The William T. Grant Foundation is delighted to announce eight finalists for the 2026 Institutional Challenge Grant competition.
The Institutional Challenge Grant supports universities in building long-term research-practice partnerships with public agencies or nonprofit organizations to reduce inequality in youth outcomes. The partnerships work together to conduct collaborative research, improve the capacity of researchers to produce relevant research, and enhance the capacity of the agency and nonprofit partners to use research evidence to improve youth outcomes. Finally, the universities shift policies and practices to value and incentivize collaborative research.
The eight finalists will be interviewed by the selection committee later this month, and the Foundation’s Board of Trustees will approve awards for the winning partnerships in March 2026. The selected institutions will receive $650,000 over three years, with the opportunity to apply for a two-year continuation grant to solidify the partnership and institutional changes. This year, the Spencer Foundation and the Bezos Family Foundation have partnered with the William T. Grant Foundation to support the Institutional Challenge Grant program.
“We were thrilled to receive 62 applications for the Institutional Challenge Grant this cycle—the largest volume of applications ever for this program. The selection committee had the difficult job of identifying finalists among an impressive and deep pool. This year’s finalists are proposing partnerships to improve outcomes for youth impacted by the child welfare system; examine how place-based youth-serving organizations address youth inequality; reduce youth homelessness; address racial and economic inequalities in academic outcomes; and tackle mental health disparities. Community-engaged scholarship can illuminate strategies to confront some of the most critical issues facing youth today, and we are excited by the number of institutions across the nation that are recognizing the value of this work,” said Senior Program Officer Jenny Irons, who manages the program.
This year’s finalists are:
Opportunity by Design: A Place Based Research-Practice Partnership for Youth Success (OBD- RPP)
Katherine Lambert-Pennington, University of Memphis
Marlon Foster, Knowledge Quest
Nothing About Us Without Us: Centering Youth Voice to Understand Educational Trajectories of Youth Experiencing Foster Care
Erik Ness, University of Georgia
Heather Rowles, Multi-Agency Alliance for Children
Ending Youth Homelessness in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Vincent Reina, University of Pennsylvania
Akbar Hossain, Office of the Governor of Pennsylvania
Advancing Multilingual Youth Success Through Networked Improvement Communities
Jesse Senechal, Virginia Commonwealth University
Danielle Greene-Bell, Richmond Public Schools
Northwest Education Research Partnership: Reducing Inequalities in the Math Beliefs of Teachers and Students
Dara Shifrer, Portland State University
Schay Esparza, Clackamas Education Service District
Closing Gaps in Academic Outcomes and Relational Trust in El Paso School Communities: A Research-Practice Partnership Study of Needs-Based Resource Allocation Policy
Clifton Tanabe, University of Texas at El Paso
Marivel Macias, El Paso Independent School District
Reducing Mental Health Inequalities among Black Youth through Storytelling and Capacity Building
Briana Woods-Jaeger, Emory University
Terri Fishback, Boys and Girls Club of Metro Atlanta
Youth and Families at the Center: Advancing Equitable Workforce Pathways Through Institutional Change and Research-Practice Partnership
Akane Zusho, Fordham University
Kimberly Watson, Graham Windham
