UNIVERSITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH COMMUNITY SERVICE GRANTS

The University Presbyterian Church (UPC) requests proposals for Community Service Grants to support innovative projects that address challenges in the Baton Rouge community, specifically for sustainable partnerships between LSU students and community organizations that serve lower to moderate income communities in the areas of education, health care, or human services. Grants may be awarded to students, student organizations or faculty members working with service learning who have existing partnerships with community organizations and a well-defined project in which they will engage during the semester; or they may be for students who want to establish such a relationship with an organization, identify needs of the community and organization, and write a grant to create an ongoing partnership. Student involvement with the community and direct service to will be a primary criterion in the awarding of grants.  An advisory committee of the UPC will judge the proposals.

Previous grant awards have gone to service-learning classes providing direct service to the community partner, such as landscape architecture students working with recovery efforts in New Orleans and feminist studies students putting together a computer lab for the Safe House of Baton Rouge.  Other awards have gone to the Ceramic Art Student Association for their work with the Empty Bowls project and the Honors College to create a college preparatory class at a local high school.  Grants are not awarded where the service to the community partner is solely in writing the grant proposal.

Eligibility:
LSU students involved in LSU service-learning classes or working with sponsors officially recognized by UPC or LSU as having a track record with successful service programs: e.g., CCELL, Volunteer LSU, CSLI, AmeriCorps, Office of Greek Affairs, CUP, the University Chaplain’s Association. Recognized student organizations are also eligible, as well as faculty members teaching service-learning classes certified by CCELL that require additional funds for the work of students with community partners.  The community partner must be a non-profit organization or school. No funds should be requested for salaries, either for students or organization staff.

Funding:
Grants of up to $1,000 each will be awarded on a competitive basis until the available funds are exhausted.

Type of Proposal:
Student and Student Organization Grants:  Those with existing relationships with a community organization can request funding for projects early in the semester.  Their engagement will be in delivering the service or working with the resources supplied by the grant in the community organization.  Deadlines:  Oct. 10, 2008, at 2:30 p.m.; December 5, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. for projects in the Fall Semester; Feb. 6, 2009, at 2:30 p.m.; April 6, 2009 at 2:30 for projects to be completed in the Spring Semester 2009.

Faculty Grants:  Faculty members can request funding for a service-learning course before the beginning of each semester.  Proposals should emphasize student involvement in the community through the service-learning process.  Deadlines:  December 7, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. for course that will take place in the Spring Semester of 2009.  August 4, 2009 at 2:30 p.m. for courses that will take place in the Fall Semester of 2009.

Contents of Proposals:
· Narrative (2 pages). Describe the community organization, the service the organization provides, the nature of the specific problem to be addressed, the proposed solution, the student engagement in the solution, project start and end dates, anticipated results, and measures to be used to judge success.
· A line-item project budget (15 lines or less) with an accompanying budget narrative (no more than 1 page) that justifies each item. Amount requested should not exceed $1,000.
· A letter of support from the community organization, which attests to the value of the project and the student(s)’s engagement in the work.
· A letter of support from the LSU organization or the instructor in a service-learning class, which attests to the student(s)’s ability to carry out the project and to the level of the student(s)’s engagement.

Submission:
Applications should submit the original proposal and letters, plus an electronic copy of all materials in PDF format, by 2:30 p.m. on the deadlines above, to the University Presbyterian Church Office, 3240 Dalrymple Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70802.

Additional Requirements:
All projects which receive funding will be asked to prepare brief oral and written reports on the project. Further information will be provided with the funding notice.

Technical Assistance:
For assistance in preparing your proposal, consider contacting Jan Shoemaker (jshoema@lsu.edu), Director of CCELL, the Directors of the Writing Center: Sarah Liggett (enligg@lsu.edu), Director; Deborah Normand (dnormand@lsu.edu), Assistant Director