Programs to improve health care experiences for all patients and strengthen the future of education are some to benefit from Affinity Giving grants

Health care visits can be stressful for anyone but members of the LGBTQ+ community who may have additional fear of discrimination or being misunderstood. The Gender Affirming Medical Care proposal is to improve access to gender-affirming hormone therapy and/or pre-exposure prophylaxis for students at Indiana University Bloomington.

Across Time is a semester-long program that highlights the endurance of LGBT and queer film, media, and performance as a site of community construction, cultural memory, and survival. Combining film screenings, performances, workshops, and visits from industry professionals, Across Time has been created to broaden the understanding of LGBT and queer media culture while providing the student and Bloomington community with unparalleled access to materials, ideas, and individuals otherwise not easily accessible.

In an effort to enhance and promote a more student-friendly space, the LGBTQ+ Culture Center involved the IU Interior Design program. The enhancement includes creating a new student lounge/café, new student/intern room, new library arrangement, a new gender-affirming closet, new counseling and testing office, and a new conference room that can seat 20 people without tables/chairs or 8 people with tables/chairs.

An LGBTQ+ Studies speaker series will bring distinguished scholars working in that field to the Bloomington campus during the 2022-23 school year for the purpose of heightening interest among students, faculty and staff in LGBTQ+ studies.  The funds will also allow for a major one-day LGBTQ+ Studies symposium late in the spring term of 2023 which would be used as a platform to announce new curricular initiatives currently under development. 

In fall 2021, IU Fort Wayne launched a new Ambassador and Student Success Coach program to help recruit, engage and retain students. Initially, the program identified the need for upperclassmen from each academic program to support prospects and first-year students. This team of ambassadors supports admissions and recruiting, orientation, peer coaching, and assists with student engagement activities and planning. As we consider ways to diversify the pathway to health science professions, we are placing a priority to expand this team to support students across all majors. In this expanded role, two (2) ambassadors will serve with a diversity, equity, and inclusion focus, and engage peers both academically and socially.

The purpose of this pilot project is to provide gender-affirming and relevant sexual holistic health care to the IU South Bend community (students and employees). The aim is to employ a licensed Master of Social Work counselor with gender-affirming and sexual health care expertise to augment the already-provided physical gender-affirming and sexual health care and the new sexual assault services offered through the IU South Bend Health and Wellness Center, thereby creating a holistic therapeutic environment to address physio-psychosocial needs that can arise in individuals as they journey along their gender and sexual selves. 

Herron's new "Be Queer, Do Art" student organization will play an important role in hosting the inaugural LGBTQIA+ Student Forum and a subsequent forum in year two. Each forum is a two-day event that will bring a distinguished LGBTQIA+ artist to the IUPUI campus who will engage with students and faculty and will inspire students to expand their voices and strengthen their sense of belonging.

Using translational research, medical students at the IU School of Medicine hope to establish a Student Outreach Clinic that caters to the healthcare needs of the LGBTQ+ community within South-Central Indiana, filling gaps that exist within our community health system. As a student-run clinic, medical students, alongside a board-certified physician, will be responsible for the care of patients and clinic operations. Our aims are twofold: 1) improve the healthcare experiences of LGBTQ+ living in South-Central Indiana and 2) expose medical students to LGBTQ+ healthcare so that they may be more confident in caring for this population in their future practice.

This project will create and enhance safe spaces and support for LGBTQ+ students at both IU Southeast by 1) revitalized and expanded Safe Zone training (basic and train the trainer) for IU Southeast students, faculty, and staff, 2) a new speaker series to raise awareness and visibility of LGBTQ+ issues on campus. Through these initiatives, LGBTQ+ students at IU Southeast will feel seen and supported.

The QSU would like to invest in a collection of recruiting materials that will last for multiple years. These materials are designed to make QSU a highly visible and recognizable organization at IU events for years to come.

No one in the United States is erased more than Native people, and within that erasure, women and queer Natives remain desperately marginalized. This series replaces that erasure with spaces for self-expression through a Community Collaboration with IU Cinema.

Auditorium Kids on Campus connects middle and high school students throughout our region to the thrill of the performing arts. Auditorium Kids on Campus will welcome 2,500 middle and high school students from Monroe and surrounding counties onto the IU Bloomington campus to interact with visiting artists in a special on‐stage presentation at IU Auditorium. Touring artists and companies performing in IU Auditorium’s 2022‐2023 season will interact with students in engaging, grade‐level appropriate presentations to introduce local students to professional, high‐quality performing arts experiences.

