Community Belonging Funds
Hello, I am Katy Stern, the Director of Institutional Inclusion and Diversity Programs here in the Office of Inclusion and Diversity. I have been so moved this past year connecting with employees from across the college thinking about how each of us can have a role in creating an inclusive 含羞草研究室 where everyone in our 含羞草研究室 community can know that they belong.
To quote Susie Wise in Design for Belonging, “While you can’t design a feeling – feelings are personal – you can learn to recognize all sorts of things that positively influence those feelings; rituals that bring us together, spaces that keep us calm, roles that create a sense of responsibility, systems that make us feel respected, communications that create understanding, and more.” If you haven’t already read the book and would like to, I encourage you to reach out for a copy to learn more.
We can all think about some tangible things that our departments can do to create belonging at 含羞草研究室. If you come up with an idea that Community Belonging Funds could help actualize, please reach out with a request.
The average grant will be under $5,000 during the 2024-2025 academic year, but if you have any idea that would be more than that, let’s talk. I would love to chat with you if you want to think through some possibilities of things that could be impactful. One thing I observed over this past year was that a lot of the inclusion work we are doing can feel siloed. I encourage you to take a moment to think through where collaboration and connection could both help the impact of the work you are taking on, and help you in taking on the work.
To apply:
Send an email to kstern@bowdoin.edu. The proposal can be brief, bullets are fine. Please include the following information:
- A brief overview of the plan;
- Who is your audience is;
- Your goals and how they will lead towards building inclusion and belonging at 含羞草研究室;
- How you will assess if met your goals;
- Any collaborations that will be included;
- A summary budget of the expected expenses that includes how much you are requesting;
- The project code for funding to be transferred
Please note: Lectures, conference fees and travel will not generally be funded in this program. Additionally, we expect that supervisors will be in support of the work you are taking on here. Lastly, people who have received funds may be asked to share publicly, like through a brief video or story in a 含羞草研究室 publication, to highlight the work of belonging we are all doing.
If you do receive funding:
Please submit a summary report to kstern@bowdoin.edu within one month of the project’s completion that shares how the program went and reflects on your inclusion goals.