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Children, Youth and Environments Award (CYE Award)- program temporarily paused.

The Children, Youth and Environments (CYE) Award (up to $5,000) will be given to support a place-based Participatory Action Research (PAR) project focused on young people aged 18 or younger during summer 2019. PAR in this context refers to participatory approaches that work with young people, in partnership, to carry out research and action. This fund specifically excludes traditional extractive studies that gather information about young people without their direct involvement. Intergenerational projects that bring identifiable benefits to young people are welcome. “Place-based” refers to projects that inquire into the lived physical environments of children and youth, whether these are neighborhoods, parks, schools, transportation and mobility, local businesses, or services. Preference will be given to projects that engage young people growing up in low-income neighborhoods and/or working to address some form of inequality or marginalization. Graduate students, staff, and faculty are encouraged to apply.  

Applications are due each spring to enable selection in time for those projects beginning in the summer.

Applications must include the following elements:

• Project Proposal (no more than 900 words)
  • What are the goals and expected outcomes of this PAR project?
  • Who are the participants, how many, and what roles will they play?
  • How will the project leader ensure that young people participate in shaping the goals and methods of the PAR project?
  • How does this project relate to the applicant’s professional goals or program of research?
  • How will the project be evaluated?
  • Project timeline: Summarize key steps and activities of the project
     
• Additional Application Items
  • Budget (on a separate page); include total project budget and indicate which aspects of budget will be supported by this award, with explanation of each item in budget
  • Letter of support from community partner
  • ​Faculty advisor reference letter (if application is from a graduate student)

Eligible applicants must have an affiliation with CU �鶹ӰԺ at the time of application and during project implementation. Graduate students, staff, and faculty, including non-tenure track faculty, are eligible. Joint applications by more than one applicant are permissible.

Applicants are encouraged to include matching funds or other contributions from their department, the community partner or other external sources.

Frequently Asked Questions

What can funds be used for?
The award may be flexibly used for project-related expenses, including stipends for youth, summer pay for graduate students and undergraduate assistants, travel costs incurred by young people (18 and under) to participate and/or communicate findings, and materials needed to implement a project related to or based on PAR. The award may not be used for subvention fees for publication. Up to 10% of the award may be used for a graduate student to present project results at a professional meeting.

How does CU Engage define Participatory Action Research (PAR)? 
We define PAR as enacting three core practices: 1) youth-adult partnerships that reflect democratic decision-making, meaningful roles for all participants, and absence of age-based discrimination; 2) systematic inquiry about a topic that participants deem relevant to their lives (e.g., GIS mapping, interviews, surveys, auto-ethnography, photovoice, ethnography); and 3) public contribution based on research findings (e.g., dialogue with public officials, development of a resource book or website, school policy proposal, news article broadcasting your message).

Where are these funds drawn from?
These funds are drawn from the earnings of an endowment created by the Children, Youth Environments Center for Research and Design.

Who will make decisions about awardees?
CU Engage will convene a selection committee made up of one CU Engage staff person, one member of CEDAR (Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Design and Research), one community representative, and one graduate student. 

How many awardees will there be?
At the discretion of the award selection committee, the award may be split across more than one applicant. Should the committee deem that no awardable applications have been received in any given year, it may decide to add that year’s endowment earnings to the amount made available for awards the following year.

To read about the 2016 Children, Youth and Environments (CYE) Award recipients, click here and to learn about the 2018 CYE Award recipients click here.