Call for Proposals: Slay Fund for Social Justice

The Slay Fund made grants to projects in four broad categories: student research and internships, pedagogy for social justice, campus-wide events and speakers, and long-term programs with community partners. These funding categories coincide with the three strategic priorities of the Slay Fund, which will even more explicitly guide funding decision-making, moving forward. The strategic priorities allocate funding for: speakers and events related to social justice; capacity-building and institutional support programming; student-proposed and student-focused initiatives.

Student research and internships

The Slay Fund has offered grants to students doing Honors’ Thesis research that requires travel, unpaid social justice internships that require support or travel, and direct involvement with social justice projects.

Pedagogy for social justice

The Slay Fund has provided support to faculty engaging in innovative social justice pedagogy.  It has supported classroom expenses related to experiential learning, travel for students and faculty to social justice-related conferences, and training for faculty to engage in specific forms of social justice pedagogy.

Campus-wide events and speakers

The Slay Family made it possible for President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter to speak on campus in 2013; Michelle Norris’ visit to campus with The Race Card Project was funded, in part, by the Slay Fund for Social Justice. The Slay Fund has also partnered with Drake faculty, staff, and students to bring music, film series, speakers, poets, and authors to campus – including a visit by Allison Bechtold, Imani Perry, and the LiveLaw production team.

Long-term programs with community partners

The Slay Fund has provided funding for the Summer of Social Justice Internships, the Social Justice Living and Learning Community, ArtForce Iowa in collaboration with Drake University’s Legal Clinic ; the Violence Intervention Partner (VIP) Advocacy Team, and a community press project with Latino/as al Exito.

Grant proposals are accepted on a rolling basis during the regular course of each semester, with a cut-off date of May 5^th in the spring, and December 5^th in the fall semester.   Your proposal should be concise, but must include:

A clear description of the project and its relationship to social justice

A clear description of how the project will impact student learning and life, and facilitate the development of social justice consciousness at Drake University

A timeline for its work

A budget (please note, Slay Funds cannot be used for capital expenses)

A promise to acknowledge Slay Funding in all publicity related to the project, and to be willing to inform the Slay Family of your project’s success.

Please submit your grant proposal (and any questions relating to the proposal) to slayfund@drake.edu. We will confirm receipt within two days, and do our best to provide a response within two weeks.