Ford Community Corps Partnership

Ford Community Corps Partnership

The Institute for Leadership and Service seeks bold and creative ways to use the many resources of University of Detroit Ford Community Corps LogoMercy to serve our community. The Ford Motor Company Fund  has provided financial support to assist the Institute in fostering the strategic partnerships, which form the centerpiece of this new program.



Objectives

The primary goal of this program is to support faculty and students interested in developing a service-learning project to meet the needs of an agency or target population in metropolitan Detroit. The objectives of the program are to:

  • Enhance student leadership skills development through practical experiences of serving those in need.
  • Broaden students’ classroom learning through direct community engagement.
  • Improve the capacity of community-based, human service organizations by creating partnerships between these organizations, Ford Motor Company Fund and Detroit Mercy.
  • Increase the students’ awareness of service opportunities in the community and Ford Motor Company Fund’s commitment to community engagement.
  • Assist faculty in identifying and using best practices in service learning.

Gear Chart

Grant Information

  • Financial support is available for faculty and students willing to perform the required tasks. Check out the awards and requirements below.
  • The faculty member and student leader must submit a joint proposal of a service-learning project to obtain the grant. Apply below.
  • The proposal will be evaluated by the Curriculum of Service Sub-committee of the Institute. Please contact theinstitute@udmercy.edu if you have further questions.

Past Grant Winners

Resources

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    How to Apply

    If you are interested in the Ford Community Corps Partnerships, please review the steps outlined below:

    1. Form your project idea. The Institute, in partnership with Ford, is interested in supporting project proposals that will be implemented during a winter service-learning course. More specifically, we want to support projects in which the students in those courses apply the knowledge gained in that course to help a nonprofit organization. If you are interested and would like assistance of any kind (eg: suggestions for potential nonprofit or community partners, or help specifying deliverables, etc,) just let us know. The Institute staff has identified a list of potential agencies and is happy to assist interested faculty and student leaders develop your proposal in anyway that would be helpful.

    2. Review the  Evaluation Criteria

    3. Submit a 2022 "Explorer Model" Proposal 

    • Please contact us via email at hipskijt@udmercy.edu to let us know if you are interested. That way we can keep you up to date with any development regarding the application process. 
    • Download the proposal template and complete all sections. We are happy to help you with this.
    • Submit the proposal to hipskijt@udmercy.edu  - Deadline is Friday September 22, 2023 - 11:59pm
    • If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Director of Service-Learning at hipskijt@udmercy.edu 
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    Awards and Requirements

    Students

    Awards

    An award package is given to each participating student leader for completing the specific criteria while contributing to the overall project. The award includes a $1500 stipend for coordinating the project, usually in the Winter term of the grant year.

    In Fall of the grant year, student leaders will attend the FCCP leadership course (3 credits). (LEAD 2000 is a pre-requisite.) All students will conduct community assessments and develop an action plan. Students will not have to pay anything extra for this course. 

    NOTE: The student leader will not be enrolled in the service-learning course in which the proposal is implemented; rather they will serve as a teaching assistant and/or project coordinator. Ideally the student leader will have been previously enrolled in the course, or at have some familiarity with the course material.

    Faculty and Staff

    Awards

    • A $500 stipend to each participating faculty member for their work in integrating the service project into a course for the Winter term of grant year. This course will be designated as a service-learning course for that term.

    Requirements

    • Providing support and mentoring to the student leader in the project coordination, as well as the student leader’s knowledge and skills development related to accomplishing the service project;
    • Teaching the Winter term service-learning course;
    • Assisting the student to complete the project with surveys, reports, correspondence, etc. as needed for the project.

    Click here to download the program structure chart and timeline.