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Request for Proposals – Race Exhibit

The Kalamazoo Community Foundation is now accepting proposals for Good Neighbor Grants that will complement the upcoming RACE: Are We So Different? exhibit and provide the community with opportunities for education, creative dialogue and healing around race in the greater Kalamazoo area.

Included in this document is information about and instructions for obtaining a grant application; background information; an explanation of the funding priorities; and information about application deadlines.

Application Information
The first step in the Good Neighbor Grant application process is a pre-application conversation, which can be scheduled by contacting Amy Slancik at (269) 381-4416 or aslancik@kalfound.org. Once this conversation has taken place you will be given a username and password that will enable you to access the online grant application.

To help potential grant applicants develop projects that will complement the RACEexhibit in meaningful ways, the RACE Exhibit Initiative of Southwest Michigan will offer two free information sessions. The sessions will be held at noon on Tuesday, July 20 and 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15 at the YWCA of Kalamazoo. The sessions are open to the public, but pre-registration is preferred. Interested participants may pre-register by emailing raceexhibit@gmail.com

Background Information

From October 2010 to January 2011, through a partnership with Western Michigan University, the Kalamazoo Valley Museum will host the national touring exhibit RACE: Are We So Different? It is a powerful, thought-provoking family exhibit that looks through the lenses of history, biology and lived experience, to explore human variation and reveal the reality, and unreality, of race. Through film, still photography, interactive components and programming, the exhibit invites people to explore race as well as the impact of race as an economic, political and cultural construct.

Throughout the fall and winter of 2010 and 2011, the Community Foundation is working in partnership with the RACE Exhibit Initiative of Southwest Michigan to provide community groups with Good Neighbor Grants for projects that complement the RACE exhibit and provide the community with opportunities for creative dialogue and healing around race in the greater Kalamazoo area.

Good Neighbor Grants are the cornerstone of BetterTogether/Kalamazoo, the Community Foundation’s social capital initiative. The easy-to-access grants of up to $1,000 can be used to fuel creative ideas, spark neighborhood revitalization or impact community change. The program is unique because it puts resources into the hands of small, grassroots groups, empowering people to become actively engaged in the health and well being of the community.

Funding Priorities
The purpose of the Good Neighbor/RACE Exhibit Grants is to provide the community with opportunities for education, creative dialogue and healing around race in the greater Kalamazoo area. Projects must take place between October 2010 and March 2011 and:

• Build bridges between people who are different from each other in some significant way (e.g. race, age, gender, economic status, sexual orientation);
• Engage residents—especially those not previously involved in community activities—in projects that make a difference in the lives of all those involved; and
• Embrace youths in community life by involving them in project planning and/or providing leadership opportunities.

Application Deadlines
Applications for Good Neighbor Grants are submitted online and are due the second Wednesday of each month. Grant applicants are notified of funding decisions within 10 business days of the application deadline.

Additional Information

For more information about the Kalamazoo Community Foundation and Good Neighbor Grants visit www.kalfound.org/gng.
For more information about the RACE: Are We So Different? exhibit, visit
www.understandingrace.org.
For more information about the RACE Exhibit Initiative of Southwest Michigan at
Western Michigan University, visit www.raceexhibit.org or contact Zarinah El-Amin Naeem
at (269) 387-6324 or zarinah.el-amin@wmich.edu.

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