Racial Justice Leadership GrantsMcKenna Leadership Project GrantsMacBain/ Riley International Fund 

Racial Justice Leadership Grants

Each year, the McKenna Centre will offer up to six Racial Justice Leadership Grants of $4,500.

These grants are designed to provide Black and Indigenous students with funding and institutional resources in order to support projects that include research, organizing and outreach work, or advocacy and activism in the area of racial justice. In addition to funding specific projects, the grants offer students a range of opportunities to participate in the effort to shape the future of our university, and they provide students with opportunities for disseminating their work and ideas and with platforms for their voices.

Applications

We welcome applications from students of all fields and disciplinary backgrounds (undergraduate, graduate, professional, and part-time), and we warmly welcome applications from international students. While we appreciate project proposals specifically designed for the purpose of this grant, students are also encouraged to use these grants to support ongoing studies and research. Grants can therefore be used to fund brand new projects, but they can also be used to further cultivate projects that are associated with a particular course or program of study, to continue ongoing projects first developed through a different funding opportunity (such as summer research mentorships), to support honours and advanced major projects, and so on. We invite proposals that range from traditional academic research to projects that blend academic work with social engagement in the form of activism, advocacy, or community outreach.

Applicants are encouraged to explore the topic of racial justice broadly by leveraging their disciplinary and academic background as well as the knowledge connected to their own sociocultural background and the complexity and diversity of Black and Indigenous lived experience. We welcome project proposals and applications that consider racial justice as a crucial aim in all areas of life and academia, and we therefore encourage proposals that represent a wide range of backgrounds and interests.

From studying racial bias in medicine and scientific research to examining the effects of the under-representation of Black and Indigenous scholars in the education system, to examining the history of environmental racism in Nova Scotia and its connection to economics and policy to uncovering the history of under-discussed Black and Indigenous artists in the Maritimes, to charting the links between racial segregation and mental and physical health to researching the historical challenges and present opportunities of business ventures in Black and Indigenous communities, we are excited to see applicants explore the widest possible range of projects that deploy academic research in unison with social engagement to indicate necessary paths toward racial justice.

How to apply:

By August 1, submit an application package including:

  • Resumé
  • 1,000-word project description
  • 1-page “time budget” that outlines a rough plan for how you will spend the hours that the grant fund
  • 2 Letters of support that speak to the quality of the applicant’s proposal and to the applicant’s abilities involved in carrying out the work proposed in the application (referees may include professors, teachers, coaches, mentors, employers, and so on)

The project description is the core of the application and should be carefully prepared. In this piece, applicants should clearly describe the project for which they are requesting funding through this grant. Applicants should outline what they would like to accomplish with the help of this grant and describe in detail how they plan on reaching the stated goals.

Your project description should consider and clearly answer the following questions:

  1. What topic or problem do you wish to research or work on?
  2. What is the significance or particular urgency of this topic or problem?
  3. What would you like to accomplish with the help of this grant? What will be the specific goal(s) or outcome(s) of your proposed project?
  4. What steps will you take to reach your goal(s)? How will you carry out your project?
  5. What do you see as the long-term benefits of your proposed work?
  6. How will you spend the time that is funded through this grant (300 hours for the academic year, 150 hours per semester)? Attach a “time budget” in order to outline your plan for the grant and its individual stages or steps.

Note: one way to organize the time spent on the grant may be to dedicate the fall semester to research, project development, outreach work, and so on, and to spend the winter semester on compiling and presenting results, participating in events, and sharing expertise with organizations and offices on our campus involved in efforts aimed at EDI.

Total time spent on the grant: equivalent to 300 hours (150 hours per semester).

Email your applications to: @email

The McKenna Advisory Board will adjudicate applications immediately following the deadline and inform the six grant recipients, who can begin their work in September.

McKenna Leadership Project Grants

Each grant supports a full-year project (for the fall and winter semesters) with the amount of $4,500.

Have you been thinking about a way to address a pressing problem but have not found the time or resources to develop it? Would you like to start an organization or effort that addresses an issue like food waste or rural poverty, do you have an idea for a project in the area of conservation and environment, or are you interested in bringing a chapter of an established organization or group to campus that works to address a social or environmental problem?

