KPIRG Makes Money Available to KPU Students

Grants open for applications year-round

Lenée Son, a Kwantlen Polytechnic University student who won a $1,000 grant from the Kwantlen Public Interest Research Group last November, says that the funding has “definitely played a significant role” in the success of a documentary that she and a fellow graduate are working on. January pays tribute to a transgender woman of colour who was violently murdered in New Westminster four years ago, and it is set to be released this fall.

“We’re filming this documentary with our own equipment, so the grant allowed us to be able to rent more equipment [as needed],” she says. “It helped us be able to afford transportation and things like that.”

Son heard about the grant through a KPIRG board member, but few students know that the money is available at all. Because of that, most of the applicants for the KPIRG grants are approved, since they have little competition.

In fact, KPIRG gives out nine grants per year, or three every semester. According to KPIRG staffer Deanna Fasciani, the grants program is publicized on their website, newsletter, and Facebook page, but even Son admits that “there could be a bit more outreach for students.” If she had known about the grant sooner, she and her filming partner Elina Gress may have applied before raising money through crowdfunding.

However, that seems to be their only complaint about their experience with KPIRG. Son states that “the board members were willing to answer any questions [and] were very encouraging for us to apply for the grant.” She suggests that “other students reach out to KPIRG and find out what kind of opportunities are available.”

As a word of advice to applicants, she proposes having “a clear and concise idea of what initiative or project they want funding for [and] making sure the students’ initiative or project fits in with KPIRG’s values of intersectionality and social and environmental justice.” The KPIRG board members themselves offer similar recommendations.

“Take a look at the criteria on our website and try to gear your application towards social justice, says Fasciani, in agreement with KPIRG board organizer Kimberley McMartin. “Tackle the very critical, urgent issues in our community, looking in our own back yard and seeing what people are demanding . . . then listen to their needs.”

The ideal grant application would also “have an explicit connection to KPU, to the KPU student body and the KPU community, and give some sort of a benefit for the students.” Generally, the KPIRG board also “prioritizes marginalized groups and those that are promoting [their] rights.”

So far, KPIRG’s grant money has gone towards on-campus book fairs and murals, documentaries like Son’s, and events like the Model UN conference, the Trans Day of Remembrance, and others under Pride Kwantlen.

“A lot of work would not be done without these grants and this is work that’s important,” says Fasciani. “It won’t qualify for corporate funding because what a lot of these groups and individuals are fighting for is antithetical to corporations.”

The KPIRG board wants to remind students that they’re “there for the student body” and “really happy to be able to afford these grants to the student body.” They urge anyone interested to drop by the KPIRG office, share their ideas and get feedback before applying. After all, the money is collected from student fees, which they believe should be a source of pride for the applicants.

“We’re hoping that they will take us up on the offer to submit applications so we can better support them,” concludes McMartin.

There are three deadlines to meet for submitting grant applications to KPIRG: June 30 for the summer, October 31 for the fall, and February 28 for the winter.