Mission Trip Curriculum Grants

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THIS GRANT HAS BEEN AWARDED AND IS NOW CLOSED.

GRANT APPLICATION PROCEDURE
DEVELOPMENT OF MISSION-TRIP CURRICULA

From the proposal to the Lilly Endowment:

“We propose the development of curricular materials that can be used by mission trip groups before and after their mission experience. Such material would be developed during the first year of the grant period. It would provide a reflection component to supplement the action component already present.”

Also from the proposal:

“The curriculum would combine relevant readings, group exercises and activities, and guidelines and questions for group discussion. The curriculum would have the following objectives: (1) Assist students to develop a clear sense of the purpose of the mission trip, from both a theological perspective and in terms of their personal agendas; (2) Assist students to reflect on their experience in light of fundamental theological questions; and (3) Assist students to connect their mission trip experience to their sense of vocation (understood in terms of the multiple callings they are beginning to sense). Each winter semester, curricular training will be provided for mission group facilitators.”

The CrossRoads Project expects to award a team grant of $7,000 or individual grants of up to $4,400 each in this area, and invites applications from Hope faculty members to develop mission-trip curricula along the lines suggested above. Grants will typically be made for the summer; however, faculty may seek approval from the Department Chair and the Divisional Dean for released time during fall semester 2004, with the grant money going to the Department for staffing purposes.

Applications should be submitted to Dr. David S. Cunningham, Director of the Project. Decisions will be made by the CrossRoads Advisory Committee. The deadline for applications was Monday, February 2, 2004. Each application should be in the following format:

1. Indicate your name, your academic title, and any experience you have with any Hope College mission trips or related programs.

2. Provide a one-paragraph narrative describing the development of your interest in Hope College mission trips, with particular attention to the question of the students’ preparation for and reflection upon such trips. Also, indicate your interest in the process of curriculum development (focusing particularly on the relationship between action and reflection), as well as any experience you may have in this area.

3. Provide a brief (500 words or fewer) description of the proposed curriculum, indicating the nature and timing of all faculty and student activities, including readings, lectures, and discussion/reflection components. Feel free to include any other information that would provide insight into the eventual shape of the program that you are proposing to develop. This account is meant to offer “just the facts”; it should not include an argument for funding, which is addressed in section 6, below.

4. Construct a timeline for the implementation of the program, including the curricular development stage, the process for securing student involvement, the proposed dates of the actual teaching and learning sessions, and all necessary follow-up processes (including a process for assessment/evaluation). Indicate how the program would be sustained over time, so that it can continue to provide training in future years. (Some funding is available for the annual expenses of the the program during its first four years; see item 5, following.)

5. Provide a basic line-item budget estimate, indicating the amount of money requested in specific categories and providing, where necessary, an explanation of any unusual expenses. Small details are not needed, and all numbers are assumed to be rough estimates. Money can always be transferred to a different category, if necessary, in the actual implementation of the grant; the evaluators request this information only to have a sense of how the money is expected to be spent.

N.B.: The CrossRoads Project has also budgeted funds (approximately $3500 per year) for the ongoing expenses of the program, including printed materials for students and all necessary expenses connected with training sessions and follow-up gatherings. Your budget should include a rough estimate of how these funds would be used during the first four years of the implementation of the program (Winters 2005 through 2008).

6. Offer a brief (750 words or fewer) argument in favor of the proposal. Indicate the benefits to be gained — for the students, for the mission-trip program, and for the College as a whole. Because this funding will come from a program focused on the theological exploration of vocation, your argument should indicate, as concretely as possible, how the proposed curriculum-development plan will encourage such exploration to take place.

7. Applications should be countersigned by the Department Chair and the Divisional Dean. This does not indicate “approval” of the proposed program so much as a willingness to support the faculty member’s time commitment toward the project (and course replacement, if the money is intended for released time).

Submit only one copy of the application; please paper-clip rather than staple, to facilitate duplicating. Send it via campus mail to David Cunningham at the CrossRoads Project. Also, please send an electronic version of the application for our files via e-mail attachment to crossroads@hope.edu. The deadline is Monday, February 2, 2004.