Grantwriting
In this course, students have the opportunity to learn the basics of grant writing. A much sought-after skill in many sectors, grant writing helps a variety of nonprofits and government agencies obtain funds for various projects they are interested in pursuing. This course will help you research/profile donors, create activity plans and set realistic budgets, all as part of the grant proposal process. At the end of the course you should have a grant proposal strong enough to benefit our community partner, as well as serve as a work sample for your job market portfolio.
In this course, students have the opportunity to learn the basics of grant writing. A much sought-after skill in many sectors, grant writing helps a variety of nonprofits and government agencies obtain funds for various projects they are interested in pursuing. For this class, our community partner will be JOIN. As they describe on their website, JOIN exists to support the efforts of homeless individuals and families to transition out of homelessness into permanent housing.
Grantwriting for Environmental Defense
Environmentalism is a philosophy and social movement (come call it a revolution) involving both protection and improvement of the health of our natural environment. Environmentalism is an attempt to achieve sustainability so that both humans and the Earth thrive without compromising future generations. The movement in this country is credited as starting with Rachel Carson and her extremely popular book Silent Spring published in 1962, when it fact it was spawned in 1945 with the return of soldiers from World War II and the creation of suburbs that caused issues with sewage, storm water runoff, nonpoint source pollution, and inefficient energy sources.
This course will partner with Portland’s Community Cycling Center, helping them increase their capacity by developing grants for specific projects. The Community Cycling Center works to broaden access to bicycling and the benefits of cycling. Their vision is to build a vibrant community where people of all backgrounds use bicycles to stay healthy and connected. In order to write a successful grant proposal, one must gather up as much knowledge about the topic and the organization as possible.
The goal of this course is to provide students professional skills for grant proposal writing in the field of language diversity and sustainability. Along with the proposal writing skills, the students will learn a solid background in historical and societal issues that influence language diversity through hands-on collaboration with current language sustainability efforts. This capstone partners with one of the endangered language communities in the Northwest, specifically, the Warm Springs Tribal Language Program.
Racial Equity In Oregon
This Capstone partners with the Community Alliance of Tenants, Taking Ownership PDX and the Urban League. Students will learn the history of BIPOC communities in Oregon while working with our partners to fight racism, white supremacy and to create a different future for Oregon. Students in this course will learn how to write grants, work directly with organizations centering BIPOC homeowners and tenants and, if they choose, use their own skills and talents to support these organizations. All of this work can very easily be translated to working professionally in a nonprofit organization! A wide variety of project opportunities exist -- everything from scheduled shifts to projects that can be conducted on your own time and schedule.
Students in this Capstone will partner with Opal School (http://www.portlandcm.org/). Students will write proposals to fund special projects determined by Opal School representatives and the class. Class uses an experiential approach: that is, students learn to write compelling grants by engaging in the process of writing actual proposals to be used by Opal School in its pursuit of funding. Opal School of the Portland Children’s Museum is a private preschool (ages 3-6) and public charter elementary school (grades K-5).
Grant Writing for Animals: Shelter Pets
Approximately 2.7 million healthy, adoptable cats and dogs - about one every 11 seconds - are euthanized in U.S. shelters each year. This class partners with a local no-kill animal shelter to further its goals of eliminating the unnecessary euthanasia of healthy or treatable companion animals in the community and finding them permanent, loving homes.
Students will participate in the various aspects of grantwriting, including locating appropriate funders and ascertaining the needs of the community partner, as well as writing and reviewing grant proposals. A significant portion of this course is spent in online discussions, allowing students to explore the social/cultural dynamics of pet overpopulation, the ethical dilemmas presented by it, and the rise of the no-kill revolution in the United States. Please have a webcam or smartphone available for the discussions.
The end project will be a presentation and portfolio of grant proposals addressing the current needs of the community partner. Please contact Kimberly Mukobi, kmukobi@pdx.edu, for more information.
Grant Writing for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance Grant writing skills are critical to the survival of non-profit organizations. In this course, we partner with Portland’s Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) to help them increase their capacity by developing grants for specific projects. The BTA (http://www.bta4bikes.org/) works to promote bicycling and improve bicycling conditions in Oregon and SW Washington.