Poverty Solutions and the Center for Social Solutions recently announced the inaugural faculty grants competition to pursue action-based research aimed at ending systemic and institutional racism. The awards, which range from $10,000 to $50,000, are open to faculty at the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint campuses.
Kristin Seefeldt, associate director of educational programs at Poverty Solutions, and Alford Young, Jr., Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Sociology, explain the grants program and application process in this episode of Michigan Minds.
“When it became time to think about doing our call for proposals for funding faculty research for this year and all of the events that have happened in 2020, it really led us to focus our efforts on issues around confronting and combating racism,” Seefeldt says.
Young agrees, and adds that the Center for Social Solutions was created for projects like this—fostering research and collaborations that diagnose and solve critical social problems.
“Issues of racism and anti-racism have jumped to the forefront of public attention and concern, and the University of Michigan should be in a place to promote investigative inquiry around these issues,” Young says.
Successful action-based research projects will cut across disciplines, and address challenges such as systemic oppression, organizational exclusion, institutional discrimination, neglectful policy, and violence against the minds, bodies, and cultures of people of color.
The grant program is part of a university-wide commitment to fund scholarship, teaching, and service initiatives related to racial equity. The deadline to apply is August 21, 2020.
Hear more from Seefeldt and Young in this episode of Michigan Minds.
