Application now open for 20×30’s network activation funding

Many NIRSA members are already familiar with the 20×30 Network and its aim to transform the lives of 20 million college students by the year 2030—either through their own participation in a face-to-face or virtual transformathon event, visiting their poster at the NIRSA 2019 Annual Conference, or seeing some of their work on NIRSA’s social media over this past year.

For those not yet familiar, 20×30 is a diverse network of people and organizations working together to catalyze action to transform the lives of 20 million students in higher education by 2030 through:

Improving student wellbeing—how to improve their lives for a lifetime
Removing health related barriers to learning, academic achievement, and overall student success
Closing equity gaps for students who are not thriving
Inspiring and preparing students to become future leaders and engaged citizens who actively build a culture of health and wellbeing for all

Anyone can join the network at any time. As 20×30 states, “There is no monetary cost to join the 20×30 Network. Instead, 20×30 change makers are charged with engaging in unprecedented collaboration, testing new ideas, and sharing what they learn, including learning from both successes and failures.”

These values and efforts are very much in line with those laid out in Health and Wellbeing in Higher Education: A Commitment to Student Success.

Grant funding opportunity

When it comes to integrated wellbeing, most higher ed professionals understand why working across disciplines and even across campuses is important. However, they’re quick to state a lack of resources as a barrier to getting started with a new idea or furthering a promising initiative.

Now is your opportunity to apply for $500-$4000 to help cultivate those collaborative projects you’ve been dreaming up!

To help strengthen the network, as well as to foster new relationships across historical silos and connect the learning of people across institutions and organizations interested in solving similar challenges and to increase meaningful engagement of students and other people with diverse experiences and expertise, 20×30 is offering an opportunity for grant funding.

To apply for the funding, a few key criteria must be met:

Proposal must include multiple organizations and/or colleges
Priority will be given to applicants already connected to or eager to connect to the 20×30 Network (e.g., participating in Transformathons, Momentum Calls, Idea Share Platform, contributing to a work group); however, any group is welcome to apply
Project must benefit the 20×30 Network in some way (e.g. increase engagement or action and share learning, tools, new resources)
If selected, one person from the project will need to share the learnings with the larger 20×30 Network via a brief report and presentation on a Momentum Call

Applications are open until January 17, 2020. Awardees will be notified the week of February 4, 2020. Projects should be completed by December 2020.

The application cannot be used solely to further a single university or organization’s work—its purpose is to foster collaboration among diverse networks. It also cannot be used to augment salary or for political and/or lobbying activities.

The online application asks for brief answers (only 2–4 pages total text) to eight questions:

Describe the proposed project.
Who and what organizations and/or campuses will be collaborating on this project?
How are you and your collaborator(s) connected to the 20×30 Network?
How does this project advance the 20×30 goals, shared approaches, and values? How will this project benefit the 20×30 Network?
How does this project elevate and champion student voices?
What does success look like? What learnings might be produced from this project? What future work might this inform? How might your multi-organization team work together in the future?
How much $$ is your team requesting? Describe how the funds will be used.
What is the project timeline? Specify your start and end dates and major milestones.

Proposals will be evaluated based on a rubric. The rubric’s criteria specifically look to see the proposal:

Connects the work of/at multiple campuses and/or organizations
Centers on an idea or action that advances 20×30 goals, shared approaches, and values
Offers potential learning that has value to others in the 20×30 Network
Builds network capacity
Elevates and champions student voices

Interassociation wellbeing research opportunity

Don’t forget, NIRSA, NASPA, and ACHA are jointly supporting research that focuses on wellbeing and student success. The application for this award is open until January 3, 2020.