U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
        Here’s how you know
    Goverment symbol**Official websites use .gov**
            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
        Lock symbol**Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
            A lock (
              A locked padlock
                 ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive
              information only on official, secure websites.
 Skip to main content JoinDonate
    About
    About
          About
        
About menu block one
  

        
        What We Do
                Our Impact
                Agency FAQs
About menu block two
  

        
        Our Team
                Careers
About menu block three
  

        
        Agency Overview
                            Budget and Performance Plans
                Disability and Accessibility
                Federal Register Notices
                Open Government
                Plain Writing
                Privacy Policy
                Strategic Plan

  

  
Serve
    Serve
          Serve
        
Serve menu block one
  

        
        AmeriCorps
                            AmeriCorps NCCC
                AmeriCorps State and National
                AmeriCorps VISTA
                AmeriCorps Seniors
                            AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program
                AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP
                AmeriCorps Seniors Senior Companion Program
Serve menu block two
  

        
        Volunteer
                            9/11 Day
                MLK Day
Serve menu block three
  

        
        Find Your Fit
                Serve FAQs

  

  
Partner
    Partner
          Partner
        
Partner menu block one
  

        
        How it Works
                            AmeriCorps NCCC
                AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent
                AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP
                AmeriCorps Seniors Senior Companion
                AmeriCorps State and National
                AmeriCorps VISTA
                Research and Evaluation
                Volunteer Generation Fund
Partner menu block two
  

        
        Partnerships
                Communities and Initiatives
                Funding Opportunities
Partner menu block three
  

        
        Partner FAQs

  

  
Members & Volunteers
    Members & Volunteers
          Members & Volunteers
        
Members & Volunteers menu block one
  

        
        Your Benefits
                Segal AmeriCorps Education Award
                Education Award FAQs
Members & Volunteers menu block two
  

        
        Alumni
                Members in VISTA
Members & Volunteers menu block three
  

        
        Member and Volunteer FAQs
                Safety and Security

  

  
Grantees & Sponsors
    Grantees & Sponsors
          Grantees & Sponsors
        
Grantee & Sponsors menu block one
  

        
        State Service Commissions
                State and National Direct Grantees
                State Subgrantees
                VISTA Sponsors
                Research and Evaluation Grantees
                Volunteer Generation Fund and Days of Service Grantees
Grantee & Sponsors menu block two
  

        
        RSVP Grantees
                Foster Grandparent Program Grantees
                Senior Companion Program Grantees
                Senior Demonstration Program Grantees
                NCCC Project Sponsors
Grantee & Sponsors menu block three
  

        
        Manage Your Grant
                Grantee and Sponsor FAQs

  

  
Newsroom
    Newsroom
          Newsroom
        
Newsroom menu block one
  

        
        News
                Blog
Newsroom menu block two
  

        
        Stories
                Events
Newsroom menu block three
  

        
        In the News
                Communication Resources



  
Contact
    Contact
    JoinDonate
search Breadcrumb

              National Service and Civic Engagement Research Competition - Notice of Funding Availability
      Back
                Table of Contents

I.   Application Deadline
II.  Notice of Funding Availability
III. Application Instructions
IV.  Frequency Asked Questions (as of July 11, 2017)
V. Technical Assistance |Please note -  the date and call number information for the Technical Assistance call has been updated. See information below.

The mission of CNCS is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering.  Through AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and the Volunteer Generation Fund, CNCS has helped to engage millions of citizens in meeting community and national challenges through service and volunteer action.

CNCS has a strong belief in the importance of scholarly research in order to identify effective strategies for national service and increase the evidence-base for its programs, as well as to increase the nation’s understanding and knowledge about the importance and potential of strengthening civic infrastructure and increasing civic engagement in America.  In order to conduct credible and meaningful research, CNCS is engaging the broader community of academic researchers involved in studying civic infrastructure and civic engagement and related concepts.
CNCS’s Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) is seeking applications that build on existing research in the field, address gaps in knowledge, and provide new ideas and methodological approaches to the study of civic infrastructure, civic engagement, volunteering, national service, and other related concepts such as social capital.

Eligible Applicants

This competition is only open to accredited institutions of higher education. The institution of higher education (the legal applicant for this competition) will submit an application from a “Program Director” (i.e., Principal Investigator).

Funding Categories

CNCS anticipates funding projects in two categories: Dissertation and Scholars. Program Directors will designate themselves as fitting into one of the two categories.  Legal applicants can submit more than one application from Program Directors to either category, though to the extent possible, CNCS seeks to fund a diverse pool of applicants and it is likely only one application per legal applicant will be funded. Generally, applications from one category (i.e., Dissertator) will not be compared against those in the other category (i.e., Scholars).

