Community Collaborations Research Grant Now Accepting Proposals
Update Dec. 20, 2022: Deadline extended to Jan. 17, 2023.
Contact:
Kaitlin Tucker, ktucker@ncsu.edu
North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute is accepting Community Collaborative Research Grant program proposals now through January 17, 2023, for projects to start in April 2023. The CCRG program brings communities and researchers together to address important statewide water resource issues and coastal challenges.
“This program is an effective and efficient process to continually address community priorities that can change year to year,” says John Fear, deputy director of North Carolina Sea Grant and NC WRRI. Both WRRI and Sea Grant support the grant program focusing on local knowledge.
“CCRG projects bring significant returns on investment. New partnerships sustain themselves and their momentum produces ongoing benefits,” Fear adds.
Proposals should align with North Carolina Sea Grant and WRRI’s vision for diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and accessibility. CCRG strongly encourages proposals from people in traditionally underserved and underrepresented communities, including rural areas of North Carolina, as well as proposals that demonstrate how projects and related outreach will benefit those communities. This includes proposals from applicants at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions.
New grants will range from $5,000 to $25,000 for one-year projects. Recently funded CCRG projects have supported youth education, tribal knowledge, air and water quality, and an exploration of plastic contaminants in headwaters. Stories about many previous projects are available at wrri.ncsu.edu/funding/.
Through the CCRG program, NC WRRI and NC Sea Grant partner with NC State University’s William R. Kenan Jr. Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science (KIETS) to fund opportunities that address watersheds and water resource issues, as well as other urgencies, with an added emphasis this year on strategies and solutions for human health challenges caused by the changing climate.
“The CCRG brings together academic, government, non-profit, and business partners across NC who work collaboratively towards solving relevant and important problems,” says Raj Narayan, associate director for KIETS. “The program reflects and amplifies a collective and intentional focus, enabling authentic community engagement that serves to support and nurture the creativity and resiliency of these communities.”
Kaitlin Tucker, WRRI’s research and engagement coordinator, says the partnership of NC Sea Grant, WRRI, and KIETS fuels the program’s statewide scope. “Drawing on expertise from all three enables CCRG to benefit communities from the coast to the mountains of North Carolina.”
The deadline for proposals is January 17, 2023.
Access the full Request for Proposals and submission instructions at wrri.ncsu.edu/funding/.
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