The 2022-23 Engaged Artist-in-Residence Program will expand upon the program’s initial mission to support community diversity and under-represented artists whose careers can be bolstered by IU’s resources and demonstrate innovative modes of artistic creation and exchange for the campus, K12 audiences, and rural communities. The program will continue to provide semester-long on-campus residencies to groundbreaking artists with diverse experiences and backgrounds as well as demonstrated entrepreneurial, leadership, and community-building skills in order to 1) support emerging artists’ work; 2) offer much-needed mentorship and training to students interested in fine art, design, and arts administration careers; 3) activate campus resources and collections in new, creative ways to highlight voices, values, and ideals of diversity.

Amity Trio (Indiana University piano faculty, University of New Mexico faculty along with guest artists, will make an audio-video recording of Lucrecia y el canto de los dudasaurios, for professional production and dissemination. This project addresses two problems in the world of classical music: 1) the lack of diverse representation of voices, and 2) the limited accessibility intrinsic to exclusively in-person performances. By Latina composer Nur Slim, the innovative opera Lucrecia will reach diverse audiences across the globe through Amity Trios audio-video recording.

The Changemaker Scholarship Fund will work to remove financial barriers for students wishing to pursue a social impact internship. Students will not have to choose between social impact and getting paid as these scholarships will make the social impact internships accessible to all Kelley undergraduate students. This scholarship will offer stipends to undergraduate business majors participating in unpaid or underpaid internships (domestic or abroad) at public, private, and non-profit organizations with a social impact focus.

The proposed project will develop a service-learning clinical experience with undergraduate nursing students. Indiana Recovery Alliance (IRA) will serve as the primary community partner. IRA is a statewide community organization dedicated to implementing harm reduction services, public health outreach, and public health policy transformation. The service-learning will be integrated into the Families and Populations course. This course was chosen because of the focus on population health and because the students are required to complete 75 hours of community-facing clinical work. People living with addiction issues are frequently subjugated from usual sources of care and often report stigmatizing experiences when accessing healthcare.

McKinney Climate Fellows are high-achieving young leaders who work with local governments, nonprofits, and companies to implement projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase environmental equity, and provide critical skills to prepare them for a diverse range of careers. Approximately 35-40 students are selected each year for competitive positions at host organizations. Objectives include service learning, STEM education, and its real-world application, meaningful engagement of and impact on host partners, progress toward environmental equity, and DEI in hiring.

Legacies of Women in Global Cinema: Women have been integral to the global film industry since 1895, and yet their participation in film is seen as an anomaly. To counter this and highlight the continued importance of women in film, Women on Top trains a focused eye on the past, present, and future legacies of women global filmmakers. From writers, to directors, to cinematographers, to curators and more, this program foregrounds the vitality of women in a global film landscape and celebrates their ongoing and indispensable cultural contributions. Women on Top is a year-long program that combines film screenings, industry guests, student masterclasses, and keynotes that center diverse women film professionals from across the globe in the past, present, and future of cinema culture.

The goal of this project is to increase the program completion rate of Indiana University East’s online program in mathematics. We wish to implement two initiatives: (1) developing a short-term mentoring program for entering students, and (2) developing an undergraduate research component for advanced students. Short-term mentors will each have a caseload of approximately 10 new students. The mentor acts as a peer-contact person who will encourage the students to subscribe to and become familiar with the required software, engage in the course discussion forum, and seek appropriate help from the instructor, the supplemental instructor, or other appropriate resources, such as the online tutoring center. Undergraduate Research Mentoring will offer junior and senior-level classes the opportunity to engage with their faculty in undergraduate research. Here, the proposed project will provide the funds necessary for advanced students to present the findings of their research at appropriate conferences, thus paving the way for successful application to selective graduate programs.

The IU Student Outreach Prenatal Clinic sees women of the East Indianapolis region for needs related to contraception, infertility, prenatal care, gynecological care, and more at no cost to the patients. Using this grant, we will be able to provide more comprehensive, same-day care with better imaging modalities and exam tables for patient needs and expand our reach in the community, especially as we prepare for a new site coming in June 2022. Women’s health services have been provided at the clinic since 2013. Recognizing a crucial need for expanded women’s health services, the Prenatal Clinic was started in 2017 and further enhanced in early 2020 to offer improved obstetrics and gynecological care for patients. Operated by an OBGYN attending, residents, and medical students, this clinic sees many women with complex reproductive concerns. The Prenatal Clinic operates with the mission to make reproductive healthcare as affordable and comprehensive as possible.

