The Division Engagement Office staff reached out to division leaders who received Interdivisional Grants from the Committee on Division/APA Relations (CODAPAR) and asked about their experience over the course of the project. The questions were designed to inform divisions who are considering submitting a grant proposal. We hope hearing about one project’s experience will invigorate other division leaders to consider their own proposals.
Our first response came from Arpana Inman, former president of Division 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology) and project coordinator for the Interdivisional Grant Program “Community Advocacy: Training Psychologists to Act Locally,” which received a grant of $5,000. For more information on the Interdivisional Grant Program, including other recipients and how to apply, visit our grant program page.
Tell us about your project.
Presidents of Division 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology), Division 27 (Society for Community Research and Action), Division 35 (Society for the Psychology of Women) and Division 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race) submitted and received an interdivisional CODAPAR grant focused on “Community Advocacy: Training Psychologists to Act Locally.” The purpose of this project was to develop a science-based, high-quality advocacy toolkit that highlighted different forms of advocacy strategies to inform policy at the local and state levels.
How did you come up with the idea and get divisions together to work on it?
The project idea came about at the Division Leadership Conference. Given that all four divisions have a strong commitment to social justice, community engagement and increasing our impact in the public arena, the idea for an advocacy focused project seemed well-aligned with our values and interests. We saw unique strengths in each of the divisions and saw this as a great opportunity to harness these strengths and extend our social justice community focused mission. Subsequent to the conference, the division presidents met regularly to identify some potential topics for consideration. Given the recent socio-political-cultural climate and heightened stress associated with national events and policies targeting immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, Muslims and Jews, women, transgender people and their intersection, we believed that a community focused engagement that moved us beyond individual level interventions to systemic action was important. In this, we recognized that advocacy at the local level is key to not only making sustained change but also remaining engaged with the process.
What was the process of preparing and submitting your proposal like?
The process for preparing and submitting the proposal was straightforward once we had a clear idea of what we wanted to achieve. Being able to use APA resources (e.g., reviewing previous grant proposals, access to the APA Public Interest Office staff, being able to receive support from our own divisions and an engaged membership) was key to the success of the development of the proposal.
The purpose of the program is to support joint activities that enhance the work, interests or goals of two or more divisions. What was it like to work with other divisions on this goal?
Given the shared interests, it was easy to promote collaboration. What was important for us was to get our membership involved in the workings of the task group’s work. This was made possible by each division identifying advocacy fellows and students who worked together on the toolkit. In addition, being able to collaborate on a presentation at APA and conduct a couple webinars over the year to collect feedback on the toolkit, made for a richer experience and a quality product.
Your submission was in 2017, your project happened during 2018, and you completed your project and submitted your final report in 2019. How did it once it was done?
Fantastic. Thanks to the work of the divisional members of the four divisions, we now have a Community Advocacy Tool Kit for State and Local Advocacy that can be accessed by the APA membership at large.
What did you learn from working on this?
The great power of collaboration. As Idowu Koyenikan has said, “There is immense power when a group of people with similar interests gets together to work toward the same goals.”
What’s your best tip for another group about to submit a proposal?
APA and CODAPAR have a lot of resources — use them wisely.