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2024 Anti-Racist Civic Engagement (ARCE) Mini-Grant Recipients

Congratulations to the 2024 cohort of Lindy Center for Civic Engagement Anti-Racist Civic Engagement Mini-Grant recipients! Each recipient submitted a project through our application process detailed in the previous link - the following list includes descriptions of each project. 

Project: Eid Festival; Grantee: Drexel Muslim Student Association (MSA) 

A large group of people are participating in a festival in an outdoor space with green grass and trees. In the forefront of the image is a table where drinks in plastic bottles are being handed out. The MSA co-hosted an Eid festival on Friday, April 12, 2024 on Lancaster Walk in partnership with the Middle Eastern and North African Association and Saudi Student Association. This was the first-ever event of its kind at Drexel, inviting everyone to learn about and celebrate Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, alongside Muslim students from Drexel and other neighboring institutions. In their application, they stated, "Our project recognizes the systemic inequities and barriers faced by marginalized communities, including racialized discrimination and Islamophobia. Through educational programming and awareness-building initiatives, we aim to challenge stereotypes, combat prejudice, and promote empathy and understanding across racial and cultural lines. Overall, our project approaches the Eid Festival through a lens of anti-racism and racial justice, striving to create an inclusive and equitable space where all members of the Drexel University community feel welcomed, valued, and respected. Through intentional programming, community engagement efforts, and a commitment to continuous learning and improvement, we aim to contribute to the broader movement for racial equity and justice on campus and beyond." The grant money will be used for event supplies and vendors. 

Project: Reactivating Drexel's NAACP Student Chapter; Grantees: Ryan Lewis and Jada Watkins

 

This is a headshot of a woman with a big smile. She has dark brown skin and her hair is wavy and a slightly lighter brown color than her skin. She is wearing a white shirt and a bright pink blazer. This is a headshot of a women in front of a brick wall. She has brown skin and is wearing black glasses, a white shirt, and a gray blazer. She has reddish-brown hair. Applicants Lewis and Watkins are working together to re-establish an NAACP chapter at Drexel, with the goal to "bridge the gap between Black and Brown students with their interests in politics and economics, along with providing civic engagement opportunities that will strengthen our surrounding communities." The chapter's intended programming includes educational events for Black students about the political and economic progress of the Black community and empowering people to participate in civic processes such as voting, allyship dialogues and workshops for the wider Drexel community of students, staff, and faculty, community engagement in West Philly, collaborations with other student organizations serving similar students, and General Business Meetings where they will create space for Black students to dialogue about ongoing challenges or struggles and build capacity to address these struggles together. ARCE mini-grant funding will be used to support NAACP memberships for students and provide food and other supplies for planning events as the chapter prepares to apply to be an official Drexel student organization. 

Project: Engineering for Social Justice with Philly Tech Gateway; Grantees: Alyssa Kemp and Alex Ashley

  Two people stand together smiling. The person on the left is in an orange shirt and has white skin and light brown hair. The person on the right is in a blue shirt with a khaki blazer, has Black skin, and has sunglasses pushed up on their head. This project focuses on providing educational workshops to West Philadelphia high school students around social/environmental justice's connection to the field of engineering. Recipient Alyssa Kemp has an existing relationship with Philly Tech Gateway, a youth organization that provides access to STEM education and career opportunities for 11th and 12th grade students in West Philly. Kemp will work with partner Alex Ashley (an Engineering PhD candidate at Drexel), engineering students, faculty, community leaders, and technology professionals to develop and provide holistic engineering and technology educational workshops that explore the intersections of engineering and environmental and social justice issues. The project aims to give these high schoolers perspective on engineering's "relevance and potential for creating positive change in their communities." In their application, Kemp wrote, "we hope to inspire them to pursue careers in engineering that are rooted in social and environmental responsibility. The expected impact is a more diverse engineering field that is socially conscious and actively engaged in addressing all communities' needs." The grant money will be given directly to Philly Tech Gateway to pay for costs related to the workshops, including compensating high schoolers for their participation, covering transportation, and purchasing supplies. 

Project: Community Lead Education; Grantee: Drexel Sanitation Health Aid Relief Project (SHARP) 

 

A group of 5 women are standing on either side of a table. The table has a white tablecloth and a display board collage that says 'SHARP'. The women are all in various different outfits and they are all smiling. Drexel's SHARP student group aims to raise awareness around water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) issues faced by marginalized communities around the globe. Through this project, SHARP will focus on building relationships in the West Philadelphia community around the issue of lead contamination in public water - an issue linked to issues of environmental racism and inequitable access to hygiene and sanitation resources. Throughout the fall, SHARP plans to create educational materials around lead contamination and distribute those by tabling at community events such as the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnership's monthly Community Dinners. Through this tabling, SHARP members will not only provide free educational materials that can help community members in their own homes but also establish relationships that they can use as a foundation for future work in West Philly. Their application says, "The project aims to mitigate the impacts of structural racism by ensuring equitable access to information and resources that empower residents to protect themselves from environmental hazards. We hope to build upon existing collective efforts by providing tangible resources and educational outreach, aiming to complement and enhance ongoing community initiatives focused on environmental health." Funding will be used to create educational materials and purchase tabling supplies.