Urban Community Engagement Fellows Program

As the Southwest Action Group (SWAG) website states, Southwest Lansing is “a vibrant community where diversity thrives, unity binds us, and progress is a shared mission.” MSU is well positioned to partner with this local organization as Southwest Lansing moves forward in transformative ways that honor its past and emerging future success.

2025-2026 Cohort

For the 2025-2026 academic year, fellows will engage with community partner(s) and MSU to launch, support, and sustain Southwest Lansing area project(s). Fellows will be completing community-identified projects as a multidisciplinary team.

This program will follow best practices of place-based community engagement. UCEF participants are expected to:

• Focus on community-identified priorities.
• Ground their approach and activities in diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging.
• Emphasize reciprocity and mutual benefit in partnerships.
• Take a strengths-based approach.
• Address underlying causes and identify levers of community change.
• Collaborate with a multidisciplinary cohort of fellows for learning, action, and reflection.
• Generate deliverables of value to both community partners and graduate fellows.
• Share their experiences through a research poster or presentation, developed in collaboration with cohort members.

Examples of Projects

The 2024-2025 cohort has completed and begun several projects. These have included supporting a local entrepreneur revamping their store, creating a community legacy storytelling project, and conducting survey data analysis about local churches. Based on input from our Community Advisory Group, which includes representatives from several local organizations, future projects may focus on food security, urban gardening, and building a viable youth entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

Who Can Apply

This fellowship program is for MSU graduate students with an interest in interdisciplinary team approaches to community engagement in urban areas. UCEF welcomes applicants from all colleges and programs. Applicants should be enrolled as full-time graduate students, making good progress toward degree completion, and in good academic standing.

Expectations

Fellows in the program are expected to commit 5-8 hours per week across the fall and spring semesters, including:

• Orientation
• Regular meetings with the program coordinator (2-hour blocks/week)
• Workshops attended as a team/cohort
• Community partner meetings in Lansing
• Completion of a project agreed upon by the community partner(s), students, and the program coordinator.

Fellows are expected to meet in person; this is not a virtual program. Fellows will need to be enrolled in both the fall and spring semesters. Fellows will receive $7,500 total for the two semesters. Fellows will be acknowledged at an end-of-year event.

Application

Prospective fellows should complete an online application, which includes:

• A brief application form
• A C.V. or resume
• A 1–2-page statement of interest
• Provide the names and contact information of two professional references. Letters of support are not needed for the application, although UCEF organizers may contact references.

Apply for UCEF Program

Three to five applicants will be accepted into the program based on the advisory committee’s assessment of prospective fellows’ commitment to community engagement, interest in working on an interdisciplinary team, commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and potential for the UCEF program to contribute to their personal and professional development.

Applications for the UCEF program are due on April 12, 2025. Application reviews, interviews, and offers will be extended in early May 2025.

Questions

For further information or questions, please contact:

Jess Reed
Coordinator, Urban Community Engagement Fellows Program
Office for Public Engagement and Scholarship
University Outreach and Engagement