The University of Nebraska is moving forward with plans to develop a Rural Futures Institute. The proposed institute will be launched at the end of September. It is designed to foster sustainable relationships and partnerships.
Two Rural Futures Institute grant programs were launched Aug. 13. The grants are intended to create an environment in which deep and meaningful collaborative partnerships are the norm: across campuses, across departments and disciplines, and with external stakeholders such as other non-University campuses, communities, state and local government, trade associations, civic groups and the philanthropic community.
There are two types of grants: Teaching and Engagement; and Research and Engagement.
The teaching and engagement grants are designed to foster the development of teaching and engagement work that establishes a tradition of faculty-led community engagement and service-learning programming. These programs develop a structure that forms partnerships between faculty and community agencies/programs. The grant program also encourages college student involvement. For more information, go to http://go.unl.edu/gp2.
The research and engagement grants are designed to foster the development of research and engagement work that addresses critical challenges and opportunities facing rural Nebraska and the Great Plains. These grants function as seed grants designed to lay the foundation for larger requests to funding sources external to the university. For more information, go to http://go.unl.edu/s6z.
Both grants have deadline dates in October. Additional request-for-proposal information is available through the links above or at http:// ruralfutures.nebraska.edu/grants.
For assistance identifying potential grant partners, visit the “Let’s Talk Rural Futures” site, http://www.talkruralfutures.org, to see if others have similar interests. The site is designed to begin conversations that lead to successful partnerships.
For more information contact the Rural Futures Planning Team by sending email to ruralfutures@nebraska.edu. Learn more about the Rural Futures Institute at http://go.unl.edu/bmj.
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/bmj