Community Commons Summer Grants
The Community Commons Summer Grants allow Hampshire students to apply for funding from several different grant programs using a shared application. Funding is for summer internships and projects and is generally limited to $3,000 per student.
Summer 2024 Application Deadline: April 5
The Community Commons Grant program offers student grants to support travel, cost of living, and other expenses for projects and internships that will be conducted over the summer. If you have questions about whether or not your proposal can be sponsored by a grant, please reach out to the contact people listed below.
Any student who has at least one semester remaining, is in good academic standing, and has financial need is eligible to apply for grant funding; individual programs may have additional eligibility guidelines. Internships and projects must have a supervisor or mentor who can consistently supervise the applicant remotely, whether with an organization or while pursuing self-designed work.
Grant-making programs are excited to connect with students and continue the legacy of summer funding for work that puts theory into real world contexts. The shared application process outlined below is for summer grants from Community Commons, Culture, Brain, and Development Program, the James Baldwin Scholars Program, and SPARC: Supporting your Purpose with Action, Resources and Connections.
Application Materials
Community Commons Summer Grants Shared Application
Faculty Statement of Support (for faculty to submit)
Organization Statement of Support (for your organization supervisor or collaborator to submit)
How to Apply
- Set up a summer internship or project. You can find an established internship offered through an organization or you can design your own by working with an organization or mentor. If you are designing a project, be sure you have a mentor or supervisor to work with.
- Read through the list below to learn more about each grant, and identify the ones that you can apply for. You are encouraged to reach out to the contact person for the grants you are considering to ask if your internship or project is a good fit.
- Once you determine which grants are a good fit, look at the application and work on your answers offline. We encourage you to get help if needed. You can seek help from the contact person for any of the grants you're applying for, the Writing Center, SPARC, your faculty advisor, or any other faculty or staff that you feel would be helpful.
- Talk with your faculty member and your internship/project supervisor (if you are working with an organization) about the statement(s) of support you will need, and email them a link to this page or directly to the appropriate form. See below for advice on how to get these statements. The online statements of support must be submitted in order to receive funding.
- Apply for all the grants you qualify for by submitting just ONE online application by the deadline. Check with your faculty recommender and internship supervisor or project mentor to make sure they have submitted their statements of support. It is your responsibility to work with them to make sure this happens. However, even if you don't yet have your statements of support, you must submit an application by the deadline in order to be considered. As long as you submit an application by the deadline, even if it's incomplete, we will work with you.
- GIf you would like to confirm that your application was received, check with the contact person for one of the grants for which you applied. If it was received by one, it was received by all.
Get your statement(s) of support
How do you go get your statement of support? Start by having a conversation with your faculty member and internship supervisor or project mentor (if you are working with an organization), explaining that you are applying for grant funding. Ask if they would be willing to fill out a brief online statement of support for you. Send them an email with a link to this page and instructions on which form to submit. You can help them by saying "click the yellow button" or "click the purple button" as appropriate. Explain that this is a required part of your application for grant funding, without which you will not be eligible.
Give them plenty of time (2-4 weeks, if possible), and ask them to notify you when they have submitted the form. Be very clear about the deadline, and it is okay to email gentle reminders. Remember to express your gratitude for their help!
IMPORTANT: If you are doing an academic project, your faculty statement of support must come from the faculty person who is supervising your project.
Questions?
If you have a question about the application process or a technical issue, please contact the SPARC at sparc@hampshire.edu.
Community Commons Summer Grants
CoCo Praxis Summer Internship Grant
Contact: Kate McConnell
Description: The Community Commons (CoCo) offers Praxis Summer Internship grant funding to assist current students with costs of living while interning with a mission-driven organization of their choice whose work is social justice/social change-oriented. A student may also conduct a self-designed project with a designated mentor or supervisor. The internship or project should relate to and inform the students’ academic work.
Award: Up to $3,000 per student
Eligibility: Div II and III students in good academic standing. Priority given to Division II students on financial aid.
Charley Richardson 70F Award
Contact: Kate McConnell
Description: This award was created to ensure that future generations of students will know of Charley Richardson’s life's work. The award supports an internship or research project in movement building directly related to Charley's philosophy, ideals, and activism, such as: anti-war/peace building, advancing workers' and labor rights, racial and economic justice, reproductive freedom, climate justice, human rights, and other such efforts. Work must be in direct collaboration with an organization involved in such efforts and must be supported by a Hampshire faculty member and the activist organization.
Award: approximately $3,000 (varies slightly from year to year)
Eligibility: Hampshire College students in good academic standing who are returning to Hampshire in the fall. Students on leave must be doing a field study and not a leave of absence.
Culture, Brain, and Development Program (CBD) Funding for Internships and Projects
Contact: CJ Gill
Description: CBD grants support transdisciplinary research projects and internships that engage two of the three CBD focus areas: culture, mind/brain, and human growth and development. Applicants should clearly articulate how their work will address at least two of the three CBD focus areas. Please look at the CBD web page for more information and examples of funded student projects, and read Understanding CBD before you apply.
Award: Up to $3,000 per student
Eligibility: Division II or III students with good academic standing, in any school or discipline, whose work is related to the CBD focus areas are encouraged to apply.
James Baldwin Scholarship Recipient Division I, II, & III Internship Grant
Contact: Karina Fernandez
Description: Assists Division I, II, and III James Baldwin Scholars with the costs of doing an internship or project that relates directly to the students’ academic goals and career interests.
Div I Award: Up to $1,600 per student
Div II and III Award: Up to $500 per student
Eligibility: Division I, II, and III James Baldwin Scholars in good academic standing
*Only students who entered Hampshire College as James Baldwin Scholarship recipients can apply *
Smith-Barr Internship Award
Contact: Kate McConnell
Description: Funding from the Iris Barr and the Professor Emeritus David Smith Internship Awards have been combined to provide one larger award to support an internship with an organization focused on the environment, environmental sustainability, or Indigenous communities in either the U.S. or the developing world.
Award: $3,800 to be distributed among multiple grantees
Eligibility: Hampshire College students in good academic standing who are currently receiving financial aid (or can otherwise demonstrate financial need). Funding is available for any currently enrolled student who is returning to Hampshire in the fall. Students planning to be on leave for the fall must be doing a field study and not a leave of absence.
Tom Joslin Award
Contact: Kate McConnell
Description: The Tom Joslin Award was established in memory of faculty member and documentary filmmaker Tom Joslin, who taught at Hampshire from 1977 to 1980. This award supports students doing internships in film, video, television, screenwriting, multi-media or music production with fllm/video. Your work must involve an internship; it does not support a class experience..
Award: up to $1,850 to be distributed.
Eligibility: Hampshire College students in good academic standing who are currently receiving financial aid. Funding is available for currently enrolled students who are returning to Hampshire in the fall. Students planning to be on leave for the fall must be doing a field study and not a leave of absence.
Applications: Part of the Community Commons Summer Grants.