VCU Council for Community Engagement awards grants and celebrates successful university-community partnerships

By Mike Porter

Virginia Commonwealth University’s Council for Community Engagement has awarded one-year grants totaling $100,000 to seven university-community programs.

The Community Engagement grant awards were announced at a reception for university and community partners April 30 at the University Student Commons.

VCU President Michael Rao told more than 100 people in attendance that the grants support important university-community partnerships, a critical component of VCU’s overall mission.

“When I think about the contributions of students, faculty, staff and alumni and what we do to help this community, I’m very proud,” Rao said.

Other speakers said a culture of community engagement exists at VCU across both campuses.

“Engaging the community is what we’re all about. It’s a service that we do with pride and with joy,” said Sheldon M. Retchin, M.D., CEO of the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System and vice president for VCU Health Sciences.

The seven grantees were selected from a group of 26 proposals. Members of the Council for Community Engagement gifts and grants committee awarded grants to:

Team Warbler: From Chesapeake Bay to Panama Bay and back – Cross Cultural Connections Supporting Sustainable Communities, a partnership of VCU’s Departments of Biology, Biostatistics and the Center for Environmental Studies and the National Audubon Society and Panama Audubon Society to create a bird monitoring and habitat protection program that partners local middle school students with students in Panama, with coordination and assistance from the Audubon Society’s International Alliance Program. 

Improving Access and Quality of Care for the Medically Underserved through the Interdisciplinary Enhanced Teaching Model, a collaboration of VCU medical and pharmacy students and representatives from Cross-Over Ministries to work on interdisciplinary teams to expand access to health care for the uninsured patients at Cross-Over Health Ministries, Richmond’s largest free clinic.

TAPA Model: Literacy and Language Training for Adult Immigrant Learners from Non-literate Societies, a partnership of the Office of International Education and the School of Education to develop training manuals and protocols to disseminate the successful Total Access Preparatory Academy (TAPA) model to programs that teach English as a second language nationwide. As part of the project, approximately 60 service learning students will serve as language tutors to nonliterate adult learners.

Richmond Chapter of Foundation for Rehabilitation Equipment & Endowment, a collaboration of faculty and student teams from Occupational Therapy and the School of Medicine’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the Foundation for Rehabilitation Equipment & Endowment and Goodwill Industries to launch a local chapter of FREE to accept, renovate and redistribute medical equipment.

Multiple Family Group Intervention for Middle School Transition, a partnership of faculty and students from the School of Social Work and the Department of Psychology and Communities in Schools to create and field-test weekend retreats for rising Richmond Public School sixth graders and their families in order to increase family functioning and support. 

Vernal Pools and the Human Footprint, a collaboration of three classes of students and faculty from VCU and William & Mary and Virginia Master Naturalists Program, Natural Heritage Program, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, and a state-wide volunteer scientist network to raise awareness, understanding and monitoring of threatened wetland communities across the Commonwealth. 

Una Vida Sana: Assessing and Improving the Health Status of Richmond’s Hispanic Community through Health Professional Student Service Learning, Nursing, Medicine, Pharmacy, VCU Health System Language Services, City of Richmond Hispanic Liaison Office, Cross-Over Ministries, and local faith-based community organizations to provide outreach cardio-metabolic disease screenings and referrals to the expanding local Hispanic community. 

Cathy Howard, Ph.D., vice provost for community engagement, told attendees they were playing a critical role in increasing the level of community engagement, which has been identified as a key theme in VCU’s strategic plan.

“I continue to be amazed by the quality and variety of these partnerships, which involve nearly every academic program on both campuses,” Howard said. “These awards allow us to build sustainable partnerships with organizations in greater Richmond and together, we can enhance our community's quality of life.”

The Council for Community Engagement also recognized four exemplary university-community programs, including one that was designated this year’s “Currents of Change” award winner.

The award for teaching and learning went to CreateAthon onCampus, a program in the School of Mass Communications that connects students studying design and communication with local nonprofits in need of help in branding, marketing or advertising in a 24-hour creative blitz. Over the past three events, 143 students have created campaigns valued at more than $300,000 for 34 Richmond-area nonprofits.

The award for outreach was given to the School of Dentistry and Virginia Dental Health Foundation’s Missions of Mercy effort, which provides dental service to thousands of Virginians in need in underserved areas of the state where there are not enough dental practitioners to adequately address the oral health needs of the community. Since 2000, the program has provided over $20 million in services to more than 35,000 people.  

The award for research and scholarship went to the Faison School for Autism-VCU Partnership, a partnership between the school and the Department of Psychiatry, which provided school-based services and offered training for students and professionals in applied behavioral analysis methods. The program has helped Faison School grow from serving 12 students with autism four years ago to more than 90 students today.  

And the “Currents of Change” award for overall excellence was given to the Pharmacist Collaborative Care in the Community program, a partnership between the School of Pharmacy and community organizations to provide medication-related health care services by coordinating medication lists for patients during transitions of care, managing diabetes and hypertension medicines for high-risk patients, identify and resolve medication-related problems and help patients get access to needed prescription medicines.

The “Currents of Change” winner received an autographed and framed limited edition print of the “STAR,” a watercolor by W. Baxter Perkinson, D.D.S., a School of Dentistry alumnus, former rector of the Board of Visitors and current vice president of the VCU Health System Authority. 

Organizers also discussed the university’s service–learning efforts, which include more than 80 service-learning courses offered at VCU and hundreds of thousands of hours of service dedicated to the community each year. Organizers also said the recently created Caring to Act Calendar has made it easier for people and organizations at VCU to find opportunities to volunteer in the community.