We are delighted to announce that the Trustees of the William T. Grant Foundation have approved continuation funding for three research-practice partnerships currently funded under the Institutional Challenge Grant program:
- Florida State University, Leon County Public Schools, and Florida A&M University (FAMU)
- Georgia Policy Labs, the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, and Achieve Atlanta
- The University of Michigan School of Public Health and Focus:HOPE
Continuation funding will bolster these partnerships’ efforts to improve reading achievement outcomes; increase college access and success for students from low-income families; and understand how mental health-enhanced workforce development programs may benefit employment, economic, and mental health outcomes for Black youth, respectively.
The Institutional Challenge Grant supports university-based research institutes, schools, and centers in building sustained research-practice partnerships with public agencies or nonprofit organizations in order to reduce inequality in youth outcomes. Each partnership receives an initial three-year award of $650,000, and all grantees have the opportunity to apply for a two-year continuation grant of $350,000 to solidify the partnership and institutional changes.
As part of the program, Institutional Challenge Grantees must conduct rigorous, co-designed research on strategies to reduce inequalities in youth outcomes and strengthen the capacity of partner agencies to use research in their practice—a feat for which each partnership has demonstrated success.
For Achieve Atlanta (AATL), a nonprofit that helps Atlanta Public Schools students access, afford, and earn postsecondary credentials, the partnership with Georgia Policy Labs and the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University provided valuable insights on the organization’s scholarship program. Studies produced by the partnership found that AATL Scholars are less likely to take out loans than non-Scholars and demonstrated better financial well-being, more credit hours, and higher GPAs. Research also found that the scholarships enabled students to work less and removed financial stress and strain from their families. Based on rapid response analysis from the university, AATL expanded its need-based criteria for applicants and increased the number of Scholars. In the continuation period, the partnership will continue to examine the longer-term impacts of the AATL scholarships.
In the initial grant period, the partnership between the University of Michigan and Focus:HOPE conducted a participatory community assessment using focus groups and photovoice to better understand the stressors affecting the mental health of Black youth served by Focus:HOPE’s workforce development programs. At Focus:HOPE, this work has translated to collaborative inquiry with youth and staff inquiry in ways that helped shift organizational thinking to see youth mental health as a systemic concern. After learning that youth were often unaware of the mental health supports already offered at Focus:HOPE, staff revisited their delivery strategies and revised intake processes and approaches to better identify participants who needed mental health support. In the continuation period, the partnership will convene a policy forum to share findings; co-develop quarterly reflection sessions with Focus:HOPE staff to integrate findings into decision-making; and explore and implement measurable indicators of research use, among other activities.
Grantees must also take steps to enhance institutional infrastructure for supporting and rewarding community-engaged research.
Florida State and FAMU, which are conducting and using research to improve reading instruction and address educational disparities alongside Leon County Public Schools, have each made strides in promoting engaged scholarship at their respective institutions. At Florida State, the team launched a small-grants program for mid-career and senior faculty to support partnership research. The university also integrated support for engaged research in its strategic plan and launched a website dedicated to community engagement across the university. At FAMU, the Dean of the College of Education supported the launch of a new research-practice partnership between FAMU and FAMU’s K-12 Developmental Research School. FAMU also elevated their mid-career fellows to two-year faculty fellow positions, a permanent structure for sustaining this partnership.
With continuation funding, Florida State will strengthen the FAMU/FSU community of practice, continue the faculty award program, and refine the partnership training program for faculty.
“We are proud of the impressive work these three partnerships have already demonstrated through the Institutional Challenge Grant program. As they strengthen their partnerships during the continuation period, we are confident that these grantees will make great progress in studying strategies that reduce youth inequality, enhance community partners’ capacity to use research, and elevate the value of community-engaged research at their universities,” said Senior Program Officer Jenny Irons, who manages the Institutional Challenge Grant program.
