Community Academic Service Entrepreneur program (CASE)

General Guidebook for Hosts

Campus Community Partnership Foundation
The mission of the Foundation is to foster academic service learning (ASL) in higher education with grants and awards for ASL best practices and innovative and entrepreneurial solutions to social problems and to improve student education. Academic service learning integrates meaningful, curriculum-linked community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the student's learning experience and promotes social innovation.
The Grant
In support of this mission, the Community Academic Service Entrepreneur grant (CASE) is presented to a student whose project proposal represents the most promising new idea in academic service learning in a competition with other students. CASE grants provide prestigious recognition for students, faculty and their community partners, and a grant toward the project proposed by the student.
Students receive:
1. The proposal judged to be the best is awarded a grant for the purposes of the proposed activity, either directly to the community organization or via the school.
2. All students, whose proposals meet the criteria, are presented with Merit Certificates from the Foundation.
3. C2PF will publish the student project summary report on its website, www.C2PF.org and www.servicebook.org
Student requirements:
1. Identify an innovative academic service learning project
2. Recruit a community organization/village as partner.
3. Recruit a faculty member to oversee the project.
4. Apply for the award.
5. Keep a running account of project activities
6. Write a project summary report at the conclusion of the project.
7. In addition to the narrative in the project summary report, the student may create a documentary of the project via video, PowerPoint, briefing to other students, etc., for publication.
Host responsibilities. The following are the tasks comprise the responsibility of hosting a CASE program.
1. Announce the grant availability, with rules and deadlines. Adjustments may be necessary for local considerations. Secure agreement from three judges.
2. Orchestrate the evaluation process.
  1. Provide a description of the CASE program to the judges with criteria for selection.
  2. Receive applications and distribute them to judges
  3. Receive and summarize the evaluations of judges and distill a final decision on a winner.
3. Monitor the project as the student and the community organization carry out whatever was proposed.
4. Remind the student to submit the final report.
5. Help review the CASE process and identify improvements to make for the next cycle.
6. Generally, hosts will not be required to track or report on the use of funds.
Minimum Requirements for students to apply for the CASE award
1. Applicants must be full-time students
2. Applicants must identify and secure a letter from a prospective partner which is a tax exempt, non-lobbying organization that has been in existence for at least two years. (Adjustment might be necessary in certain cases)
3. Applicants must secure an endorsement letter from a member of the faculty who was willing to oversee the project.
Selecting an award winner from among applicants - Reviewers judge the proposals on criteria, which include the following:
1. IMPACT
  1. Impact on the community through increased economic opportunity,
  2. Improved social or civic networks, more effective education programs, more responsive public systems, etc.
  3. Documentation of measurable outcomes.
  4. The promise of sustainability for the proposed idea after the grant funding is exhausted.
  5. Leverage created by the grant funds, such that a project moves forward that otherwise would not have if grant was not available.
  6. The prospects of transferability and scalability of the idea to other settings, such as the student's home country environment.
2. PARTNERSHIP
  1. Identification of the community partner's strengths and efforts to build upon and enhance these strengths.
  2. Collaborative and data-informed planning and decision making between the student and the community partner with regard to the project.
  3. Efforts to enlist other collaborators like businesses, civic organizations, government agencies, faith-based institutions, etc.
3. ACADEMIC-SERVICE LEARNING
  1. Integration of the project with a student's coursework, practicum, thesis, dissertation, etc.
  2. An optimal blend of learning, research and service for the applicant.
The student project summary report includes
1. An assessment of the degree to which specific project aims were accomplished
2. An assessment of the degree to which general program criteria were met
3. An explanation of what the student learned about service leadership and about academic-service entrepreneurship
4. Recommendations for further development of the specific proposed idea in the future
5. Recommendations for related general or specific ideas that could be developed in the future
6. Recommendations for enhanced collaboration between the community partner and his or her school in the future
7. An accounting for project funds
Application - available on www.servicebook.org
Frequently asked questions about CASE
1. Q: How long should a student have worked with the proposed community organization partner?
  A: A project will be more meaningful if it is based on an existing relationship than if the student and community organization don't know each other at the time the proposal is submitted. In the case of statewide competitions, it seems reasonable that this relationship should have existed for a semester. In the case of single school competitions, any prior involvement would suffice. It may also be appropriate in some situations to move this provision from the "MUST" minimum requirements to the "DEGREE to which" selection criteria. In that case, the Certificates of Merit should be issued to applicants who have had at least some prior involvement with the proposed community partner.
2. Q: Must the student take a course during the time of the project with the faculty member who supports the student during the project?
  A: It is a minimum requirement that some faculty member should agree to work with the student, at lease informally, on the project. Also, the student's proposal should receive higher evaluations if the student can link the project to a current course or ongoing academic program. However, if such a course is included in the application, it need not be taught by the same faculty member who agrees to support the student's project.
3. Q: Does the "integration of the project with a student's coursework, practicum, thesis, dissertation, etc." require that the project be included in the formal syllabus for all students in a class?
  A: While this certainly could be the case, the CASE program is intended for individual students (or individuals as leaders of groups of students) and the connection to their academic work likely would be individualized as well. A good proposal will address this connection to ensure that the proposal is evaluated highly for this element of the selection criteria. A proposal that does not address this connection would, logically, receive no credit for this element of the selection criteria.
4. Q: Does C2PF require that the announcement be issued exactly as presented on www.c2pf.org or can the language and details be adjusted to the needs of a specific host and their constituency?
  A: Template is provided to communicate the spirit of the CASE program; you may tailor the language for the program announcement so the result is a partnership between the host and C2PF. All such adjustments must be shared with C2PF to ensure certification.
5. Q: Should the grant have a specific purpose at the community organization, or is "general operating expenses" an eligible use of the funds?
  A: By definition, the student proposal will be for a specific activity, which, generally, will have a specific budget requirement. It is possible that a student who was prompted to develop a proposal by virtue of the CASE program envisions a project that creates significant value based on criteria but requires no financial support to accomplish.
6. Q: To whom are grant checks made payable?
  A: In the United States the checks are made payable to the community organization who is a partner for the project. As a 501(c)(3), the community organization provides appropriate fiduciary standards and safeguards for receiving grants. In the case of proposed projects that entail more than one organization partner, one of the partners must be designated as the agent to receive and distribute the grant funds, as necessary. The academic institution of the student can act as a fiduciary for funding.
7. Q: Who monitors and certifies that the funds were used in accordance with the proposal?
  A: The student's report includes a narrative accounting of the use of the funds. Any further documentation that may be needed will be initiated by JRCPF directly with the academic institution or community organization that is designated as the agent for the funds.

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