Confronting Extremism through Compelling Work for Community Needs

The Confronting Extremism Program in the Office of Inclusive Excellence solicits proposals to to advance equity and inclusive community at UCI. Submissions to this Call for Proposals  for Confronting Extremism through Compelling Work for Community Needs closed at 5 p.m. (Pacific time) on February 14, 2023.

Impetus for this Call for Proposals

Projects funded through prior calls from the Confronting Extremism Program have met dual goals to support relevant inquiry and interventions that benefit UCI members while raising awareness and insights about addressing extremism in society. We now challenge our UCI members to examine the instances where best practices (from past funded projects or other evidence) may mutually address individual and systemic issues challenged by extremism to measurable ends and impacts. How are systems, structures, and issues in higher education facilitating or limiting the impacts of extremism? What types of best practices advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) awareness, actions, and outcomes for individuals and the systems in which they learn and work? How do we know a robust best practice and obtain evidence of or measure its impacts? Most importantly, what happens when these practices are observed, in place, or anticipated in the knowledge environments at UCI?

Project Expectations

The call requested proposals from UCI student resource directors and Senate faculty no later than February 14 to implement or enhance best practices from evidence-based strategies support understanding, learning, engagement and actions to confront extremism and support positive community at UCI.

Competitive submissions will:

• Use existing or new evidence to develop creative interventions and/or knowledge-generating projects that educate toward social justice goals. For example, not merely identifying racially or ethnically motivated extremism but also defining and applying best practice(s) to elicit a stated outcome;
• Engage UCI target audiences using clear rationale to foster learning and show evidence related to learning outcomes, knowledge transfer, and resource development
• Examine service opportunities to engage UCI and community members, providing compelling rationale for the engagements, conditions for learning, and identifiable/measurable outcomes

Types of Projects Funded/Fund Use

Total funding is subject to change but is expected to fund 4 projects at a maximum of $20,000 per project.

Projects may range from forums and workshops, case study of strategic decision making, or direct interventions, service expansions, or innovative programming, and research to support UCI members and potentially other partners beyond UCI.

Funds must:

• Support evidence-based activities directly actionable at UCI
• Adhere to UCI/UC policies governing state funds; additionally, funds may not be used for student fee remission and may not be used for any honoraria to UCI or UC faculty
• Funds may be used for summer ninths salary, if applicable, equipment, presentation fees, learning tools and materials
• Funds also be used for one-time stipends or direct payments to UCI undergraduates or UCI graduate students (but not for fee remission)
• Funds may be used for event-related gift cards and honoraria to non-use guidance for 19900 funding
• Be expended no later than April 30, 2024; and arrangements to return non-expended funds to the Office of Inclusive Excellence must be made no later than April 30, 2024
• Be awarded to the lead contact for single or multi-investigator projects; For funded multiple-investigator projects, the funding may be split between no more than two co-investigators for the same project, based on justification in the budget narrative.

Project Duration

Selected projects are funded for a 12-month period, with the mandatory mid-year and annual reporting and use of funds ending no later than April 30, 2024.

Proposal Components

Only complete proposals will be considered; incomplete proposals will be returned without review.

Complete proposals must include: completed form submitted online and one PDF proposal of a maximum of two typed pages with the following components:

• Abstract/Project Summary of no more than 150 words
• Statement of Need/Project Purpose and Goals
• Project Activities, Approaches, and Expected Outcomes, inclusive of a project timeline for the entire period of operations, and the types of UCI members engaged
• Evaluation/Assessment Plan for measurable outcomes
• Plans for Dissemination and Sustainability
• Significance of the Project
• Budget and Budget Narrative detailing expenses for the entire period of operations

Complete proposals were requested no later than 5 p.m. (Pacific time) on Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Review Criteria

Nominations will be reviewed by invited UCI leadership group consisting of faculty and staff members across diverse and inclusive projects. Successful proposals will reflect the following review priorities.

The extent to which the proposed project:

• Contributes to knowledge and actions to confront extremism at UCI
• Advances the UCI Action Plan for Inclusive Excellence on at least one of its pillars: community, thriving, and wellness;
• Catalyzes new interschool or campus-wide collaborations;
• Enhances graduate and undergraduate education (i.e., contributes directly to undergraduate education in the classroom or outside of the classroom in addition to mentoring undergraduate and graduate students in the generation of new knowledge)

Implementation Requirements

The Primary Contact Lead for each project funded from this call accepts responsibilities to:

• Serve as the SOLE CONTACT for all OIE communications and arranged presentations and accepts responsibility to communicate OIE information to any team members or co-project leads
• Provide image(s) and abstracts for online project promotion
• Complete or ensure submission of mid-year (due by September 30, 2023) and final Fund Use report (due by April 30, 2024) on expenses and advancement of project goals by established deadlines
• Request advance approval from the Office of Inclusive Excellence in writing for any changes in fund uses or funded project activities; approval response must be provided in writing by the Office of Inclusive Excellence to proceed with desired changes
• Participate in a video-recorded interview and public forum to communicate findings and project outcomes