline to service-learning activity Reflection activities that will support: a further understanding of course content, broader appreciation of the discipline, and/or enhanced sense of personal values and civic responsibilities. Statement describing rationale for qualifying for grant Selection Process A selection committee consisting of Office of Engagement representatives, United Way representatives, and former service-learning faculty grantees will select the final award recipients. Announcement of award recipients will be made on or before May 5, 2017, and the program will officially begin in May of the selection year and end in May of the following year. The Office of Engagement will manage and coordinate all functions and activities thereafter. Questions Lindsey Payne, PhD, paynel@purdue.edu Service Learning, Office of Engagement Assistant Professor, Environmental & Ecological Engineering Purdue University Page 2 of 7
Trap-Neuter-Release Program Almost Home Humane Society Project Coordinator available during her regular work schedule Tuesday-Friday 10:30-6:30 and Saturday 8:30-4:30. Almost Home Humane Society and the City of Lafayette collaborated to create a Trap-Neuter-Release program for Lafayette beginning in 2015. The goal of this program is to help control the pet overpopulation problem in our community by trapping, sterilizing and releasing community cats back into managed colonies. Since the inception of this program, AHHS has been registering caretakers in our community, providing humane traps and sterilizing the cats when possible. While AHHS has made progress, our organization has not had sufficient staffing to address this program and the community cat issue on a large enough scale to make a significant impact on the problem of overpopulation. The Trap- Neuter-Release program is a high priority for AHHS, the Mayor of Lafayette and the Lafayette Animal Control Department. Creating a well-organized program that can increase the number of colonies registered, as well as, increase the number of cats sterilized in these communities would be a huge step forward for animal welfare in Lafayette. Our goal for this program is to expand the reach of the existing TNR Program for AHHS. This would include working directly with neighborhoods that are known to have community cat colonies to distribute information, register caretakers and provide traps. To accomplish this effectively, AHHS is in need of up to date materials to distribute, volunteers willing to go door to door in target areas and volunteers that are able to assist some caretakers with the actual trapping of cats. This could include paper materials, training videos for trapping and creating materials to help caretakers better provide for their colonies. This project could also include developing a system for recruiting, training and organizing volunteers specifically for this program. Not only would this project be an opportunity for students to gain experience creating outreach and training materials, it would be also be an opportunity for students wanting to work directly with the public and community to gain valuable skills in community outreach. Because TNR is a program that will take years to create a noticeable effect on pet populations in our community, this project could evolve over several years to meet the needs of our community cats. Page 3 of 7
Entrepreneurial Business Startup Hartford Hub Project Coordinator available 8am-5pm Monday-Friday; some hours in the evening such as Tuesday evenings and some Friday evenings Many of the youth in the Lincoln Neighborhood do not have access to education for entrepreneurial skills, safe spaces for creativity, stable family lives, and health and nutrition education. In an effort to encourage youth without these opportunities, the Hartford Hub would like to start a small business out of the Lincoln Neighborhood. We believe that among many reasons, these would be the main four purposes: 1) provide job training for youth, 2) encourage entrepreneurship, 3) promote fiscal responsibility, 4) and provide access to opportunities to help stabilize families. We see this project being done in four phases as we work with the youth to strengthen many of these life skills in launching a business: Phase 1: Choice of Business Service Determine what kind of business would be best to start with youth and young adults (i.e. landscaping business, lawn care, etc.) Phase 2: Development of Business Plan Work with youth to figure out and direct efforts toward the target consumer. We would also need to provide training in budgeting, payroll, advertisement, etc. Phase 3: Acquire Funding for Business Start-up Secure funding to purchase business start-up equipment. Phase 4: Business Growth & Stability Continue to support youth in developing a sustainable business model. A service-learning class would be a tremendous asset to this project as the youth would be paired with college student role models. The college students would bring skills they are learning in the classroom to the youth, such as how to start up a business, fiscal training, advertisement, human resources, etc. With the training they receive from Purdue, they can teach youth about these skills and encourage them in entrepreneurship. We can get multiple classes involved in the planning process, as well as the four different phases. Through this project, Purdue students can end up taking scholastic knowledge and putting it in to practice in their own communities to strengthen families and neighborhoods around them. Page 4 of 7
