$20,000 Winning Words
On a Tuesday afternoon in October, Genevia Kanu 鈥19 was studying in the library when her phone buzzed with an incoming text. The message was from Micah Evans, the fund development manager at the Austin nonprofit Six Square 鈥 Austin鈥檚 Black Cultural District.
鈥淧ut this on your r茅sum茅: You just won $20,000!鈥 Evans wrote. 鈥淲e鈥檒l celebrate in the office tomorrow.鈥
A giant grin spread across Kanu鈥檚 face. Her grant application to local foundation A Glimmer of Hope had been an assignment for her Grant Writing course. But it was also a real proposal that, if successful, would fund a summer program that matched emerging artists with experienced mentors. Now that program would become a reality, thanks to her hard work.
In the Grant Writing course, Instructor of Writing and Rhetoric Beth Eakman teaches her students how to write every part of a grant proposal, from the introduction to the line-item budget. Students use their skills on a grant application for an Austin nonprofit whose mission motivates them. For Kanu, it was Six Square, which preserves the cultural history of the six-square-mile 鈥淣egro district鈥 created by Austin鈥檚 segregationist 1928 city plan.
Good persuasive writing is crucial to winning grants, Eakman says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 $20,000 on the table, and you get it, or you don鈥檛,鈥 she says. 鈥淭he fact that our students are trained in rhetoric, argumentation and writing makes them really well suited to this kind of challenge.鈥
Kanu鈥檚 training and meticulousness were integral to the application, Evans says. 鈥淪he鈥檚 more detail oriented than I am, so I would send the draft to her and be like, 鈥榃hat did I miss?鈥 The amount of work she鈥檚 put in for us has been outstanding.鈥
Kanu enrolled in the course to get practical professional experience, partly because she hopes to establish her own nonprofit one day. When she read Evans鈥 text, Kanu says, 鈥淚t felt like a success. It felt like my hard work had come to fruition.
鈥淚 thought, 鈥榃ow, I know what I鈥檓 doing. I feel equipped to go into the real world.鈥欌
