Social Entrepreneurship for Poverty Alleviation
The Social Entrepreneurship for Poverty Alleviation (SEPA) program pairs talented Austin College student interns with local non-profits with a focus on community development through grant writing, providing hands-on grant writing experience to local agencies over the summer.
Since the program’s inception in 2012, 167 Austin College students have worked with over 85 individual nonprofit organizations in Texoma. To date, this partnership has generated over $4,900,000 in critical grant funding for the region.
Over the summer, the student works at the non-profit organization for at least 200 hours to help with program or project development, researching new funding opportunities, and writing grant proposals. The work provided by the intern is at no cost to the nonprofit agency, and each intern is paid a stipend provided by Austin College. Individual meetings are held with the nonprofit and their matched students throughout the summer to help guide the teams in their grant-seeking.
Since 2012, the SEPA program has focused on engaging students in the community through grant writing as an entrepreneurial endeavor, teaching technical aspects of grant writing and providing hands-on grant writing experience with a local nonprofit agency. The work of SEPA interns helps local non-profits expand their capacity and move the agency forward in reaching their goals.
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Community Well TX
“She [intern] developed a new jargon list, created logic models, searched for grants, set up templates, actively participated in our programs, and presented her work to our Board of Directors - was truly remarkable. … [her] above and beyond work ethic moved our grant writing, research, and grant management program forward 6-8 months from where we would be without the SEPA program.”
Community Well TXFormerly Fannin Behavioral Health Leadership Team
Fannin County
Texoma Family Shelter
“As a small non-profit, they have been lifesavers. We could not have applied for as many grants as we have done without the interns.”
Texoma Family Shelter Denison, TX
The SEPA program has been generously funded by the following: W.B. Munson Foundation, Texoma Community Foundation, The Elias and Hanna Regensburger Foundation, The Mellon Foundation, and the W. D. Kelley Foundation.
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