Grants and Projects

Community Schools Initiative

Through the Community Schools Initiative (CSI) grant, we collaborate with neighborhood-based schools using a community schools model to support children, youth, and families. CSI is under the purview of Loyola University Schools Partnership (LUSP), which strategically aligns resources from across the University to support partner schools, by engaging faculty, staff, and students to participate with schools and community organizations. 

Projects and initiatives that emerge through the CSI grant, and ongoing relationships, enact social justice by strengthening academics, out-of-school learning, social and cultural enrichment opportunities, health and wellness services, social-emotional support, and family and community engagement activities. The initiative is rooted in the values of mutual benefit, sustainability, and place based engagement.

LUC-Noyce Scholars Program

The LUC-Noyce Scholars program, funded by the National Science Foundation, addresses the critical need for recruiting, preparing, and retaining highly effective secondary mathematics and science teachers for Chicago and other high-need school districts across the country. Project research initiatives aim to develop, study and contribute to understandings about best practices in teacher education and professional development marked by diversity, equity, and inclusion

Pandemic Era Schooling

The COVID-19 pandemic brought remarkable changes to life as we know it. In the context of PK-12 schools, students, families, and educators have maneuvered unprecedented challenges while trying to maintain focus on student learning and development. As the rest of the society pushes forward the path toward normalcy, educational stakeholders are left to ponder: What is the new normal of schools and schooling?

When the pandemic began, two Loyola researchers recognized the need to study the experiences of multilingual learners and immigrant-origin youth. Learn more about Pandemic Era Schooling, A Framework to Enhance Future Practices. 

Pre-service Teacher Research Experience in Biodiversity Studies

With funding from the National Science Foundation, Loyola University Chicago is excited to offer the Pre-service Teacher Research Experience in Biodiversity Studies, a summer research internship opportunity for undergraduate students interested in teaching science or math at the high school level.

Speak up Democracy

Speak up Democracy is a program generously funded by the Teagle Foundation and open to rising seniors from Chicago Public Schools. It is co-led by professors Jon Schmidt, Meghan Condon, and Yuna Blajer, and is an academically rigorous, engaging, college-level residential summer seminar in the humanities. The program has a summer component in which students come to campus for two weeks to discuss some of the perennial questions of the liberal arts, and a year-long component in which participants meet monthly to bring those academic insights into their civic life in Chicago. Applications open in February.