Applications are now Closed

Request for Applications (RFA)

The College Belonging and Connection for Families (CBCF) Initiative seeks applications from community and technical colleges and their student parent, faculty, and staff leaders. The purpose is to co-design and co-facilitate innovative activities that foster belonging and connection among student parents on campus. We will award each of the three selected colleges $30,000 along with collaborative technical assistance over 23 months. In addition to technical assistance on the design of activities and strategies, the CBCF Initiative Research Team will study each college’s near-term implementation process and student parent outcomes.

Key Dates:

RFA Issue Date: May 29, 2024

RFA Informational Webinar: June 6, 2024, 2:00-3:00pm Eastern

RFA Due Date: July 1, 2024, 11:59pm Eastern

Grant Award Notification: July 29, 2024

Grant Period: August 1, 2024 – June 30, 2026

Virtual Kick-off Meeting: August 5, 2024, 4:00-5:00pm Eastern

Questions about this RFA should be directed to cbcfinitiative@gmail.com

Initiative Overview

The purpose of the College Belonging and Connection for Families (CBCF) Initiative is to improve feelings of belongingness and connection among student parents in college and their families. A sense of belonging benefits students’ academic achievement and persistence in college[1]. However, 40% of student parents feel isolated and disconnected from their campus community[2] and face an elevated risk of dropping out of college[3],[4].

Family engagement is also likely to benefit students’ and families’ sense of belonging and postsecondary success[5],[6],[7]. This initiative in turn seeks to better understand how improved belonging and connection among student parents may promote the healthy development and educational achievement of their children.

The long-term goal of this project is to create systemic change in higher education through the co-creation of solutions with student parents and other leaders on college campuses, and beyond. We frame this work using a socioecological perspective of sense of belonging, which facilitates more equitable opportunities for student parents through the combined efforts of individual, interpersonal, and institutional change[8]. This project has been co-designed with student parents, community college leaders, and experts in family systems, identity, belonginess, and the dual development of parents and children.

The CBCF Innovation Grants Opportunity

We seek applications from community and technical colleges that focus on innovative near-term activities and longer-term strategies to foster feelings of belongingness and connection among student parents and their children on campus. By innovative, we mean doing something that is beyond current practice in the field or has not been done to date, or an old practice done newly or creatively.

Eligibility

  • Community and technical colleges are the only recipients of these grants.
  • We will select three colleges who have already identified student parents as a group of targeted interest and who are committed to further supporting them in partnership with the CBCF Initiative.

Award

  • Each college will receive $30,000 to design and implement innovative near-term activities and begin the development of longer-term strategies.
    • Funds may be used for but are not limited to:
      • Resources and materials for proposed programming and activities
        for student parents, children, and families
      • Compensation for staff, faculty, or student parent involvement in proposed programming and activities
      • Other innovative approaches to foster belonging and connection among student parents and their families
    • Funds may not be used for consultants or consulting firms.
  • Each college will also receive ongoing technical assistance valued at $50,000 from the CBCF Initiative Advisory Board, which consists of academic, program, policy, and advocacy experts.
  • The CBCF Initiative Research Team will study each partner’s implementation process and program outcomes in partnership with select colleges and will
    co-develop recommendations for future programs and policies to engage and support student parent success.

Timeframe

  • The grant period is 23 months from August 1, 2024 to June 30, 2026.
  • We anticipate direct programming for student parents and their families to
    begin in January 2025.
  • Data collection activities conducted with the CBCF Initiative Research Team
    will begin in December 2024 (baseline data) and conclude in June 2026
    (follow-up data).

Funded Activities

All awarded grants will involve the creation of a Student Parent Advisory Working Group, design and implementation of near-term activities, and development of longer-term strategies to promote student parent success. Colleges should consider activities and strategies that attend to individual, interpersonal, and institutional factors to promote belonging and connection among student parents and their families.

  • Student Parent Advisory Working Group: Each college partner will be responsible for creating a 3 to 6-person Student Parent Advisory Working Group. This advisory working group will work with the CBCF Initiative to brainstorm, identify, and further develop near-term activities and longer-term strategies for student parents.
  • Innovative Near-Term Activities: Each college partner will design and implement activities to promote belonging and connection for families and involve the direct participation of at least 30 student parents and their children. Proposed near-term activities by the applicant should involve both student parents and their children, together or separately. It is expected that partners implement these activities during the grant period.
    • Examples of student parent activities:
      • Designing peer- or faculty-led workshops
      • Creating affinity or leadership groups
      • Adding course modules to existing credit-bearing curricula
      • Sample topics for workshops or courses include goal setting, intersecting identities, strengths and assets, and the development of parents and children together
    • Examples of child-centered activities:
      • Conducting focus groups with older children (with or without parents)
      • Adding child-centered themes to parent-focused curricula (such as the development of parents and children together and intersecting identities of both)
      • Developing toolkits for parents to use at home to promote academic belonging and identity with their children
    • Innovative Longer-Term Strategies: Each college partner will begin to develop longer-term strategies to promote student parent leadership in addition to belonging and connection on their campus. Specific longer-term strategies proposed by the applicant should include the institution’s capacity to implement such strategies and a timeline for execution. It is not expected that partners implement these strategies during the grant period.
      • Examples of strategies:
        • Developing policies related to student parent voice on student councils or the like
        • Amplifying and clarifying student parent rights on campus
        • Funding advocate(s) for student parents on campus such as a coordinator
        • Creating and sustaining on-campus affinity groups consisting of student parents, faculty, and staff