Development and Marketing Materials Lafayette Transitional Housing Center Project Coordinator availability to be scheduled with faculty/students as needed Lafayette Transitional Housing Center (LTHC) Homeless Services is proposing a service-learning collaboration to allow the agency to capitalize on the innovative strategies that Purdue students can generate on an agency-priority project each semester and for the student to have real-life experience during their college career to help them transition into the professional world. The scope of the project includes professional writing, video production, project management, design, outreach, social media, marketing and technical writing. These are the kinds of activities which LTHC needs assistance with on a regular basis. In addition, the reality that these students are born digital brings an enhanced level of skill to our setting. LTHC is an ever-growing organization and it will be easy to identify a primary project each semester that the students in a class could address. The specific goals are: To identify a need related to the agency s mission that is also pertinent to its strategic plan and business activities each semester. To allow students to create/design a response to that need. There are many benefits of a sustained service-learning relationship between LTHC and Purdue University. For the agency, the obvious benefit is to have students use their digital expertise, creativity, and access to cutting edge best practices to develop a set of visual and printed materials to represent us. Although we are a large organization, LTHC does not have a large budget for design and marketing so utilizing Purdue students and the associated funding would be an incredible windfall. The students who would participate in the service-learning opportunity would not only have workplace experience for their portfolio, but they would also interact with their community and prepare them for future civic engagement. The experience would hopefully enlighten them as to social problems and pique their interest and desire to help them find ways to be a part of the solution into their adulthood. The goal for this program would be to be implemented in the Fall 2017 semester and repeat each semester for as long as it continues to work. Page 5 of 7
Enhanced Volunteer Experience Right Steps Child Development Center Project Coordinator availability to be scheduled with faculty/students as needed Right Steps has recently solidified the child development centers volunteer documentation and acknowledgement processes to better track an unduplicated count of volunteers, and make certain they are appropriately thanked. During this process, we discussed the need to improve the consistency of each volunteer experience, better optimize the opportunities to engage volunteers to learn more about the agency, and build stronger relationships with them. We know that we are missing opportunities to cultivate new friends and deeper relationships. And while we have talked about it for some time, the time to build and implement a strong system never presents itself. So, we would love to have some help in the following area: 1) Documentation of and tracking data about: What volunteers are needed Who volunteers Number of hours each person volunteers What they do Why they do it What they learned How many return to volunteer again What they liked, would like to see improved 2) Cultivating communication processes for the Right Steps Volunteer Experience to include possibilities such as: What could be a volunteer task that we have not considered An orientation message and method An impactful acknowledgement flow An opportunity for feedback from the volunteer, like a survey monkey Anything else that might foster a relationship past the day they volunteer for the first time Training key staff on how to consider volunteers, and enhance their experience with those new communication processes. The benefits to Right Steps through this collaborative project will include: securing better informed and engaged volunteers; providing a better impression to visitors enhancing our public relations; fostering a larger pool of Right Steps friends from which to better identify and cultivate donors and partners; and lastly, technology tools for surveying, data collection, outcomes measurement, and communication. Purdue students will also benefit by learning about child care, while being able to develop their communication skills in public relations, marketing, and development. Students will also be able to develop and integrate their knowledge of technology assessment tools. Ideally one phase of changes will be completed by January 2018 such that it can be reported at our all agency Professional Development Day. However, timelines can be adjusted as needed. Page 6 of 7
Natural Playground Bauer Family Resources Project Coordinator available via phone and email M-F, 8am-5pm Project Goals & Objectives The overarching goal of this project is to create an organic, dynamic natural playground for use by children ages 0-5 at our largest Head Start location, 3600 Eisenhower Road, Lafayette, IN 47905. This environment will provide the groundwork for our staff to facilitate educational and developmental activities outside of the classroom. The environment will promote recreation and dramatic play, two important facets of our early childhood programming. Developing a natural playground fosters the creative minds of the children in our programs and enhances the children s connection with nature. The project funding, as well as student expertise and time will help Bauer s Head Start and Early Head Start programs in meeting the required contribution for non-federal share (in-kind). Head Start only funds 80% of Bauer s ECE programs. This means that Bauer depends on donations and partnerships to generate enough funds to operate the remaining 20% of the program. Projects like this help us meet our in-kind requirement. Purdue students pursing degrees in a wide variety of fields will benefit from participating in the development of this playground. Engineering students can learn from the planning and installation of equipment and landscaping items while Early Childhood or Human Development students can learn from the ways in which children interact with the facilities and each other. Ideally, initial planning will occur in Summer/Fall 2017 with design and installation of equipment and landscaping in Fall 2017/Spring 2018. Monitoring of playground activity and maintenance will occur Spring 2018 onward. Page 7 of 7