Funding Oppurtunities

People's Garden Grant Program

NIFA announces the availability of grant funds and requests applications for the People's Garden Grant Program for fiscal year (FY) 2011 to facilitate the creation of produce, recreation, and/or wildlife gardens in urban and rural areas, which will provide opportunities for science-based informal education. Successful applicants will provide micro-subgrant support to smaller local projects. The total amount available for support of this program in FY 2011 is approximately $725,000. Application is due Friday, August 26, 2011.

CRIBS Training Program in Community Based Participatory Research

You're invited to apply to an innovative training program in CBPR hosted by the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP) and Commonweal!  This online and face-to-face program is designed to help community and academic partners build stronger proposals to receive funding for CBPR that addresses the environmental causes of and/or social disparities in breast cancer. The deadline for applications is 5pm PST on September 30, 2011.  More information can be found in the Request for Application guide.

A webinar is being offered for interested applicants on August 26th, 30th and September 1st.  To learn more about this trainning program  register now. 

CBCRP Call for Investigator Initiated Research Applications

CBCRP has a call for applications for Cycle 18 for research beginning August 1, 2012. They intend to invest up to $2.0 million dollars in IDEA and Translational Research Awards and another $2.0 million in CRC awards. A full description of the awards offered this year and the submission deadlines are described in their Call for Applications. Applicants need to submit a "letter of intent" (LOI) that must be approved in order to submit a full application for an IDEA or Translational Research Award. LOI's submission deadline is October 25, 2011.

 Some Thoughts from our OCE Partners

Lila Guirguis

Director

Magnolia Place Community Initiative

OCE Community Leadership Council member  
 

The Magnolia Place Community Initiative (MPCI) is an innovative strategy whereby children, particularly the youngest, living in the neighborhoods surrounding West Adams, Pico Union, and the North Figueroa Corridor succeed at unprecedented levels in their education, health, and quality of nurturing care they receive from their families. The Initiative builds neighborhood resiliency by supporting families as they themselves create change, in partnership with community based organizations, government, and philanthropy.

The MPCI's mission is to unite the County, City, and Community to strengthen individual, family and neighborhood protective factors by increasing social connectedness, community mobilization, and access to needed supports and services. The Initiative is made up of 70 high level government and private sector partner organizations.  These Network partners of MPCI have come together to join forces under a shared vision for the transformation of this community through a self-organizing, open network. This open network relies entirely on community entities that come together voluntarily to secure a shared outcome.

Goals of the MPCI include:

·           Safe and Nurturing Families

·           School Readiness

·           Health & Emotional Well-Being

·           Economic Stability

Magnolia Place Community Initiative adopted the Protective Factors Approach and It Takes a Community

(ITC) as working philosophies rather than as "interventions" or "service strategies." Leading with empathy, social connectedness, and concrete support in times of need has resonated with individuals and organizations and has been instrumental in gaining a willingness to participate in the Initiative. Individuals are asked to start with strengthening what they already do, and reflect on how they do it, rather than developing and implementing strategies and activities that may be outside their core mission or beyond their capacity. For providers and community members alike, these working philosophies reinforce the basic premise that services alone are not sufficient to achieving community health and well-being.

As Director of the Magnolia Place Community Initiative I am responsible for overseeing the coordination and implementation of the Magnolia Place Community Initiative and Network to meet its mission, vision, philosophy, strategies and goals.  I work very closely with many departments and partners at USC. By joining forces and aligning investment around a protective factors framework Magnolia Place Community Initiative and USC hope to leverage relationships, resources and the expertise within their respective networks to promote a shared agenda within our geographic catchment area. 

Every two years the MPCI conducts a Community Survey asking residents about their sense of community belonging, civic engagement, social connection, and access to necessary resources and supports.  This year we are excited to partner and have the expertise of Marisela Robles, Community Liaison, for the Office of Community Engagement (CTSI) develop the training for the Community Initiative Representatives in gathering and collecting the Community Survey.  Marisela also sits on the Research and Evaluation Workgroup of the MPCI. The Magnolia Place Community Initiative and Network are eager to partner and be a member of the CTSI Team and are looking for create ways in which to bridge the clinical world of health research into real-time community of practice. 

Recommended Reading

Advancing the Science of Community-Level Interventions

by:  Edison J. Trickett, Sarah Beehler,  et al.

"A scientific paradigm is emerging that supports collaborative, multilevel, culturally situated community interventions aimed at creating sustainable community-level impact. To elaborate the paradigm and advance the science of community intervention, this article offers suggestions for promoting a scientific agenda, developing collaborations among professionals and communities, and examining the culture of science."