Bundles Scholars Will Partner with Incite to Offer New Program Benefits–Application Period Is Now Open

The A'Lelia Bundles Community Scholars program at Columbia University today announced that it has partnered with the university’s Incite Institute  to offer program participants several new opportunities and enhancements, including greater funding, mentorship, skill-building, and networking. The program also said that the application period for the next cohort of scholars is now open and will close on May 13.

The Bundles Scholars program gives members of the Upper Manhattan community a three-year affiliation with Columbia and access to campus resources while they work on a project or skill that relates to or benefits their community. Last year, in an effort to  expand its offerings, Bundles Scholars embarked on a program-wide evaluation and surveyed its entire community of scholars, past and present, for suggestions on what would make the program stronger as it enters its 12th year.

Along with the connection to Incite and its resources, program enhancements identified by the scholars will help to expand community-based initiatives, support professional growth for members of the local community participating in the program, and uncover opportunities to support the growth of a scholar’s work after their time in the program.

Additional benefits for current and future scholars will include:

• Access to enhanced financial and administrative support to grow projects, including potential fiscal sponsorship.
• Funding opportunities for developing joint projects with other Bundles Scholars (past and present) as well as with other members of the Columbia community.
• Co-creation and development of skill-building short courses and seminars.
• Participation in the Incite community, which is composed of academics, artists, activists, and other area specialists.
• Dedicated mentorship in the development of a project.

“The A’Lelia Bundles Community Scholars program invites our neighbors to strengthen our scholarly community with diverse perspectives and to share in our resources in ways that bring new voices to the fore. The new partnership with Incite will allow the program to grow and reflects the university’s commitment to bringing together the best minds, to dismantling barriers to success, and to supporting work that enhances life on campus, in our community, and across the globe,” said Interim Provost Dennis Mitchell.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with the Incite institute to bring Columbia’s A’lelia Bundles Community Scholars more resources, mentoring, and opportunities to grow their projects. More than a decade since the program was founded as a way to give community members in Upper Manhattan access to the resources of Columbia University, this collaboration will further empower scholars to make meaningful contributions to their communities and beyond,” said Deb Sack, vice president of operations in the Office of Public Affairs, who leads the office’s work with the scholars through its Government and Community Affairs unit.

“The School of Professional Studies (SPS) has been a proud partner of the A'Lelia Bundles Community Scholars program since its inception in 2013," said Troy Eggers, dean of the Columbia University School of Professional Studies. “We are excited to see what innovations and support that Incite will bring to this important community initiative.”

"Incite is driven by the belief that work confined within the walls of Columbia risks being detached from the lives of the worlds we can transform. Outside our walls, organizers, artists, community leaders, and workers engage issues to transform their worlds, their communities, and their lives. Linking with the Bundles Scholars, and its decade of supporting and welcoming our neighbors, is an exciting way for Incite to continue to engage with alternate sites of knowledge and to help accelerate the work of our local community with the profound administrative and intellectual resources Columbia offers," said Michael Falco, Incite executive director.

Incite, an interdisciplinary institute at Columbia, produces knowledge for public action by joining with people and organizations within and outside the university to rethink our understanding of what knowledge is, how it’s created, and how it can be used. Incite will enhance the ways in which scholars join the Columbia community and connect with the university's intellectual life. The Bundles Scholars program is a joint initiative of Columbia University’s Office of Government and Community Affairs (GCA), Office of the Provost, and School of Professional Studies.

The application period for the next cohort of Bundles Scholars is now open. The deadline to apply is May 13, 2024.