2018-19 Engaged Opportunity Grant Recipients

Cornell faculty and staff are always thinking of ways to create, enhance or participate in community-engaged initiatives, but they might not have the funds to get their ideas off the ground. Engaged Opportunity Grants are designed to help by supporting big and small projects from across the university.

Best Practices in Senior Living Staffing
Providing simple tools, strategies and data-analysis tasks for the highly fragmented, senior living industry.
Bold Pursuit of a Community-University Partnership That Works
A conference workshop about a Cornell SC Johnson College of Business-City of Ithaca collaboration.
Building Awareness Around Adverse Childhood Experiences
Assessing community understanding and supporting vulnerable families in Orange County.
Building Engagement Skills Through Storytelling and Photography
Staging workshops that explore the potential of photography and storytelling for community-engaged learning.
A Changing Island
Catalyzing community discussions about race, disability, technology, data and access on New York City’s Roosevelt Island.
Community-engaged Learning Theory in Local and Global Health
Funding travel to a conference roundtable on developing mutually beneficial community partnerships in the global and public health fields.
Community College and School of Education Vietnam Video
Supporting the internationalization of community college and school of education curricula.
Community Education: An Introduction to the Science of Cancer
A day-long seminar where graduate student cancer researchers present the science of the disease to a lay audience.
Community Storytelling in Southern West Virginia
Documenting stories of how respectful, collaborative partnerships led to remarkable outcomes in the coal-mining communities of southern West Virginia.
Community Veterinary Wellness Clinics
Providing basic preventative care to cats and dogs of low-income owners in Schuyler County, New York.
Connecting with the New York City Labor Movement
Creating opportunities for Master of Industrial and Labor Relations students to pursue careers and activism in the labor and social justice movement.
Cornell Wind Symphony Community-Engaged Tour
Using music as a vehicle for cultural exchange, engagement and global awareness with partners in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Cornell World Languages Day – A Pilot
Introducing high schoolers to world languages and cultures while highlighting international programs and student organizations on campus.
The Cornell/WIPO Collaboration
Creating — and getting students involved in — a global public sector IP-based innovation community.
Cross-cultural Global Health Student Engagement and Research Presentation
Funding travel for student and community partner participation at the Consortium of Universities for Global Health Conference.
Cross-pollinating Outreach Programs to Support Organic Farmers
Engaging students with organic farmers while strengthening research and educational programming.
Do-It-Yourself Outbreak Exhibit
Educating the community about disease outbreaks and how to control them.
Early Childhood Astronomy Education
Teaching astronomy to underserved populations in Upstate New York.
Ed-venturous Learning
Designing community-engaged curricula for immigrants and refugees to better understand how to navigate their new communities.
Employment and a Cornell Anchor Mission
Researching what’s necessary for a sustainable anchor mission of supporting employment in Tompkins County.
Engaged Scholarship in California’s San Joaquin Valley
Developing, analyzing and publishing stories of engaged learning and research in the San Joaquin Valley.
Feminist Directions: Performance, Power and Leadership
Bringing internationally acclaimed artists, scholars and activists together to explore feminist performance through workshops, lectures and discussions.
The Flood Room: Empathy, Environmental Justice and Climate Change Preparation
An art-research installation that exposes students and the community to the reality of living through a flood.
Food Safety While Improving Livelihoods
Strengthening the poultry value chain in eastern Kenya.
Food Waste 101
Building a network of campus and community partners working toward reducing food waste on college campuses.
A Garden-based Case Study
Evaluating a long-term school garden program in Belize.
Global and Intercultural Learning in Geneva City Schools
Partnering with Geneva City Schools to achieve their goal of increasing globally competent and aware citizens.
Hands-on Experience with High Performance Horses
Advancing the veterinary student experience through community engagement in high performance equine care.
Harvest of Struggle
Developing case studies about the long-term impacts of union organizing on low-wage workers.
Haunted by Joy
Investing in the professional and artistic development of young Black girls through the collaborative curation of an original art exhibit.
A Home for Homeless Youth
Collaborating with youth who experience homelessness to design an Ithaca emergency youth shelter that meets their needs.
Hudson Valley/Catskills Landscape Design Collaboration
Taking a participatory approach to design sustainable teaching gardens for three Cornell Cooperative Extension Associations.
ILR Buffalo Co-Lab: Where the High Road Works
Funding community-engaged learning staff and students to participate in Cornell in Albany Day.
Improving Cooperative Business Education
Applying business class principles to address actual issues cooperative leaders are facing.
Ithaca Sleep Out
An event to raise awareness about homelessness and what people can do to help.
Language Access to Justice
A faculty and community partner conference panel on theoretical and practical approaches to language minority policy.
Latino Leadership Summit
A daylong event for networking and building connections among the Latinx community.
A Latinx Community Zine Project
Students, faculty and community partners working together to publish Bien Acompañada, a Latinx zine for the Ithaca community.
Let’s Talk Science
Science communication and civic engagement to promote mutually beneficial relationships between scientists and the public.
Look Local: Practical Solutions for Equitable Revitalization
Connecting faculty and staff with community partners in Buffalo to discover opportunities for research, collaboration and student learning.
Migration Stories: Community Empowerment Through Art
Presenting art viewing and artmaking workshops to complement an exhibit on global migration.
Natural Sciences Communication Workshop
Demystifying scientific methods and engaging the public through social media platforms.
New Horizons for Youth in Hamilton County
A summer moviemaking program for middle school students in New York’s least densely populated county.
Ongwe (The People) Podcast
Portraying the dynamism of indigenous peoples and their resiliency through telling positive stories of achievement, struggle and survival.
Poverty Stoplight in Elmira, New York
Presenting a poverty reduction plan at an international conference on poverty elimination.
Presentations on Home Care Worker Research
Supporting travel to present results on community-engaged research about home care workers who care for adults with heart failure.
Prison Theatre and the Possibilities of Transformation Films
Documenting the relationship between students and the incarcerated members of a theatre group.
Responding to Local Fiscal Vulnerability Due to Climate Change
Exploring fiscal and land-use planning policies that can help local governments in coastal Massachusetts adapt to climate change.
Resistance Will Not Be Stopped: Art and Social Change in Latin America and the Diaspora
Developing a poster series that brings to life the relationships between the visual arts and histories of Latin American resistance.
Socially Engaged Art and Indigenous, Urban and Environmental Histories
Providing the opportunity for cultural exchange among an Aboriginal Australian artist, members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Cornell community.
Teaching with Community Partners
A conference presentation on methods to improve teaching science communication in biology laboratory education.
Thread Magazine, Fall 2018 Issue
Partnering with a local business to produce a vintage-themes issue of a student-run fashion and arts publication.
Tick-borne Disease Education in Summer Camps
Promoting evidence-based disease prevention strategies at the Hidden Valley 4-H camp in Schuyler County.
Town of Dryden Wage and Compensation Study
Recommending an equitable and state-of-the-art compensation plan, based on the evaluation of 22 positions in the Town of Dryden.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge as the Basis for Sustainability Studies
Students gaining hands-on experience with Hawaiian cultural practices to contribute to the restoration and conservation of natural resources.
Vision Zero in Ithaca
An interdisciplinary campus-community partnership to reduce traffic-related crashes and injuries.
Working Dogs Reseeding Deforested Areas
Testing the possibility of using dogs to disperse seeds in ravines and gullies.