Our project is informed by our understanding of one of the SAP's most pertinent needs: adequate funding and manpower to be successful in maintaining their long-term missions and goals. Our goal is to create programs the SAP can implement that make use of local resources in order to bring more financial capital, manpower, and community partnerships.

With these following initiatives, we strive to help the SAP succeed in its mission: to be a collaboration between students, faculty, and staff to experience sustainable agriculture on the Allendale Campus.  Our main focuses are 1. diversifying the SAP's revenue, 2. innovative internships for GVSU students, 3. attracting specialized volunteers, and 4. utilizing grant funding resources

Brooke is an experienced ENS student whose background in multiple design-thinking focused courses has strengthened her ability to approach challenges with creativity. Although she does not have direct experience in grant funding, this design driven foundation has equipped her to thoughtfully analyze and contribute to the project’s grant funding and outreach components.

Grants and outreach play an essential role in ensuring the long-term success, visibility, and impact of the Sustainable Agriculture Project (SAP) at Grand Valley State University. As a living laboratory, the SAP embodies the university’s commitment to experiential education and sustainability.

However, like many campus based sustainability initiatives, it faces ongoing challenges in maintaining consistent funding and institutional support. The SAP lacks the time and staff needed to consistently focus on funding and outreach, limiting its ability to pursue new opportunities and support long-term growth. Pursuing grants and cultivating external partnerships address these challenges by establishing stable, diversified sources of funding that enable innovation, expansion, and continuity beyond limited university budgets.

By establishing grant writing programs and internship opportunities, the SAP not only fills a critical operational gap but also provides students with meaningful professional experience in a high-demand skill area. Students gain practical exposure to grant research, proposal writing, and nonprofit communication competencies that will serve them in future careers in sustainability, public administration, and environmental advocacy while simultaneously providing funding for the core of the farms mission. 

This is a prototype that combines both the internship and grant-writing focus. It is designed to address a critical organizational need: the limited capacity for pursuing external funding opportunities while simultaneously offering students valuable experiential learning. It also gives students practice and experience writing grants and pursuing funding, which is something many pre-professionals will likely have to do in their future careers. Within the prototype Grand Valley's own Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) is listed as a direct partner as they provide Introductory Grant Writing Webinar sessions to students upon request. Partnering with OSP would provide free training and a direct resource for both the intern and the SAP while both pursuing the initial education and throughout the grant writing process.  The prototype is formatted in the same way as the SAP's current internships in order to make the addition as smooth as possible. 

Link to Prototype