Description:
Please Note: While the funder does not limit the number of applications from an institution, this competition is to select the application that will receive the full endorsement and support of OVPR and Corporate and Foundation Relations.
Overview
The Institutional Challenge Grant encourages research institutions to build sustained research-practice partnerships with public agencies or nonprofit organizations in order to reduce inequality in youth outcomes.
To do so, research institutions will need to build the capacity of researchers to produce relevant work and the capacity of agency and nonprofit partners to use research. Equally important, research institutions will need to shift their policies and practices to value collaborative research.
Applications are welcome from partnerships in youth-serving areas such as education, justice, child welfare, mental health, immigration, and workforce development.
The Goal
The purpose of this award is to encourage research institutions to build sustained research-practice partnerships with public agencies or nonprofit organizations in order to reduce inequality in youth outcomes.
To achieve this purpose, research institutions will need to address four important goals:
Build a sustained institutional partnership with a public agency or nonprofit organization that serves young people in the United States.
Pursue a joint research agenda to reduce inequality in youth outcomes .
Develop the capacity of the partners to collaborate and use research evidence.
Create institutional change to value the partnership and its work.
The Award
The William T. Grant Foundation will make a $650,000 award to a research institution to support a research-practice partnership for three years. The award may be renewable for an additional two-year term. The grant will provide:
Up to $60,000 for 6-12 months of joint planning activities (e.g., refining protocols for partnering, selecting fellows, finalizing partnership agreements, etc.).
Fellowship support for the equivalent of one full-time or two half-time fellows per year, for two years. In addition, the research institution must contribute the equivalent of one full-time or two half-time fellows for the equivalent of a one-year, full-time term.
Up to three years of support for the partnership to conduct research to reduce inequality in youth outcomes.
Resources to develop the capacities of both partners.
Indirect cost allowance of up to 15 percent of total direct costs.
The Foundation encourages proposals from teams with African American, Latino, Native American, and Asian American members in leadership roles. The partnership leadership team includes the project’s principal investigator and the lead from the public agency or nonprofit organization.
Recipients of the award will have the opportunity to apply for a two-year continuation grant in order to solidify the partnership and institutional changes. At the end of a five-year grant, the following results are expected:
The research institution has established a set of strategies that facilitate sustained research collaborations with public agencies or private nonprofit organizations.
The public agency or private nonprofit organization has increased its capacity to use research evidence.
Participating researchers have improved partnership skills.
The research generated has been used in decision making and is likely to lead to improved outcomes for youth.
It is hoped that lessons from these grants radiate beyond the funded institutions and fellows. After the first few awards are made, the Foundation plans to gather the grantees and fellows to learn from one another.
Eligibility
Eligible principal investigators
The principal investigator should be a leader at the research institution. S/he should have visibility, influence on institutional policies and practices, and access to the resources needed to implement and optimize the award. S/he should also possess the skills needed to cultivate trusting relationships with leaders from the partner public agency or nonprofit organization.
Eligible partnerships
Research-practice partnerships are defined as long-term, mutually beneficial collaborations that promote the production and use of rigorous and relevant research evidence. These partnerships take a long view and should extend beyond the life of any one grant, project, or leader. While the competition is open to partnerships at different stages of maturity, applicants will need to convince reviewers that the grant adds significant value to what already exists. We anticipate that it will be difficult for a well-established partnership with strong institutional support to make a convincing case that the award adds value. For younger partnerships, reviewers will seek promising initial evidence that the partners have successfully worked together in the past and have the potential to sustain a long-term collaboration.
Internal Application Requirements & Criteria Requirements
In 1-2 pages, please describe the Institutional Partnership between Penn State and the public agency or nonprofit organization with which you plan to partner. In 1-2 pages, please describe the Joint Research Agenda to reduce inequality in youth outcomes. Also include a 1-2 page CV and a 1 page letter from the partnering organization supporting the research agenda. Applications should not exceed 6 pages total.
Please upload your document in ONE .pdf document with the title 'LastName_WTGrantIC_2017.pdf'.
Criteria
Below are the criteria that will be used to evaluate each internal applicant's Institutional Partnership and Joint Research Agenda:
Institutional Partnership
1. The rationale for partnering provides compelling evidence that the research institution and the public agency or nonprofit organization can build a sustained partnership that will work together effectively.
2. The plan for partnering demonstrates mastery of the literature on the challenges and strategies for collaborative work to promote the use of research evidence.
3. Activities for building the partnerships will cultivate trust and deepen relationships.
4. There is evidence that the public agency or nonprofit organization is invested in the partnership, will interact regularly with the fellows, and has strong plans for using the research.
5. The partnership is likely to be sustained after the award ends.
Joint Research Agenda to Reduce Inequality in Youth Outcomes
1. The long-term research agenda (including one or more research projects) aligns with the Foundation’s focus on building, testing, and improving programs, practices, and policies to reduce inequality in youth outcomes.
2. The research questions and findings are likely to significantly advance the public agency or nonprofit organization’s efforts to reduce inequality in youth outcomes.
3. The research plan demonstrates mastery of related theory and empirical findings and builds upon that work.
4. The research plan reflects rigorous methods that are appropriate for the proposal’s goals.
5. The research plan is feasible given the resources and time frame.
6. Plans to interpret and use the research findings in policy or practice decisions are convincing and feasible given the resources and time frame.
If you have any questions, please contact Heather Winfield (hbw11@psu.edu ) in Corporate and Foundation Relations or Michelle Hutnik (mzh17@psu.edu ) in the Office of the Vice President for Research.
