JMU Grant Writing Students Award $5,000 to Gemeinschaft Home

Kaitlyn Johnson, Samantha Dean, Sharon McAvoy, and Jennifer Jacovitch

During a ceremony on May 10, Gemeinschaft Home was one of two organizations awarded a $5,000 grant by undergraduate students at James Madison University. Under the guidance of Dr. Terry Fernsler, an adjunct professor in the Department of Social Work, students taking his Spring 2023 course in Grant writing for Agencies offered a call for proposals aimed at local area nonprofits to support their missions. Each participating nonprofit submitted a project idea and was then paired with students in the class to write a grant proposal to be judged and awarded by a committee of classmates.

​Working with Gemeinschaft Home’s grant writer, Jennifer Jacovitch, juniors Kaitlyn Johnson and Samantha Dean, crafted a project that would establish a paid student internship position at Gemeinschaft Home who would facilitate a JMU-student-based volunteer and/or fundraising project for the organization. The project was awarded the grant along with the other winning grant project submitted by Skyline Literacy.

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