Community-based Engaged Learning Grants

Office of the Provost/GC Journeys
community-based engaged learning Grant

Part of the mission of GC Journeys is to engage our learners with real-world problems in real-world settings. Doing so provides learners with experiences and activities that they will face when they leave our programs. To aid in this process, institutions engage their students in community-based engaged learning. Community-based Engaged Learning or CbEL seeks “student participation in service projects or community engagement . . . and integrate the service experience into course content” (Framework for Success, 2022). Incorporating student learning into real-world activities allows students to see the work they are doing and witness the impact of their efforts on the lives they serve.

Grant Purpose

The purpose of this grant is to provide instructors with seed funding to develop and implement a community-based engaged learning project that incorporates theory and practice within the community, local or international, and to enable students to think critically about the issues in the world around them and find ways to address those issues. Additionally, it expands the opportunities for students to participate in GC Journeys.

Spring 2023 Call for CbEL Grants

The call for CbEL grant proposals for Spring 2023 opens February 1, 2023 with a deadline of February 16, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. Once the applicant has their materials ready to submit, please log into GeorgiaVIEW, click on the Self Registration menu option, find the CbEL Grants Program course.  Be sure to complete the self-registration for the course. Submission instructions and forms to upload your materials are in the course announcements. 

For assistance, contact ctl@gcsu.edu, or call (478)445-2520

Grant amount: Up to $1,000.00

Proposal Timeline

Proposals are requested for Academic Year 2022-2023. The following is the timeline for proposals.

Application Open: February 1, 2023 to February 16, 2023 @ 5:00 p.m. EST
Committee review of proposals: March 3, 2023
Proposal decisions submitted to Provost's office: March 6, 2023
Notification letters distributed to applicants: March 7, 2023
Award Lasts Until: November 1, 2023 
Project Period: Up to one calendar year
Preliminary Reports Due by: November 1, 2023
Final Reports Due by: May 1, 2024

Budget Requirements

Projects will be funded for between $500 and $1,000. Awarded projects will be asked to identify their respective courses as community-based engaged learning and have them tagged in the PAWS/Banner system for our GC Journeys program.

What the funding can be used for:

  • Materials, supplies, and equipment needed for the project
  • Travel to and from the community site
  • Technology to be used as part of the project (If applicants are requesting funding for information technology hardware or software, they should first obtain a price quote from techquote@gcsu.edu. Applicants should also review the IT purchasing policy at http://www.gcsu.edu/technology/ITprocedures.)
Submitting Final Reports

Faculty who have received CbEL grants will need to submit final reports by November 1 for Round I grants and May 1 for Round II grants. The following conditions will need to be met:

  1. All expenditures from this award must follow Georgia College’s e-procurement, purchasing, and travel procedures. It is your responsibility to process your travel expenses and to enter all purchase requests into the e-pro system. All computer and software purchases must be approved by IT through techquote@gcsu.edu (Sonny McKenzie). Travel expense statements are to be entered into the system. You must maintain records in your research file.
  2. Any equipment purchased will remain the property of Georgia College. During the active life of your project, you will have priority use of this equipment.
  3. Any funds not encumbered or spent by May 1 (Round I) or November 1 (Round II), will be returned to Academic Affairs for reallocation.
  4. Submit a copy of the final report to OGSP.

The final report template can be found here.