Grant Selection Criteria

  • Clearly evidenced knowledge of your student parent population and their interests, strengths, and needs
  • Innovative activities and plans to increase belongingness and connection:
    • Proposed near-term activities for student parents
    • Proposed near-term activities for children of student parents
    • A proposed vision for longer-term strategies to shift institutional practices to better support student parents and their families
  • Clear institutional capacity as evidenced by:
    • Institutional leadership letter of support from College President, VP of Academics, VP/Dean of Student Affairs, or the like
    • A 3 to 6-person Student Parent Advisory Working Group consisting of
      on-campus leaders across departments who will spearhead this work

      • The proposed advisory group must include at least one teaching faculty member with curricular interest and one student parent
      • The student parent representative must complete the recommendation survey (add link) before the RFA due date
    • Realistic and appropriate budget plan to spend $30,000 over the grant period, August 1, 2024 – June 30, 2026
    • Timeline of activities for the 23-month grant period

Application Requirements and Expectations

  1. To be eligible for the CBCF Innovation Grants, applicants must meet the following criteria. Please check each box to indicate your college meets these criteria.
    1. Is a community or technical college
    2. Has the support of institutional leadership
    3. Has a team of 3 to 6 members willing to serve on the Student Parent Advisory Working Group
    4. At least one member of the Student Parent Advisory Working Group can attend the virtual kick-off meeting on August 5, 2024 4:00-5:00pm Eastern (recommended to have all members attend if possible)
    5. Has sent the student parent representative the recommendation survey: tinyurl.com/CBCFrecommendation
    6. Has an application that proposes near-term activities involving both student parents and their children to promote belongingness and connection on campus
    7. Has an application that proposes longer-term strategies promoting student parent leadership, belonging, and connection on campus
  1. Basic information
    1. Applicant first and last name
    2. Email address
    3. Job title
    4. College name
  1. Please describe your current knowledge of your college’s student parent population and their interests, strengths, and needs. Also, please describe the student parents’ demographic characteristics, including age, gender, race/ethnicity, number of children, and age of children if possible. [200 words maximum]
  1. Please describe the current activities, plans, and resources available to student parents and their children at your college.
    [200 words maximum]
  1. What innovative near-term activities do you propose to increase academic belonging and social connection among student parents? For their children?
    [300 words maximum]
  2. What is your vision for longer-term strategies to shift institutional practices to better support student parents and their families at your college? What activities, policies, and/or resources do you need to make these strategies a reality?
    [300 words maximum]
  3. Please describe your proposed budget plan for programming, activities, resources, compensation, and other innovative approaches. Budget categories may include on-campus personnel and non-personnel costs; non-personnel may include meetings, equipment, travel, supplies, and childcare. You may choose to use some or all listed budget categories, or others as suits your project. You may not use the budget to pay consultants or consulting firms.
    [150 words maximum]
  1. Please describe your timeline of activities over 23 months from August 1, 2024 to June 30, 2026.
    [150 words maximum]
  2. Please upload an institutional leadership letter of support from the President or VP of Academics/Student Affairs, or Director of relevant on-campus center, or a similar leadership role.
  1. Please list the names and titles of your proposed Student Parent Advisory Working Group. This should include 3 to 6 on-campus leaders across departments who will spearhead this work, including at least one teaching faculty member with curricular interest and one student parent.
  1. Please check this box to indicate that the student parent representative listed in the Student Parent Advisory Working Group has received the recommendation survey.

Apply Here by July 1, 2024, 11:59pm Eastern.

Questions?
See the FAQ’s on our website or email cbcfinitiative@gmail.com

About Our Funding

The College Belonging and Connection for Families Initiative is funded by the ECMC Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Michelson 20MM Foundation. Funders are not involved with and do not determine award and partner selection, research findings, or program recommendations.

About the Northwestern Two-Generation Research Initiative

The goal of the Northwestern Two-Generation Research Initiative (NU2Gen) is to promote, scale, and study family-centered education investments to advance economic mobility of families. Our core principles are equity first, a family-centered approach, and economic mobility through education and careers. For over a decade, NU2Gen has influenced program and policy design across the nation to advance family well-being and prosperity for parents and children.

 

[1] Strayhorn, T. L. (2012). College students’ sense of belonging: A key to educational success for all students. Routledge.

[2] Generation Hope. (2020). National student-parent survey results & recommendations. https://www.generationhope.org/s/GH_StudentParentSuccess-Report_Final.pdf

[3] Reichlin Cruse, L., Milli, J., Contreras-Mendez, S., Holtzman, T., & Gault, B. (2019). Investing in single mothers’ higher education: National and state estimates of the costs and benefits of single mothers’ educational attainment to individuals, families, and society. Institute for Women’s Policy Research. https://iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/R600_Investing-in-Single-Moms-National.pdf

[4] U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2019). Higher education: More information could help student parents access additional federal student aid. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-19-522

[5] Hausmann, L. R., Ye, F., Schofield, J. W., & Woods, R. L. (2009). Sense of belonging and persistence in White and African American first–year students. Research in Higher Education, 50(7), 649–669.

[6] Sáenz, V. B., García-Louis, C., De Las Mercédez, C., & Rodriguez, S. L. (2020). Mujeres supporting: How female family members influence the educational success of Latino males in postsecondary education. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 19(2), 169–194.

[7] Tachine, A. R., Cabrera, N. L., & Yellow Bird, E. (2017). Home away from home: Native American students’ sense of belonging during their first year in college. The Journal of Higher Education, 88(5), 785–807.

[8] Johnson, R. M. (2022). A socio‐ecological perspective on sense of belonging among racially/ethnically minoritized college students: Implications for equity‐minded practice and policy. New Directions for Higher Education, 2022(197), 59-68.