LCE Grant Directory

Project

This project will convene practitioners, educators, policymakers, and community partners for an interactive workshop focused on improving coordinated responses to intimate partner violence (IPV) and substance use (SU), two issues that frequently occur together but are often addressed separately. Drawing on more than two decades of research, the event will feature evidence-informed learning modules, practitioner stories, collaborative discussions, and practical tools that help participants develop integrated approaches within their own organizations. Participants' experiences and feedback will directly inform the refinement of an openly accessible toolkit.

Goal

The project aims to strengthen collaboration across service sectors by translating research into practical strategies that improve support for individuals and families affected by IPV and substance use. By creating publicly available educational resources, recordings, and consultation opportunities, the initiative will extend learning beyond the event and support organizations in adopting more effective, research-informed practices.

Project

This storytelling initiative celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Environmental Interpretive Center (EIC) by documenting the experiences of K–12 students, educators, and campus and community members through digital storytelling. Participants will create short multimedia stories that explore their personal relationships with the EIC, the natural environment, and the ways nature fosters connection across generations and cultures. Building on the EIC’s Inclusive History Project, the initiative highlights diverse perspectives, including Indigenous and multilingual voices, while making learning visible through creative expression.

Goal

The project aims to foster intellectual empathy, reflection, and a deeper sense of belonging by amplifying community voices and creating inclusive opportunities for learning. The completed digital stories will be shared through the EIC, the Office of Holistic Excellence, and public campus displays, creating a lasting digital archive that honors the EIC’s past, celebrates its present, and inspires future engagement with nature and community.

Project

This planning initiative will establish a statewide partnership network between the Stamps School of Art & Design and community-based arts organizations that serve talented teen artists throughout Michigan. Working with partners such as Crooked Tree Arts Center, Neutral Zone, the Muskegon Museum of Art, and other regional organizations, the project will develop scholarship pathways that connect youth art exhibitions with Stamps Pre-College residential programs. These partnerships will create new opportunities for students to experience college-level art and design education while strengthening relationships between the University of Michigan and communities across the state.

Goal

The project aims to expand equitable access to higher education by reducing financial barriers for emerging artists and creating sustainable pathways into the Stamps School of Art & Design. Beyond launching new scholarship opportunities, the initiative will establish a long-term framework for community partnerships, philanthropic support, and statewide outreach that broadens participation in arts education and strengthens Michigan's creative communities.

Project

Wolverine Wellness is a research initiative that explores how an integrated life skills and self-efficacy curriculum can support first-year student-athletes during the transition from high school to collegiate athletics at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Using a mixed-methods approach, the project examines how resilience, time-management skills, and academic self-efficacy influence student success, well-being, and retention. Findings from the pilot will inform the development of a permanent one-credit course designed to support student-athletes throughout their academic journey.

Goal

The project seeks to strengthen academic achievement, persistence, and holistic well-being by equipping student-athletes with evidence-based tools for navigating the demands of college and athletics. In addition to creating a sustainable institutional support model, the project will share its findings and educational resources with the broader higher education community, enabling other institutions to adapt and build upon the Wolverine Wellness framework.

Project

Workshop with Detroit's Midwest-Tireman neighborhood community, U-M students, and community organizations (Equity Alliance, Neighborhood Art School, Sanctuary Farms).

Goal

Facilitate collaborative, interdisciplinary engagement to generate community-driven ideas for neighborhood development and philanthropy. Includes participatory exercises, roundtable discussion, and multilingual public resources.

Project

Development of a digital financial literacy platform, expanding U-M's financial education offerings.

Goal

Provide interactive modules, U-M-specific tools, and a prototype chatbot for on-demand, equitable financial guidance—empowering all students with lifelong budgeting and credit skills, and positioning U-M as a leader in financial well-being.

Project

Partnership between the Kelsey Museum and Michigan's Egyptian and Iraqi communities to co-create telling of their heritage through museum collections.

Goal

Increase accessibility and foster two-way dialogue by engaging MENA communities in educational material design and museum programming, with workshops, symposium, and professional deliverables produced in both English and Arabic.

Project

Detroit Environmental Justice Storytelling Initiative – capturing oral histories of local environmental justice activists, developing publicly accessible teaching and discussion guides, commissioning an original music performance integrating interview excerpts, hosting a community-facing public event, and creating a website to share and preserve all project materials.

Goal

Document and disseminate Detroit's environmental justice organizing history while expanding equitable access to community knowledge through arts-based scholarship and educational resources that engage Detroit residents and the U-M community in learning, dialogue, and action.

Project

TEDxUofM 2026 "Radiance," a daylong conference at the Power Center featuring eight TED-style talks from students, faculty, and community leaders, with low-cost tickets, livestream access, accessibility accommodations, and professionally recorded talks shared online as open educational resources.

Goal

Broaden equitable access to diverse ideas and perspectives by convening 1,400+ participants and producing free, widely distributed digital content that supports ongoing learning, dialogue, and global knowledge sharing.

