This content was published: December 13, 2005. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Ford Foundation selects PCC for innovative grant
Photos and story by James Hill
PORTLAND, Ore. – After a national competition in undergraduate education that attracted more than 675 proposals, the Ford Foundation has selected Portland Community College as one of 27 higher education institutions to receive $100,000 grants for projects that promote academic freedom and constructive dialogue on campus. The grants are part of Ford’s “Difficult Dialogues” initiative, created in response to reports of growing intolerance and efforts to curb academic freedom at colleges and universities. The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization with headquarters in New York and offices in Africa, Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Russia. “Portland Community College’s ‘Illumination Project’ has proposed a creative use of theater and the arts to increase knowledge and constructive dialogue about racial and cultural issues,” said Jorge Balan, a Senior Program Officer at the Ford Foundation. The project is a year-long academic and interactive theater program designed to foster a climate of equality, justice, and respect. It trains Student Educators who take a three-term course sequence covering issues of race, class and gender; community building; conflict resolution and civic engagement and then write and perform plays reflecting difficult topics. During the two year initiative, the “Difficult Dialogues” grantees will be invited to share their experiences and ideas at regional conferences coordinated by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression in Charlottesville, Va. The Center will also host a Web-based forum for project directors to share ideas online. Projects at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Queens College in New York, Mars Hill College in North Carolina and Yale University have also received grants. For more information on the “Difficult Dialogues” initiative and a complete list of winners, visit: www.fordfound.org/news/more/dialogues/index.cfm For additional information on PCC’s Illumination Project, contact Jeannie LaFrance, project coordinator, at 503-977-8149.
About James Hill
James G. Hill, an award-winning journalist and public relations writer, is the Director of Public Relations at Portland Community College. A graduate of Portland State University, James has worked as a section editor for the Newberg Graphic... more »