Students from the WQ2013 course WRD 560: Grant Writing wrote grant proposals that resulted in three local non-profit organizations receiving $33,500 in awards.
WRD 560, taught by Antonio Ceraso, Assistant Professor in WRD and Director of the MA in New Media Studies, focuses on the genre of the grant proposal—both the written documents themselves, and the genre as a particular response to the emergence of broader social forms of giving or contribution. As part of their coursework, students partner with local organizations to apply their grant writing skills and, ideally, to help these organizations to secure grants.
In the WQ2013 section of WRD 560, DePaul University Jumpstart Site Manager Melissa Frazin wrote a grant proposal that resulted in a $20,000 award for the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA). The award supports the LSNA in their work with residents of Lathrop Homes, a Chicago Housing Authority site.
In addition, the Telpochcalli Community Education Project (TCEP), a non-profit in the Chicago neighborhood of Little Village, received $12,000 with the help of MA in WRD students Skylar Garland and Kerri Kowalewski. TCEP will use the award to plan and deliver violence reduction events in Little Village.
Finally, Anastasia Schriber, an undergraduate in Theatre Management, wrote a grant awarding the Chicago Fringe Festival $1500. This is the second grant to come out of WRD 560 for the Fringe Festival—in 2011, student Erin Carr secured a $1500 grant to help the Fringe Festival file for its non-profit status.
Congratulations to these students and their nonprofit partners!