Project

Storytelling initiative led by the University of Michigan Center for Innovation (UMCI) in partnership with the Michigan Engineering Zone (MEZ), featuring U-M student storytellers, UMCI learners and staff, and Detroit community partners.

Goal

Produce an authentic, student-led multimedia story series that makes "life-changing education" visible by documenting how expanded educational pathways in Detroit transform lives. Through short video profiles, thematic chapter videos, photo essays, audio vignettes, and a curated fall exhibit, the project will highlight real journeys of access, aspiration, and growth for broader public engagement.

Project

The Campus of the Future EdTech Design Jam, a four-hour interactive design thinking event in which U-M students collaborate with community experts to prototype solutions for helping high school students build skills and confidence for future college campuses. Top teams receive prizes and can apply for seed funding to refine ideas and enter larger design challenges.

Goal

Engage students in experiential learning, promote U-M's Life-Changing Education theme, foster interest in educational technology, and create a pipeline of innovative solutions for pre-college students.

Project

Latine Research Week (LRW), an interdisciplinary conference celebrating the scholarship of Latine students, researchers, and faculty at U-M. LRW features keynote presentations, oral and poster sessions, and opportunities for networking across departments, both in-person and online. Stipends are provided to presenters to support participation in national conferences, and collaborations with Latine student organizations expand reach and visibility.

Goal

Create an inclusive academic space that uplifts Latine scholarship, expands access to research and networking opportunities, and fosters a sense of belonging for historically underrepresented students and faculty.

Project

A short documentary highlighting how Michigan Tribal communities adapt the PC CARES model through community-led Learning Circles to prevent suicide and address at-risk substance use. Centering Tribal voices, the video documents cross-community learning and how research and local knowledge are applied in meaningful ways. It will be web-accessible and include interviews, footage, artwork, and visual notes.

Goal

Showcase collective learning, support capacity-building and future partnerships, and demonstrate scholarship as shared, actionable, and community-rooted.

Project

Random Variations, a system that uses structured variation, curated musical materials, and intentional constraints to support creative learning in music. The project makes expert creative strategies visible, repeatable, and accessible, providing students and educators with tools to reduce cognitive overload and explore musical ideas with confidence. Public-facing outputs include a functional prototype, an educator toolkit, and a video walkthrough, all freely accessible and fully captioned.

Goal

Lower barriers to creative learning, support music educators and students, and expand access to structured, practical strategies for creative practice.

Project

U-M Coaches Collaborative: Summer Summit, a cross-campus gathering for university coaching professionals to connect, share practices, and co-create resources.

Goal

Foster collaboration and produce accessible tools that strengthen coaching and support student and staff success.

Project

Voices & Visions: The Arts, Democracy, and Race, a multi-campus event using performing arts and dialogue to explore antiracism and democracy.

Goal

Foster open inquiry and shared learning through performance and facilitated community dialogue.

Project

A research and development initiative examining how students can effectively seek academic help from large language models, alongside the creation of a customized AI agent that promotes learning-oriented use.

Goal

Identify mastery-oriented help-seeking behaviors and design tools that guide students to use AI in ways that deepen understanding rather than foster dependence.

Project

The CSP Storytellers Project, a digital initiative capturing the long-term impact of CSP and the Summer Bridge Scholars Program through alumni voices across five decades.

Goal

Center alumni as knowledge holders to make visible how access, belonging, and support shape life outcomes through an interactive multimedia exhibit and digital map.

Project

A 5-7 minute documentary exploring the U-M Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) through the story of Charles Brookes, a formerly incarcerated poet, author, and motivational speaker whose creative practice developed during his 20 years in prison.

Goal

Highlight how access to creative expression, education, and storytelling can promote healing, leadership, and connection for individuals impacted by incarceration, while honoring PCAP's mission of artistic collaboration and mutual learning.

Project

A six-week paid summer research and science communication program that brings local high school students from underserved communities into a U-M chemical engineering lab to conduct research and share their work with public audiences.

Goal

Broaden access to authentic STEM experiences by combining research mentorship, formal science communication training with the U-M Museum of Natural History, and public engagement opportunities.

Project

A success-oriented engineering case study and classroom intervention that reframes iteration, redesign, constructive disagreement, and persistence as central to professional engineering practice.

Goal

Explore how shifting engineering case studies away from catastrophic failure and toward successful iterative problem solving can influence students' confidence, intellectual risk-taking, and willingness to engage complex challenges, while producing a faculty-ready toolkit for broader classroom use.

Project

A partnership with Pathways Academy, a Detroit charter school serving expectant and parenting youth, to design and pilot a research-based health course centered on youth participatory action research.

Goal

Expand access to relevant, credit-bearing health education by helping students investigate issues connected to their lived experiences, build research and leadership skills, and explore public health as a pathway for learning, advocacy, and future opportunity.