CREATING WHOLE COMMUNITIES FACULTY FELLOWSHIP

PROJECT APPLICABILITY CHECKLIST

The Creating Whole Communities Faculty Fellowship research grants require that projects are focused on building strong place-based communities. Before submitting a proposal for the CWC research grants, please check for project applicability. For the Relationship Building Grant, CWC will support proposals in which the university-community relationship has potential to foster a stronger place-based community. For the Research and Implementation Grant, CWC will support partnerships between UMSL faculty and Missouri communities for the benefit of community building practice and/or public policy in the context of a particular neighborhood/municipality or in multiple neighborhood/municipalities. Use the checklist below to ensure that your project has a place-based focus required by the program. 

  1. Is your project place-based/focused on community building?

    • Is it focused on a geographic place or jurisdiction, such as a neighborhood  (for example, Dutchtown), municipality  (for example, Jennings), block  (for example, 5700 block of Cabanne), a small town  (for example, Salem, Missouri)?
    • Is it focused on helping that place to function better, gain a deeper understanding, or to thrive in some way?
    • Does it address the wellbeing of people within that place, not just the organization you’re partnering with?
    • Is it focused on research that could lead to geographic places functioning better through policy or leadership development?

      Qualifying examples:
      ✓ Research on leadership qualities in mayors
      ✓ Research on youth participation in neighborhood councils
      ✓ Research on housing quality and impacts on college matriculation rates in Normandy–partner is the Community Association of Normandy

      Disqualifying examples:
      x Research on leadership qualities of non-profit CEOS
      x Research on youth participation in food bank volunteerism
      x Research on housing quality and impacts on college matriculation rates – partner is the  Scholarship Foundation

  2. Are you partnering with a place-based organization?

    The CWC grants require a partnership with a community partner that is a place-based entity which is one whose efforts focus on serving a particular neighborhood, region, block, municipality, etc. The organization addresses the needs and strengths of their own communities. Some examples of place-based organizations are provided below:

    ✓ Neighborhood Associations
    ✓ Beyond Housing
    ✓ Block Units
    ✓ University City School District
    ✓ Community Development Corporations
    ✓ Missouri Municipal League

    If you are seeking a place-based entity, we recommend starting with the  STL Neighborhood  Organizations Map  for St. Louis-metro based projects. CWC has connections with many of these entities and can assist with facilitating a connection. 
  3. Does your project focus on a topical area in community building? Examples include but are not limited to:

    ✓ Local Government
    ✓ Environmental Sustainability
    ✓ Civic vitality
    ✓ Community ownership or pride
    ✓ Civic leadership or capacity
    ✓ Community resources
    ✓ Civic participation
    ✓ Community engagement
    ✓ Economic development or vitality
    ✓ Housing or real estate development
    ✓ Revitalization
    ✓ Concentrated law enforcement consequences
    ✓ Belonging

If your project addresses these three points in the affirmative, then your project will likely apply to the CWC Faculty Fellowship program.   To view projects funded by CWC in the past, visit: Past CWC Research Projects.

For questions, please reach out to Tasnim Haq at   tfhktb@umsl.edu.