The Collaborative Initiative: A New Kind of Grant Program

Through the Collaborative Initiative program, created in 2006, the NEF, works closely with the Needham Public Schools administration to fund larger, potentially multi-year initiatives that will have major, strategic impact on education, yet would not be possible within the confines of the current school operating budget.

Ideas for Collaborative Initiative projects are generated through a dialogue between the NEF and Needham Public School leaders, making it unique from the usual NEF process where grant requests come from parents, teachers and students.

Collaborative Initiative programs must produce measurable results, may span multiple years, impact a large number of students, and must be sustainable after NEF funding comes to a close.

The Collaborative Initiative programs exist in parallel with NEF’s traditional grant programs. All Collaborative Initiative projects are reviewed by the NEF Board annually.

The first Collaborative Initiative program, launched in October 2007, is the Needham High School Global Competence Program.

Modeled after a Boston College program, yet tailored to our high school population, the program appears to be the first of its kind in the nation. Students earn a Certificate of Global Competence by completing a series of requirements designed to foster a greater sense of global-awareness, including a foreign travel experience, proficiency in a foreign language, 30 hours of community service working with people from another world culture and an extra-curricular component involving a multi-cultural communities in the greater Boston area.

Global Competence Program participants will:

• Think globally: Have an increased knowledge of their relationship to the world; think about issues from a global perspective; gain an appreciation for other world cultures, viewpoints and perspectives
• Communicate effectively: Improve their foreign language skills and their ability to communicate with people across cultural and language divides
• Contribute responsibly: Use their global knowledge to interact and build relationships with people from other cultures; actively seek world knowledge to develop their own values and perspectives; demonstrate respect, open mindedness, understanding and flexibility in behavior and thinking; help others to embrace multiple perspectives