Community Engagement Fellowships - Deadline: April 16

Community Engagement Fellowship
Applications due April 16, 2010
Academic Year 2010 – 2011

Are you concerned with the issues facing your community? Do you want to learn more about your community and affect change? Do you think CCNY students should be more involved in the New York City community?

Apply for a Community Engagement Fellowship to receive a $3,000.00 scholarship and leadership development opportunities.

The Colin Powell Center’s Community Engagement Fellowship Program seeks students who are involved in their communities, value awareness of community concerns and hope to advocate for positive change through on-going work with community organizations and/or leaders.

Community Engagement Fellowships are awarded to City College undergraduate students who, in partnership with community organizations or leaders, design and carry out projects that address communityneeds in a sustainable way. Preference will be given to projects that address any of the Powell Center’s priority areas: International Development and Security, Community and Economic Development, Education, Health and Health Care and the Environment.

Fellowships can support a variety of student-led initiatives:

 Launch a new campaign at CCNY in partnership with a local community organization

 Use your project or community partnership to educate, involve and collaborate with other CCNY students or clubs

 Connect a service project to a class you are taking or a course of study in which you are interested

 Serve at a community organization and share information with the CCNY community through informative workshops

 Fundraise for an organization and advocate awareness of the issues that the organization addresses

 Launch a new service initiative from a club in which you are involved

 Start a CCNY chapter of a national non-profit organization

 Other projects that involve the CCNY community and address community needs in a sustainable way

Community Engagement Fellows receive an initial scholarship of $3,000 and may request up to $1,500 in the second or third year of the project. Fellows are also given access to extensive leadership development programming.

You are encouraged to ask questions and discuss your ideas in advance of sending in your application. We can help you connect with community partner organizations for your project, if you don’t already have those connections. Contact Stephanie Crane, program coordinator, scrane@ccny.cuny.edu, 212.650.5239.

Applications for the Colin Powell Center's Community Engagement Fellowships should include the following:

1. Cover sheet with (1) student’s name, (2) proposal title, (3) number of credits completed, (4) estimated number of semesters remaining at City College, (5) student’s major, (6) name of partnering organization, contact person and contact person’s email and phone, (7) student e-mail, phone numbers, and address, (8) names and contact information for two references for the student, at least one of whom should be City College faculty.

a. Project Focus: Describe the external community that the project will serve (e.g. low-income families, the elderly, the homeless etc.) or the problem that the project will address (e.g. illiteracy, hunger, the environment etc.).
b. Past Experience with Proposed Project/Issue: After describing the community or issue, explain why it is important to you and list any past work you’ve done in this area. Also, explain any way that this issue or population connects to your studies.
c. Partnerships: Discuss the partnership(s) you will create with community organizations, campus groups and the City College community. *You must plan to partner with at least one community-based organization or community leader. See (4.) below.
d. Goals & Activities (dedicate one to two pages to section (d.))
Civic Engagement Fellowships must include both education and action components. Educationincludes educating and raising awareness about the issue you are addressing. Action includes the direct services you might undertake to address the issue. Describe your goals and activities in each area.

Education and Awareness-Raising
i. By the end of the year, what do you hope to teach the CCNY community?
ii. What resources/sources of information will you use to inform yourself and others about your issue?
iii. What activities will you do to inform the CCNY community about the issue(s) your project addresses? Please include a specific timeline for your self-education and examples of activities you will conduct to raise awareness on campus and/or in the local community.

Action and Direct Service
i. By the end of the year, what will your actions have accomplished at City College or in the surrounding New York City community as a result of your project?
ii. What direct service work will you and others do through your project? Your activities should address the root causes and/or symptoms of the issue you are focused on. These activities should respond to needs identified by your community partner. Please include a specific timeline for service, activities, events and action you will take throughout the year.
iii. How will you recruit other students or groups to get involved?

e. Plan to Sustain Your Project in the Future: Please address each of the following:
i. What might your efforts look like one and five years from now?
ii. What will you do to ensure that the partnership with your community organization will continue?
iii. How will you recruit, mentor and support community members and/or CCNY students to take over the project so that it continues to operate in the future?
iv. What are the challenges you foresee in making this project sustainable?

f. Personal Strengths: What personal strengths and qualities will assist you in making this project successful this year and in the future?
g. Budget: If awarded the fellowship, $3,000 is distributed to your student account through the bursar’s office. How will you use these funds to further your education and/or support your project? Also, please include a general outline of estimated revenues and expenses of your project (fundraisers, events, transportation, etc.)

3. Two recommendation letters: These should be submitted in sealed envelopes with your application, and the recommender should sign across the seal of the recommendation envelope. One of the letters should be written by a CCNY faculty or staff member.

4. Confirmation of Partnership: Include a letter or copy of an e-mail from a representative of the off-campus organization that confirms their interest in working with you on your project.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 5:30 P.M., Friday, April 16, 2010
Send or drop off your application to the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies, Shepard Hall 550

Stephanie C. Crane
VISTA Program Coordinator
Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies
The City College of New York
160 Convent Avenue, Shepard Hall Rm. 550
New York, NY 10031

tel: 212 - 650 - 5239
scrane@ccny.cuny.edu