Consortium to Combat Substance Abuse: Community Fellows Program

The Community Fellows Program, a funding mechanism of Penn State’s Consortium to Combat Substance Abuse (CCSA) and the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI), provides support for faculty seeking to develop university-community collaborations that address substance abuse and its spillover effects to families and communities. These collaborations should be aimed at building sustainable, evidence-based or evidence-informed programs, policies and/or practices that can effectively address substance misuse/abuse issues within a targeted community. Another goal of this initiative is to build the faculty member’s applied/translational research expertise. Toward this end, successful candidates will participate in webinars and workshops aimed at developing competencies in domains such as community engagement, program development, implementation and evaluation, partnering with government officials to promote evidence-based policy, and grant-writing.

Fellowships will provide funding for tenure track faculty members for up to two course releases across one or two academic years (up to $7,500 per course release). Fellows are also eligible to apply for Community Collaboration funds (up to $5,000 for community activities, described below). Faculty teams of two can divide the course release funds between them.

Application Process

Applications should first be submitted for approval to the faculty member’s department/program head. Once the Head’s approval is obtained, the application should be forwarded to the candidate’s Chancellor/Dean. The Community Fellows Call will be yearly, and for each call, Chancellors/Deans may submit two Community Fellows proposals.

  • December 17, 2018: Chancellors/Deans forward up to two Community Fellowship proposals, along with their and the Department Head’s statements of support to ssri-seed-grant@psu.edu;
  • The CCSA’s Advisory Committee will review proposals at its Fall meeting;
  • January 21, 2019: Faculty members will be notified of funding for the 2019-2020 academic year. Fellows should work directly with their Department Heads to schedule course releases.

Format

The application should be no more than two single-spaced pages, not including items 4-6 below. Items 1-6 should be saved in a single PDF document for forwarding to the Department Head and Campus Chancellor/College Dean.

    1. Title of project and name, program/department, and campus of the candidate.
    2. Goals for the Fellowship
      • Identify the target community and describe what is currently known about the community’s needs/concerns regarding substance misuse and abuse that will be the focus of the university-community collaboration. [Note: “community” is broadly defined, ranging from a local entity such as a school or local health care delivery center, to a political entity such as a town or county, to a state government agency, but our priority is communities in Pennsylvania]
      • Describe potential opportunities for developing or enhancing practices, programs, policies, etc. that address the targeted community need/concern.
      • Describe the community organization(s) that will be the focus of collaboration, including the candidate’s past involvement with those organizations.
      • Explain how the Fellowship will play a significant role in advancing the Fellow’s research program and its ultimate impact on combating substance abuse.
    3. Activity Plan
      • Describe activities that will be undertaken during the Fellowship period, including how these activities will advance the goals of the Fellowship, strategies for monitoring and evaluation, metrics for success, and a timeline for goal accomplishment. [Note: a logic model will likely be important here.]
      • Describe the candidate’s qualifications for her/his role.
      • Describe potential funding opportunities (e.g. federal or state agency, local business, private foundations) that could be targeted toward sustaining new community practices, programs, policies, etc.
    4. Budget
        • Prospective Fellows can apply for up to $5,000 to undertake the Activity Plan. Please provide a budget and justification for funds required to carry out the activities described in 3, above and list any in-kind support or matching funds.
        • These funds are intended to support:
          • Creation of inter-disciplinary/inter-professional partnerships
          • Support for meetings (including travel)
          • Wages (for students; staff)
          • Data collection (e.g., needs assessment, outcome evaluation)
          • Program activities

      • These funds are NOT intended to support:
        • Travel to professional conferences
        • Computers; office supplies
        • Faculty salary (only Fellow course release funding will be provided)
        • Student projects
        • Funding for meals/snacks should be kept to a minimum
    5. Letters of Support
      • Attach statements of support from Department/Program Head and Campus Chancellor/College Dean and at least one targeted community collaborator.
    6. Attach a biosketch in NSF or NIH format.

Review Criteria

  • Merits of the proposal, including its significance to the Consortium’s goal of combating substance abuse and probability of sustained impact of project activities
  • Qualifications and clarity of the Fellow’s role
  • Clarity, rigor, and feasibility of the work plan, including the evaluation component
  • Support from the administrative and academic units
  • Support from the community partner(s)

Progress Reports

Awardees are required to provide a progress report at the end of the funding period, highlighting progress made and tangible outcomes (e.g., partnerships established, programs/policies implemented, proposals submitted/funded, publications and presentations; statement from the community partner(s) about progress toward impacts). Follow-up progress reports will be requested each year, for 3 years, to assess sustainability and longer-term outcomes and impacts of the community collaboration.