The Dirksen Congressional Center announces the resumption of its special project funding, now named the Robert H. Michel Special Project Grants. Through these financial awards, The Center will support work to enhance understanding of the U.S. Congress. Individuals and organizations may apply for a Michel Special Project Grant by following the procedures outlined below.

Description
The Center serves two primary audiences: scholars who conduct research about Congress and teachers who teach social studies, history, political science, and other subjects which relate to Congress. Accordingly, the Michel Special Projects grants are intended to fund work that advances the public understanding of the federal legislature through research and teaching.

Examples of eligible projects include conferences that bring together congressional scholars, the collection or publication of resources useful for research, efforts by teachers to develop creative ways to teach about Congress, and publications, especially those with appeal beyond academia. IMPORTANT: The projects must have as their central focus the U.S. Congress. We particularly value innovative endeavors that have the potential to reach a broad audience.

As important and worthwhile as they may be, the following would not qualify for a Special Projects Grant: the development of teaching materials for a single classroom or school, field trips for students, service-learning projects, travel to conferences, the costs of professional development courses or workshops, the purchase of equipment, and basic research projects (see the Congressional Research Awards at http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_grants_CRAs.htm), among others.

Applicants may not use grant funds for indirect or overhead expenses.

Although funding for the Special Project Grants is variable, we expect to award approximately $35,000 in total per year. Inidividual awards will fall generally in the $2,500 to $5,000 range.

Application
The application process begins simply enough. E-mail a proposal to Frank Mackaman (fmackaman@dirksencenter.org) with the following information: (1) a brief description of the need your project will meet--why it's important or significant; (2) a more detailed explanation of what it is you propose to do, the deadline by which you will be finished, and a clear statement of the deliverables; (3) your budget, listing any matching funds; (4) how The Center's support will be recognized; and (5) a statement of your qualifications to conduct the work. The total length should not exceed the equivalent of three typed pages.

Center staff will review this initial proposal and work with you to strengthen the application, if necessary.

Requirements
Successful applicants will be required to sign a letter of agreement individually tailored to their project. We expect projects to produce specific deliverables by a date certain.

Deadline
We accept proposals at any time. A committee meets monthly to review proposals and make awards.

Previous Grant Awards
The Dirksen Congressional Center has the following Special Project Grants:

2001 "The Macro-Politics of Congress," a conference co-sponsored by the University of Colorado, The Dirksen Congressional Center, and Yale University.

2001 Subvention for the publication of The American Congress: The Building of Democracy, ed. Julian Zelizer (Boston and New York: Houghton Miflin Co., 2004). The book features 40 essays that capture "the full drama, landmark legislation, and most memorable personalities of Congress."

2001 MindUniversity won the third grant in November 2001 to develop virtual field trips for high school students using resources posted on The Center's Web sites and based on an Internet organizer developed by MU (http://www.minduniversity.com/).

2004 Steve Frantzich, U.S. Naval Academy, "How a Bill Becomes Law Interactive." This project will create an interactive "bill becomes law" flow chart that can serve as a stand-alone activity or as the basis of classroom instruction. Each stage of the legislative process will be accompanied by a video clip example, a textual description, a discussion of alternative methods to accomplish that step, and a statistical summary (how many bills are introduced, how many roll call votes per year, etc.) The deliverables will include a PowerPoint presented with video insertions, the content for textual descriptions, and instructor's guide, and a plan to post the project results on The Center's Web suite. The U.S. Naval Academy is providing cost-sharing support.

2005 Stephanie Vance, AdVanced Consulting, "The Congressional Hearing Toolkit." "The Congressional Hearing Toolkit" will help students understand the role of the congressional hearing in the policy process, i.e., how committees operate and influence legislation, through an interactive model. The deliverables will include written materials, video of committee hearings, and two committee hearing simulation models for student use. AdVAnced Consulting is providing cost-sharing support.

2006 John Wilkerson, University of Washington, "LegSim:Senate." This project will create a companion curricular resources to LegSim: House of Representatives. Both permit students in classes of any size to organize and operate their own legislature. LegSim includes a host of instructional resources such as assignments, grading tools, and learning icons, and is customized by the instructor. Because LegSim is remotely hosted, students participate from any web browser at any time and the instructor has the flexibility to decide whether activities, such as committee meetings, debates, or votes, occur in the classroom or outside of it. Click here to visit the LegSim website: www.legsim.org.

2007 Jeffrey L. Bernstein, Eastern Michigan University, “What Do Our Students See When They Look at Congress?” This project uses “think-aloud” methodology to explore ways in which we can improve instruction on Congress. In the think-aloud, students are presented with a series of articles or videos about a particular issue (in this case, the Employee Free Choice Act of 2007) and about a particular legislative procedure (the filibuster). Students read source material and “think aloud” as they do so, enabling thoughts to be seen as they develop (rather than after they fully form, such as would be the case if a formal written paper is read).  Bernstein’s research reveals the importance of understanding (1) the tension between majority rule and majority rights and (2) the essentially conflictual nature of legislative activity.  When students have a low comfort level with these ideas, their ability to understand the work of the legislative branch suffers dramatically. See http://www.congresslink.org/print_expert_bernsteinlecture.htm for the project’s work product.

2009 FedNet, “TeachingCongress.net.” This project takes advantage of a unique, proprietary database consisting of all House and Senate floor proceedings since 1998 to produce a Web-based, interactive, multi-media resource for teaching about Congress. Conceived of as a glossary of commonly taught terms about Congress linked to digitized illustrations of those terms, TeachingCongress.net will provide a platform for the addition of lesson plans, expert commentary, and student activities. For an example related to Black History Month, visit http://www.fednet.net/tc/blackhistory.htm.

2009 American Judicature Society, “Screening Commissions for US District Judge Nominees:  A Study of U.S. Senators and the Process of Choosing Federal Judges.” Funds will be used by AJS to establish a collaborative working group of scholars and researchers to design and oversee new research on senators’ use of screening commissions to recommend individuals for appointment to U.S. District Courts. As the only study of its kind since the Carter administration, it will provide an historic bridge between initiatives taken during that administration and current senatorial plans, allowing for better-informed study of the federal nominating process and senatorial practices to advance the selection of highly qualified judges.