Leadership can be understood as the commitment to taking action when inertia or lack of conviction stops others from confronting a problem. If you have an idea for how to improve our community, if you have developed the bases of a project that is aimed at creating positive change, then the McKenna Centre for Leadership would like to help you develop and realize your ideas.

Applications

To apply, send us a project proposal of circa 1,000 words in which you describe your project, the steps and activities that it will involve, and its intended outcomes. The proposal should include a detailed budget outlining how you will use the funds that the grant provides, and it will ideally include a timeline of proposed actions and steps to let us know what you are planning on doing over the course of the year. In your proposal, tell us how you plan on addressing an existing problem and how you aim to improve StFX or our wider community or how you intend to approach, for example, a larger social problem, environmental cause, and so on.

Along with your proposal, send us a current resumé and two letters of recommendation from professors, employers, etc. who are able to speak to the quality of your idea and who are able to assess your ability to carry out the project you are proposing. Recommenders should have read your proposal and should comment on its feasibility in their letters.

Submit your application by August 1 to @email.

MacBain/ Riley International Fund 

Up to five awards with a value of $500 to $5,000 each will be awarded during each competition.

The MacBain/ Riley International Fund was established within the Frank McKenna Centre for Leadership at St. Francis Xavier University. The purpose of this endowed fund is to open up high-quality global engagement opportunities for undergraduate students. The fund’s purpose reflects the belief of John MacBain and Dr. Sean Riley, StFX President (1996 – 2014), that international experience and opportunities are essential to the next generation of Canadian (and other nationalities) leaders in government, business and academe. It reflects the great value and great friendships that have arisen from their own international experiences. The fund is intended to provide early encouragement to undergraduate students to develop their leadership at the international level.

The fund will make annual grants adjudicated in a competitive process, to assist in funding:
a) International placement in overseas internships, entrepreneurial projects, and development initiatives.
b) Participation in international meetings or seminars where the focus is on international collaboration and leadership development.
c) International volunteer activity with a leadership component.

The distinctive feature of the MacBain/Riley awards is that they will be focused on supporting individual students who have designed their own entrepreneurial plan for global engagement. The MacBain/Riley awards may be linked with the international programs of the Coady Institute.

Applications

Award funding may be used for travel (economy class), living expenses, conference fees, and other reasonable expenses. Award funding may not be used for tuition fees. Upon return, students should submit their receipts to the office of the Academic Vice President and Provost and the awards will then be distributed. Award winners must provide receipts for all expenses identified on the MacBain Riley application.

Students in all bachelor programs are encouraged to apply. To be eligible to apply, students must have been enrolled in full-time studies in a Bachelor’s degree program during the most recent complete academic term (prior to the application deadline) at StFX, and be intending to return to full time studies at StFX after receiving the award.

Submit your application by January 15 of each year to: @email

Allocation of the MacBain/Riley Global Engagement Awards will be based on consideration of the following criteria:

  1. The academic record of the student
  2. The quality of the proposed global engagement opportunity and its link to leadership development for the student
  3. Distribution across faculties

The Application Applicants must submit a proposal including:

  1. Full name, Student ID number and StFX email address
  2. Program of study
  3. Expected graduation date
  4. Timing of the proposed global engagement opportunity
  5. Total budget for the proposed global engagement opportunity and detailed budget for the MacBain/Riley Global Engagement Award portion
  6. A description of the proposed Global Engagement Opportunity including a statement on how this opportunity will contribute to the student’s leadership at the international level. (maximum of two pages)
  7. If the opportunity involves a placement or attachment to an organization, a letter from that organization supporting the proposal should be attached.
  8. An up-to-date copy of the applicant’s StFX Student Grade Report
  9. Names and contact information for 2 references – including at least 1 StFX Faculty member (no friends or family members)
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Contact

Frank McKenna Centre for Leadership
@email

3090 Martha Dr
Antigonish NS B2G 2W5
Canada