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"Social Innovation and Impact Seed Grants" is currently closed and not accepting applications.
Social Innovation and Impact Seed Grants is sponsored by Illinois Innovation Network (IIN). These grants provide seed funding for social innovation projects that translate research into activities directly affecting lives, addressing complex social problems, building trusted community partnerships, demonstrating longer-term engagement, and are scalable or replicable. Projects should be completed in one or two years.
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Social Innovation and Impact Seed Grants - IIN Social Innovation and Impact Seed Grants The Illinois Innovation Network’s Social Innovation and Impact Seed Grants are intended to provide seed funding for social innovation projects that translate research into activities that directly affect lives, address complex social problems, build trusted partnerships in the community, demonstrate longer-term engagement or depth of engagement, and are scalable or replicable.
Social Innovation Resources Rachel Switzky of the Siebel Center for Design at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a human-centered design strategies workbook and workshop that the IIN’s Social Innovation Working Committee has held multiple times, most recently in May 2026. The Social Innovation and Impact Seed Grants program has awarded funding to seven projects.
Summaries of those projects are below: Enabling AI-Powered Personalized Learning for Neurodivergent Students through Physiological Monitoring and Cognitive Profiling Abdelmounaam Rezgui, professor of information technology, Illinois State University; Elham Buxton, associate professor of computer science, University of Illinois Springfield; Elahe Javadi, associate professor of information systems, Illinois State University.
CONNECT Companion: A Community-Based Participatory Project (CBPP) Using Human and Prescriptive AI Interaction to Enhance Social Support for Older Adults in Illinois Anitha Saravanan, assistant professor of nursing, Northern Illinois University; Will Lewis, assistant professor of information systems, Illinois State University.
Spring 2024 | News release Unveiling Black History: The African American Heritage Trail in Cairo, Illinois Magdalena Novoa Echaurren, assistant professor of urban and regional planning, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Julia Rendleman, assistant professor of journalism, Southern Illinois University Carbondale Building a More Inclusive Democracy: Enhancing Nonprofit Capacity for Civic Education and the Mobilization of Marginalized Youth in Illinois Julie Langer, assistant professor of public administration, Northern Illinois University; Kelly LeRoux, professor of public administration, University of Illinois Chicago Winter 2024 | News release Journeys to Justice: Commemorating and Memorializing the History and Legacy of Anti-Black Terror in Illinois Devin Hunter, associate professor of history, University of Illinois Springfield (UIS); Lesa Johnson, associate professor of sociology and anthropology, UIS; Tandra Taylor, assistant professor of history, SIUE; Peter Cole, professor of history, Western Illinois University.
Summer 2023 | News release What’s Left Behind?
A Documentary About African American Mothers on the South Side of Chicago Who Have Lost Children to Gun Violence Ruby Mendenhall, professor of sociology and African American studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC); Lisa Butler, CEO, herVoice Films, Inc. Grant Development Capacity Building and Technical Assistance Courtney Breckenridge, research fellow, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE); Diane Cox, director of grant development, SIUE; Maggie Ervin, specialist of alternative credentials and credit, SIUE; Natalie Whitman, coordinator of alternative credit and credentials, SIUE.
Scoring criteria used to review proposals for this grant.
According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Proposals must include co-principal investigators (co-PIs) from at least two IIN hubs and a co-PI or collaborator from at least one Illinois community-based organization. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The published deadline was May 21, 2026, which has passed. Check the official notice for any future application windows before investing time in a proposal.
Social Innovation and Impact Seed Grants is funded by Illinois Innovation Network (IIN). Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.
This opportunity targets applicants in Illinois. If your organization operates elsewhere, check the official notice for location requirements.
Applications go through the funder's official portal — the Apply Now link on this page goes there directly.
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