Looking for a new way to partner with Nashville organizations while enhancing your work at Vanderbilt? Applications are now open for the Community Engagement Collaboration Fund, which supports joint projects that involve Vanderbilt faculty and staff and Nashville-based community organizations.
Launched in 2024 by the Division of Government and Community Relations, the fund helps create and sustain mutually beneficial partnerships that connect campus and community expertise for new or expanded collaborations. Each funded project brings together at least two Vanderbilt partners from different areas of the university with a community organization to address community-identified priorities.
Since its inception, the program has supported more than 20 interdisciplinary collaborations in areas including arts and culture, education, health and well-being, civic innovation, historic preservation and STEM outreach.
Recent projects across Nashville
The most recent funding cycle supported projects including the launch of Free Little Art Galleries on Vanderbilt’s campus and the upcoming installation and educational programming at Buchanan Arts in North Nashville, professional development for multilingual educator mentors at J.E. Moss Elementary School, and a partnership with the Sexual Assault Center, Project Safe and the Center for Spiritual and Religious Life to provide faith-informed training and survivor support resources.
2026 collaborative projects:
- Vanderbilt and North Nashville Free Little Art Galleries
- Claire Sisco King, professor of communication studies, chair of cinema and media arts, chair of theatre
- Rachel P. Kreiter, curator, Vanderbilt University Museum of Art
- North Nashville Arts Coalition
- Trust and Care in Sacred Spaces: Confronting Sexual Abuse
- Rocky Major, director and senior associate chaplain, Center for Spiritual and Religious Life
- Cara Tuttle, director, Project Safe Center
- Sexual Assault Center
- Transformative Engagement and Adaptive Mentorship for Uplifting Practitioners (TEAM UP): Building Sustainable Partnerships in Multilingual Learning Communities
- Huili Hong, professor, Department of Teaching and Learning
- Susan Barone, director, Vanderbilt English Language Center
- J.E. Moss Elementary School
Together, these collaborations expanded access to the arts, strengthened educator development and equipped faith communities with resources to help prevent and respond to sexual abuse.
Apply now for 2027
The Community Engagement Collaboration Fund is open to full-time Vanderbilt faculty and staff. Proposals must include at least two campus partners from different areas of the university and one Nashville-based community organization, and they must demonstrate the community partner’s active voice, leadership and identified needs.
Submit proposals through InfoReady by Sept. 14, 2026. Applications will be reviewed by a committee of Vanderbilt community engagement practitioners; awardees will be announced in early October. Funding must be used during fiscal year 2027. More eligibility requirements and application instructions are on the Collaboration Fund webpage.
Virtual information session
Faculty and staff interested in applying are encouraged to attend a virtual information session on Aug. 13 at 9 a.m. on Zoom. Register to receive the meeting link. The Community Relations team will provide an overview of the fund, explain the application process and answer questions.