Student success and retention improve when students feel valued, included, and supported. The “I am Healthcare” Roundtable Series will pair IUFW health science undergraduates with health professionals of color, those of gender diversity, and allies to underrepresented populations from our community. These events will build relationships between intergenerational professionals with the long-term goal of launching a mentor program between pre-professionals and those working in the healthcare fields.

The purpose of the project is to train lower elementary school teachers (K-3) in the surrounding school corporations near the IU Southeast campus. This initiative focuses on creating a multi-day professional development opportunity specifically for current elementary teachers to learn new digital pedagogy related to programming and robotics. Currently according to CS Week, less than 45% of the students are taught computer science in high school and the percentage is even less in our elementary school due to lack of training.

Pathfinders will take a gender-expansive and intersectional approach to educating people in the outdoors. Significant gender and racial barriers will be addressed in accessing both outdoor education and public lands. Pathfinders plans to provide empowering and challenging outdoor educational experiences where participants will experience shared leadership, collaboration, emotional support and making conscious choices that honor their individuality and their shared experiences. Pathfinders’ participants will embark on a series of day hikes and challenges throughout Indiana and Michigan.

The goal of this project is to create an ongoing children’s book series about local Black leaders, featuring illustrations from local grade school students, with editorial contributions from IU South Bend students of color who will serve as a liaison with local schools. These stories are about people from their city and their neighborhoods, who may have even walked the hallways of their school. Students who read these stories can begin to think, “They look like me, they’re from where I’m from”, and will be motivated by their example to define an obstacle and show the fortitude to persevere and accomplish their goals despite the challenges.

The KEY Center for Innovation (KCI) at Indiana University Kokomo provides career development and experiential learning opportunities for students through partnerships with businesses and nonprofit organizations in the community. By giving students the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom through real-world work experience, KCI is able to better prepare students for careers after graduation. KCI serves as the "matchmaker" between the local business community and IU Kokomo faculty and students. The Center links organizations with students and faculty supervisors through internships, team-based consulting opportunities, and/or class projects to assist the client organizations in problem-solving. KCI benefits IU Kokomo students and the local economy by offering the hands-on project experience employees are seeking from college graduates. Students become immersed in project initiatives and work closely with partnering organizations in areas such as: social media and digital marketing, business plan development, human resource procedures, cyber security, data analytics, accounting and financial planning, budgeting, physical sciences (biological/chemistry), and public health.

The IUPUI PhD program in clinical psychology will be opening a new in-house training clinic in Fall 2022 located on the first floor of the LD (Science) building. This clinic will primarily serve IUPUI students, providing individual and group therapy, as well as essential diagnostic and educational (e.g., ADHD, learning disability) assessments, at low/no cost. Graduate students in the PhD program will provide clinical services under the supervision of a licensed clinical psychologist. With up to 8 practicum students per year working at the clinic, we estimate having the capacity to provide approximately 4,000 clinical hours of service to approximately 500 IUPUI students per year, following the same fee structure as the IUPUI Counseling and Testing Center. Funds requested will support ongoing clinic costs, including clinical assessment materials, therapy manuals, and training expenses.

Using translational research, medical students at the IU School of Medicine hope to establish a Student Outreach Clinic that caters to the healthcare needs of the LGBTQ+ community within South-Central Indiana, filling gaps that exist within our community health system. As a student-run clinic, medical students, alongside a board-certified physician, will be responsible for the care of patients and clinic operations. Our aims are twofold: 1) improve the healthcare experiences of LGBTQ+ living in South-Central Indiana and 2) expose medical students to LGBTQ+ healthcare so that they may be more confident in caring for this population in their future practice.

People of IU - a means to connect, educate, and inspire. The goal of this project is to build the Hoosier spirit and IU community by showcasing inspiring stories of people associated with our university from every corner of our campuses and across time. The book will celebrate the stories of those who work every day in the shadows, to make Indiana University the homeland of the Hoosiers. We made a commitment to bring the Hoosier community together, add a ray of hope and bring joy to all. We conducted interviews to bring out inspiring and spectacular stories that have impacted our great institution and inspired us in one way or another. The People of IU Bicentennial celebration book will commemorate the work of these Hoosier Hero’s and honor their efforts in building Indiana University.

