Strengthening Community, Events & Funding

Nominations are open for the Purpose Prize, five $100,000 investments in Americans over the age of sixty who are combining their passion, creativity, experience, and entrepreneurial skills to tackle issues of social significance. The program will also honor sixty semi-finalists ("60 at 60+") for their social innovations. To be eligible for the prize, the nominee must be at least 60 years old, a U.S. resident, and currently working in a leadership capacity in an organization or institution (public, private, nonprofit, or for-profit) to address a major social problem. Self-nominations accepted. Application information on-line.
Deadline: February 28, 2006

The Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) honors excellence in health care reporting. Reporters from radio and TV may submit as many entries as they would like, but no entry can have more than three authors. First place award is $500, plus travel expenses to the annual conference. Certificates will be awarded for second place and honorable mention. Entry fee: $40 AHCJ members, $60 non-members. Categories, entry forms and FAQs on the Web site.
QUICK Deadline: January 6, 2006

A program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Scholars in Health Policy Research Program is intended to help develop a new generation of creative thinkers in health policy research within the disciplines of economics, political science, and sociology. Each year, the program selects up to 12 highly qualified individuals for two-year fellowships at one of three universities: the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco; the University of Michigan; and Harvard University. Scholars will work closely with faculty from the social sciences -- as well as from medicine, public health, and public policy -- in an environment conducive to disciplinary and multidisciplinary learning and collaborative research. Recent graduates of doctoral programs in economics, political science, and sociology, including junior faculty, are invited to apply. Preference will be given to applicants who have not previously worked in health or health policy research. Scholars will receive stipends from their university.
Deadline: October 22, 2004
Grant guidelines, forms, and instructions are available in an 11-page .pdf document at the program's Web site. (PDF)

GIS (Geographic Information System) gives us the ability to integrate information about a place to give us a better understanding of that place. Whether we want to site a new business, analyze crime patterns, evaluate disease distribution, or examine the demographic of our communities, GIS technology will aid us in our endeavors. GIS³ is currently offering two workshops that focus on the social applications of GIS, including techniques for working with census data. These workshops are designed for researchers, planners, analysts, nonprofit organizations, and small businesses who want to apply GIS techniques to social research. "Community GIS: An Introduction to Social Mapping" and "Beyond Tables and Graphs: Mapping the Census" will be held in Chicago, IL, Washington, DC, Portland, OR and Denver, CO throughout the month of September. Registration, class description and dates available online.

The LInCS Fund (Local Independents Collaborating with Stations) provides incentive or matching moneys ($10,000-$75,000) to partnerships between public television stations and independent producers. Single shows in any genre (including documentary, drama, animation or innovative combinations) will be considered. Projects may be in any stage of development.
For additional information email Elizabeth_Meyer@itvs.org or call 415-356-8383 x270.