Since the Rural Futures Conference this past November, teams have been coming together to submit grant applications for one or both of the Rural Futures Institute’s competitive grant programs. After several rounds and multiple review sessions, the RFI is pleased to announce the funding of seven Teaching and Engagement grants and four Research and Engagement grants. The quality of the grants was excellent this year and the teams that reviewed the grants were impressed by the diversity of topics and the transdisciplinary approaches that were proposed. The grantees have been notified and they will begin work on July 1, 2014.
2014 AWARDED GRANTS INCLUDE: click here for printable PDF
Teaching and Engagement Grants
- Rural Community Engagement and Leadership Program, Gina Matkin, UNL with other UNL partners and Nebraskans for Civic Reform
- Justice by Geography: Issues that Inequitably Impact Rural Youth, Anne Hobbs, UNO with Nebraska Juvenile Justice Association, Nebraska State Bar Association, Nebraska Association of County Officials, Nebraska Juvenile Services Division, and Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice
- Addressing the Rural Shortage of Mental Health Providers Through a Virtual Mentorship Network, Howard Liu, UNMC with other UNMC partners and Region III Behavioral Health Services
- Principles of Community Engagement in Public Health: Service Learning, Community-Based Participatory Research, and Civic Engagement, Kyle Ryan, Peru State College with College of Public Health at UNMC and Rural Health Education Network
- The Great Question Challenge, Shane Potter, UNL Extension with the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program at UNL and DuPont Pioneer
- Community Gardens and Farmer’s Market for Curtis, Nebraska, Brad Ramsdale, Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture (NCTA) with University of Nebraska Extension
- The Nebraska Hayseed Project, Petra Wahlqvist, UNL with the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at UNL, Lied Center for Performing Arts, North Platte Concert Association, and Midwest Theater
Research and Engagement Grants
- Healthy Food, Healthy Choice, Christopher Gustafson, UNL Agricultural Economics with Child, Youth, and Environments Center for Community Engagement at the University of Colorado, and Health and Nutritional Sciences Department at South Dakota State University
- Bridging the skills gap: Workforce development in rural communities in the Great Plains, Carolyn Hatch, North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, Michigan State University, University of Nebraska Extension, South Dakota State University Extension
- Nebraska Primary Care Practice-Based Research Network Project, Christopher Kratochvil, University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) with other UNMC personnel, Department of Health and Human Services, and rural Nebraska physicians
- Catalyzing the Role of Micropolitan America in the Future of Rural America: Why Not Begin this New Frontier for Research and Engagement in Nebraska?, Eric Thompson, Bureau of Business Research, University of Nebraska-Lincoln with other UNL partners, Rural Policy Research Institute and the University of Nebraska-Omaha