FACT Focus Area:
Family and Community Vitality

Healthy, vital communities with an active citizenry are better able to address the myriad challenges facing children and families. In this area, FACT seeks to support research and outreach that furthers scholarship on community empowerment, leadership development and capacity building to meet child and family needs, particularly among vulnerable populations and communities.

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• Learn more about FACT's annual Request for Proposals
• Search for faculty or community grant partners

We know that healthy, vital communities with an active citizenry are better able to address the myriad challenges that face children and families. What is less understood is how communities can build, promote and sustain family and civic engagement and vitality in order to meet child and family needs.

FACT's focus area supports research and outreach that furthers scholarship on and builds community capacity to support strong neighborhoods, good schools, and a healthy economic base. FACT plans to invest in projects that test innovative approaches and assess strong models for empowering communities.

Topics include but are not limited to:

• Building an engaged citizenry: through parent involvement in schools, service learning, volunteerism, and/or other opportunities.
• Mobilizing communities and involving citizens in addressing child and family needs
• Neighborhood collaborations
• Building social capital
• Building community vitality through out-of-school programs, violence prevention efforts, recreation, and/or other activities
• Development, integration and coordination of services and efforts for children and families