A National Research and Action Competition Driven By Community Priorities
The Civic Innovation Challenge is a multi-agency, federal government research and action competition that aims to fund ready-to-implement, research-based pilot projects that have the potential for scalable, sustainable, and transferable impact on community-identified priorities. It aims to flip the community-university dynamic, inviting communities to identify civic priorities ripe for innovation and to then partner with researchers to address those priorities.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Co-Lead and Co-Funder
U.S. National Science Foundation
Challenge Lead and Funder
U.S. Department of Energy
Co-Lead and Co-Funder
CIVIC 2022
A new cohort of teams was recently awarded CIVIC 2022 Stage 1 Planning Grants
Teams of researchers and civic partners submitted proposals to one of two community-identified tracks in early 2022.
LIVING IN A CHANGING CLIMATE
Pre-Disaster Action Around Adaptation, Resilience, and Mitigation
RESOURCE & SERVICE EQUITY
Bridging the Gap between Essential Resources and Services & Community Needs
Proposals were reviewed by civic leaders and researchers in NSF-led review panels. NSF, DHS, and DOE jointly selected 56 Stage 1 planning grants, who now have the opportunity to submit proposals for Stage 2 pilots. Stage 2 awardees will receive $1 million and have 1 year to implement their pilot projects in communities across the country.
Stage 1:
Planning Grants
Stage 2:
Pilots
Award Size
Up to $50K
Up to $1M
No. of Awards
Up to 50*
Up to 20*
Length of Stage
6 Months
12 Months
*Contingent on the quality of proposals and availability of funds
Awardees are gathering in a collaborative cohort called a “Community of Practice” to support each other as their projects are implemented.