This study abroad program will be a 3 credit hours cross-listed course (Issues in International Management: Demark, and Foreign Study in Business: Denmark) which will explore the most innovative and effective business strategies for developing positive social impact around the world. The program will introduce students to each of the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and require each of them to identify one or more of the goals to address in their research project. Students will then travel to Denmark where they will learn to develop strategies needed to create measurable social impact through sustainable business practices. This study abroad program will involve an 11-day trip to Copenhagen and Aarhus in the country of Denmark which will include 5 days of business visits, 3 days of cultural excursions, and 1 day for university visits.

The goal of this project is for one faculty to become a trained instructor in mental health first aid. The project will be implemented in the undergraduate junior-level course Alterations in Neuro-Psychological Health Course curriculum in the fall semesters. Junior-level nursing students will receive mental health first aid training in a classroom setting and actively engage in instructor-led group learning activities. Nursing students will complete eight hours of the total clinical practicum required hours. Upon completion of the training, students will become certified in mental health first aid. The mental health first aid training will have a far-reaching impact on reducing stigma, and suicide rates on a local, state, and national level.

In October 2022, IU Auditorium will welcome Soweto Gospel Choir to the Indiana University Bloomington campus for a residency designed to explore and empower African traditions through a public performance and engaging community programs. With their exemplary artistry for which they are widely revered, Soweto Gospel Choir will transform the IU Auditorium stage into a cultural destination for nearly 2,000 audience members. In keeping with IU Auditorium’s strong tradition of providing educational outreach programming, the company will also engage with IU Bloomington students and faculty through the African American Arts Institute and additional arts and humanities programs through masterclasses, workshops, and discussions.

The Kelley Africa Week is a 5-day event occurring in October 2022. The goal of the event is to create an awareness about businesses in Africa, the opportunities, and potential challenges of doing business in Africa, the emerging business trends in Africa, and the role of Africa and African business students in the global business world. The event will focus on 3 different categories which includes Educational (business talks, African business pitch competition), Afro social (African cultural display, dance class and fashion exhibition) and Alumni networking and speaker series. The event will feature renowned business leaders both in Africa and the United States, small business owners and entrepreneurs in Africa and the United States in collaboration with other professional clubs at Kelley School of Business.

This program is focused on IU Cinema showcasing the work of Maya Cade, a nationally recognized archivist and programmer of Black film. Maya’s programming residency combines public film education around Black film and student mentorship in a ten-film, month-long public program.

The project aims to build community among Black educators through the regular interactions with those studying to be teachers, those currently in the classroom, and high school students considering future teaching careers. By helping Black students complete their School of Education academic program in four years and connecting undergraduates with local schools in culturally engaging programming, the project will strengthen accessibility and retention for Black educators.

The Black Women Faculty Community project aims to support and retain Black women faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences. The initiative focuses on three specific needs of Black faculty at predominantly white institutions: respect, community, and being one’s “authentic self.” It proposes to engage these needs via the creation of an intentional, comprehensive, and accountable networking and support community. Central to this community will be an emphasis on shared challenges, a focus on the needs and goals of the group, and the cultivation and strengthening of community member relationships and interconnectedness.

Onyxfest is Indianapolis' first and only theater festival dedicated to the stories of Black playwrights, known as a soulful Mosaic of Black Life on Stage. This festival seeks to utilize the power of the Black Arts to engage the community and encourage narratives that affirm Black life.

The Student Engagement in Sickle Cell Research program will allow IU medical students to further sickle cell research with expert IU faculty as their mentors. With a focus on recruiting underrepresented students, funding will provide much-needed support for students to experience research and enhance the sickle cell disease efforts underway at IU.

The IUPUI Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion aims to foster a space for marginalized people to share in community and to trigger critical conversations on race, gender, class, sexuality, etc., and the intersections thereof. This series seeks to host multiple black speakers for the Diversity Series to engage different sects of the community than those who are normally accessible through more traditional education practices.

This event was developed with the purpose of intentionally and explicitly inviting the Black community in the Richmond, IN area to learn more about the IU East School of Nursing and Health Sciences. The intention is to both strengthen the school’s existing relationship with the Richmond NAACP chapter and to recruit black prospective students in accordance with the school’s mission of contributing to the diversity of the local nursing workforce.

This initiative will develop interprofessional healthcare career exploration and programming showcasing opportunities for diverse students in grades 8-12 and enhance relationships through external partnerships as an opportunity to support the health career pathways in Fort Wayne and northeastern Indiana to a diverse student population.

The goal of this project is to expose African American students to the historical impact of the African Diaspora. We will foster personhood, a sense of place, and agency by offering a program relevant to the African American experience. This will bolster IU South Bend’s retention of African American students.