Dissertation Category targets research that may support doctoral dissertations. The Dissertator must have completed their Ph.D. coursework and passed qualifying exams and achieved All But Dissertation (ABD) status by October 1, 2017. The dissertator’s advisor will be the primary Program Director (i.e., Principal Investigator) and the Dissertator will be the co-Program Director (i.e., Co-Principal Investigator).  Legal applicants (i.e., Institution of Higher Education) must select one or more Program Director(s) (i.e., Principal Investigator) who will actually be conducting the research on behalf of the legal applicant, although the institution of higher education will be responsible for meeting the performance objectives and other agreed upon criteria set forth in the Cooperative Agreement. Award amounts for Dissertators are expected to be lower than in the Scholars Category. 
Scholar Category targets established academics, researchers, and postdoctoral researchers, with a proven track record and standing in their respective fields. The legal applicants must select one or more established academics, researchers, and postdoctoral researchers who will actually be doing the research on behalf of the legal applicant, although the institution of higher education will be responsible for meeting the performance objectives and other agreed upon criteria set forth in the Cooperative Agreement.  Research studies are expected to be of larger scope and higher award amounts than those submitted to the Dissertation Category.  These larger studies are expected to include a team of researchers including a graduate student(s) and substantial primary or secondary data collection.

Activities to be Funded

Research including instrument development, data collection, analysis and reporting
	Dissemination of results, including reports, publications, and presentations
	Collaboration with practitioners and policymakers to apply and use results from research findings to support their work with communities, volunteers and/or national service participantsFunding Priorities

CNCS seeks to support research in three broad areas of equal priority.
1) How are civic infrastructure and civic engagement defined, measured, developed and hindered?

CNCS is soliciting innovative qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research studies that can explore how civic infrastructure and civic engagement, and related concepts, such as social cohesion and social capital, are defined, measured, developed or hindered at the community and neighborhood level. These studies can be conceptual as well as empirical ORE is particularly interested in studies that use participatory research with community residents and stakeholders in local communities.
2)  How does an individual’s civic engagement change over the course of a lifetime?

CNCS is seeking qualitative, quantitative or multimethod research that can explore motivations for becoming engaged, types of civic engagement either informal, formal or both, and outcomes of civic engagement over the life course.

3)  What are the impacts associated with civic engagement, volunteering, or national service?



CNCS is interested in studies that address outcomes associated with civic engagement, volunteering, and national service for individuals, families and communities.  Though exploratory studies will receive consideration, CNCS prefers projects in this priority area that are confirmatory and testing hypotheses that can provide causal evidence. We are also interested in Return on Investment or Cost-Benefit studies.

Application Deadline:

A Letter of Intent is due June 9, 2017 no later than 5:00 pm EST.  A Letter of Intent is not required for this competition, but strongly ecouraged. Please refer to the Notice for instructions.Applications are due July 11, 2017, no later than 5:00 pm EST.

Notice of Funding Availability (PDF) *Amended | June 23, 2017*Application Instructions (PDF)Frequency Asked Questions | *last updated |**July 11, 2017*

Technical Assistance

**UPDATED:**

A Technical Assistance call will be held on **June 1, 2017** at 1 pm ET. The call will provide a general overview of the Funding Availability and allow time for questions from potential applicants.

The call-in number is 888-946-7304, and you must enter passcode 2652544. **Note:** you will be asked to review the Notice of Funding Availability and Application Instructions prior to joining the call.

All calls will be recorded, and the replay number for the call is: 888-566-0041. The replay will be available following the call, through July 12, 2017.


      Further information
    



      Status
                        Open
  

      CFDA number
                        94.026
  

      Contact Email
                        NationalServiceResearch@cns.gov Back to main content Sign up to hear about our latest news, events, and opportunities.
  Sign up for our newsletter
    Footer about
  

        
        About
                            What We Do
                Our Impact
                Our Team
                Careers
                Agency OverviewFooter serve
  

        
        Serve
                            AmeriCorps
                AmeriCorps Seniors
                Volunteer
                Find Your FitFooter partner
  

        
        Partner
                            How it Works
                Funding OpportunitiesFooter Members & Volunteers
  

        
        Members & Volunteers
                            Your Benefits
                Segal AmeriCorps Education Award
                Alumni
                Safety and SecurityFooter grantees & sponsors
  

        
        Grantees & Sponsors
                            eGrants
                History Checks
                LitmosFooter newsroom
  

        
        Newsroom
                            News
                Blog
                Stories
                Events
                In the News
                Communication Resources
      Bringing Americans together to serve communities

Follow us
  
  1-800-942-2677
            
    help@americorps.gov
    USA.gov / Office of Inspector General / FOIA and Privacy Act / Federal Register notices / No FEAR Act/ Employee Whistleblower Rights / Contractor and Grantee Whistleblower Rights / Office of Special Counsel / STOCK Act / Fraud Alert

Accessibility / Privacy policy / Site map / Donate / Join

**AmeriCorps.gov**
An official website of AmeriCorps. Produced and published at taxpayer expense. 
 You are leaving AmeriCorps.gov
 The website you’re going to is not part of the AmeriCorps domain and may not be under AmeriCorps’ control. Its privacy and security practices and policies may differ from AmeriCorps’. AmeriCorps is not responsible for the link, nor does it endorse the content of the third-party website. Click on the continue button to proceed to the external website; otherwise click cancel to stay on AmeriCorps.gov.
 Cancel Continue