Last fall, the Gephardt Institute launched the St. Louis Impact Fund, which offers four different grant opportunities to students seeking funding and support for partnership-based projects critical to community needs.
The Transform Grant, the largest of these opportunities, is designed to support robust partnerships between Washington University students and local non-profit or civic organizations, by providing up to $10,000 in project support aimed at advancing regional priorities. Letters of intent for the Transform Grant were accepted this year from Sept. 3 to Sept. 23.
“In the first year of our Transform Grants under the new St. Louis Impact Fund, we were excited to see such an outpouring of interest across campus—including undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Through the three Transform Grant workshops in the fall, students learned about the process of applying for grant funding and creating mutually beneficial projects with community partners,” said Sam Babb, Associate Director for Community Engagement at the Gephardt Institute. “The five projects selected for funding have been a joy to help steward over the last year and I am excited about the lasting community impact they will foster.”
“In year two, I am looking forward to more creative, transformative, and collaborative ideas to support regional priorities. I am always inspired by the new and innovative ideas and energy students and their community partners bring to help to move our region forward.”
“Our community partners have been amazing and very involved right from the beginning of this project. Because of their efforts, many volunteers I worked with walked away energized and ready to engage with St. Louis Public Schools.”
Darsh Singhania ’25, Heart for the Unhoused
In February, the organizers of five projects. The projects include efforts to promote racial equity, to bring healthy living workshops to seniors, support unhoused children in St. Louis, promote wellness among immigrants in the region, and create publicly accessible art to tell the history of the city.
In August, about six months after the grants were awarded, some of the Transform Grant recipients were approaching the completion of their projects, to exciting results.
Heart for the Unhoused, led by Darsh Singhania ’25, worked with a St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) office—Students in Transition—and the WashU Office of Sustainability on their project, “Project EmpowerED: SLPS Homeless Youth Support.” Among their plans were utilizing the resources and services WashU provides student to support SLPS students with college readiness and hygiene kids, donations, and staff positions at the Students in Transition office.
In May, Singhania and members of Heart for the Unhoused successfully collected several van loads of lightly used clothing, shoes, and living essentials donated by WashU students upon moving out of their residence halls after the spring semester.
“One thing I thought was unique about my Transform Grant project was the way it connected different groups at WashU and in St. Louis to uplift public school students, said Singhania. “We have three partners: the St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS), WashU Sustainability, and Heart for the Unhoused, so this effort brought together students, faculty, and community voices.”
“Our community partners have been amazing and very involved right from the beginning of this project,” Singha continued. “Because of their efforts, many volunteers I worked with walked away energized and ready to engage with St. Louis Public Schools.”
“Going forward, I’m excited to explore new ways WashU students can support the needs of SLPS, whether it be through more grant funding or volunteer efforts. Though our work is not finished, I am excited by the direction of this project and the events we’ve been able to hold in such a short time.”
Also supported by the Transform Grant, quilter Mac Barnes ’26 is collaborating with Maxine Clark, Chief Inspirator of Delmar DiviNe and local digital transformation artist Matt Bryan to create a publicly accessible and interactive quilt. Dubbed “Quilts as Civic Engagement: An Interactive History of St. Louis and the Delmar Region,” this project will be a permanent exhibit displayed at Delmar DiviNe. It is intended to inspire a sense of curiosity and heart for the North Delmar area of St. Louis, and to inspire others to use their unique talents to create an impact on the region.
“The ‘Quilts as Civic Engagement’ project is leveraging everyone’s comforts of quilts and the specific community’s memories of North Delmar via submitted photographs to spark new dialogue, learning, and understanding of past present and future of the region,” said Barnes. “It is this dialogue and increased understanding we feel will create the deeper connections needed to bridge current divides between students, North Delmar inhabitants, and outside stakeholders that can uplift and support the community together.”
“Like all past quilt projects I have been a part of, there is always an excitement and a personal emotional attachment that each person has to quilting and the subject. Community partners have been both broad in their excitement but also specific about their narratives, stories, and histories they feel should be shared through this quilting and dialogue process,” he said. “We are finalizing design work and feedback now and are anticipating a fall installation with dialogue sessions throughout the end of the fall semester and into the start of the spring.”
The St. Louis Impact Fund is supported by the Office of the Provost and generous donations to the Gephardt Institute. Since 2008, the Gephardt Institute has distributed grants through the St. Louis Impact Fund and former Civic Engagement Fund, to advance student learning and St. Louis regional priorities. If you would like to make a gift to support the St. Louis Impact Fund, please click here or contact Alex Jackson at jalex@wustl.edu.