Dialogue with key public policy stakeholders will identify points of leverage for systemic change. The potential for impact and change is challenging and encouraging. Even in planning for the six-year initiative, the ideas, activities and goals generated by the various project coalitions may be implemented and sustained outside of the formal initiative. While the funding available from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation is a hearty incentive, the key factor that will make the initiative and any of the proposed coalitions successful is the willingness of the coalition partners to invest their commitment to the effort. Strengthened communities will be nurtured and supported by the effects of new and sustained coalitions.
Institutional engagement is embedded in the concept of strengthened communities.
When all of these factors are at work, everyone in the community is a stakeholder. While the university is a source of great academic knowledge, it can only be maximized as a resource when the knowledge that the institution generates and transmits is valuable and applicable to the community that it serves. As a result, we will have increased student and faculty diversity, along with increased support for student success at institutions of higher education. This will benefit the institutions, the students, and the entire community. IDRA has fielded numerous questions from prospective grantees about the initiative and shared these questions and answers on our web page.