Inclusive Excellence Impact Program (IEIP)

Mini-Grant Submissions

Round 5 Application will begin Spring 2024.

Through generous gifts and donations, the University of Mississippi Medical Center is pleased to offer funding support for enhancing inclusion, promoting equity, and intentional efforts that help shape the institution so that structures, policies, and practices allow all identity groups to feel mutually supported and are provided equitable access and opportunity to thrive. Faculty, staff, and students from any UMMC school, department, hospital, clinic, service area, or institutional-sponsored organization, group, or club may apply for funding, up to $2,500 for one year, in support of strategies relating to the following below (with examples):

1. Institutional Culture and Climate: Policy/practice interventions that monitor continuous improvements of demographics, matriculation and promotion of historically underrepresented students, faculty, and staff; new processes to ensure equitable and inclusive outcomes, spaces, and resources for diverse groups; special networking events or programs geared toward increasing connections and/or respect for others from different cultural, economic or diverse backgrounds; etc.
2. Access and Opportunity: Creating leadership pathways for historically underrepresented or marginalized groups seeking career advancement; collaborative projects that support quality efforts for patients and families to improve patient satisfaction; DEI-related memberships; etc.
3. Faculty/Staff/Student Development: New and/or continuous professional development training on topics of or relating to DEI; honorariums and associated travel costs for guest lecturers or speakers on a specific DEI-related topic; training materials; domestic travel support to DEI-related conferences for teams with the intent of incorporating new DEI practices; etc.
4. Health Equity: Projects that engage diverse, underserved, underrepresented or vulnerable communities; racial equity training at the community advisory board level for centers and institutes; conference support that integrates fostering understanding of DEI, SDoH, or cultural competence; research-related expenses prioritizing health equity and outcomes; etc.
5. Recruitment and Retention: Projects that enhance and support the recruitment and retention of faculty, staff and students from diverse or historically underrepresented backgrounds; newly created student career or pathway programs; mini-sabbaticals for visiting underrepresented faculty; second-look student recruitment events; stipend support for visiting underrepresented students for away rotations; faculty, staff, or student networking activities; job advertisements in diverse publications; etc.
6. Teaching and Learning: Curriculum integration and educational resources assuring diverse perspectives and inclusive pedagogies across the learner continuum or across disciplines (UME, GME, CPD, CME, etc.) for either academic, non-academic or clinical training programs; etc.

Selection Committee

The Diversity Accountability and Action Review Team (D.A.A.R.T.) was created to serve as an internal advisory group for the ODI to review current best practices, metrics, implementation plans, and accountability models for meeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals and continuous improvement at UMMC. Members of this committee will review proposals based on the evaluation criteria. Special attention is given to the project’s alignment with a addressing a systemic issue or structural challenge, rationale for funding, timeline proposed, and qualifications of the project team. 

D.A.A.R.T. Members

• Driscoll DeVaul, DHA, School of Health Related Professions
• Hanna J. Broome, PhD, School of Graduate Studies in Health Sciences
• Kristin Nalls, PhD, School of Dentistry
• Marilyn Harrington, PhD, School of Nursing
• Victoria M. Gholar, DNP, PMH-BC, School of Population Health
• Kristen Alston, PhD, School of Medicine
• Seena L. Haines, PharmD, BCACP, NBC-HWC, CHWC, FASHP, FNAP, FCCP, FAPhA, RYT 500

Scoring Criteria

• Alignment and effectiveness addressing one or more of the focus areas
• Evidence-based rationale that clearly identifies the problem or challenge
• Goals of the project demonstrate broader impact of advancing DEI with measurable long-term outcomes
• The extent to which the proposal demonstrates the team’s commitment and full support from leadership or home department(s)
• The project promotes collaboration internally and/or externally
• The extent to which the project is intended to develop into a sustained effort
• Appropriateness of evaluation methods
• A member of the project team must have completed the UMMC Diversity and Inclusion Champion and Professional Development Program. 

What We Will Not Fund

• Salaries and fringe benefits
• Equipment such as computers, laptops, digital cameras, printers
• Applications seeking retrospective funding
• Funds cannot be used to pay for meals for the sole purpose of dialogue or conversations within a school, department or group. (Food may be included if the project is part of a larger training activity or for a conference with multiple collaborators/partners.)

Click here to submit the Fall 2023 Inclusive Excellence Impact Program (IEIP) Mini-grant Application.

A final report is required and due 30 days after the expected completion date. Final reports should be submitted to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Grant Awardees

Round 1:
Congratulations to the Jackson Free Clinic for being awarded the inaugural IEIP grant to support Health Equity for Mississippi Women - Enhancing Care and Education at the Jackson Free Clinic. Funding will be used to expand the clinic's capacity to provide gynecological services to uninsured Mississippi women.

Round 2:
Congratulations to Children's of Mississippi for being awarded a Round 2 IEIP grant to support Hair Care Equity at Children's of Mississippi. Funding will be used to provide hair care products for diverse patients. 

The School of Population Health also received Round 2 IEIP grant funding to support an in-depth discussion titled "Getting Something to Eat in Jackson: Race, Class, and food in the American South" (Speaker: Dr. Joseph C. Ewooodzie, Jr.).  

Round 3:
Congratulations to the Department of Surgery for being awarded a Round 3 IEIP grant to support Second Look for Under-Represented in Medicine Applicants to UMMC Surgery Programs. 

The UMMC Campus Police Department also received Round 3 IEIP grant funding to support the "30 x 30 Listening Tour - Creating Equity and Inclusion in Law Enforcement." 

Round 4:
Congratulations to the Department of Surgery for being awarded a Round 4 IEIP grant to support the "Annual Diversity Focused Visiting Lectures- Do They Foster a Sense of Inclusion and Well-being Among Faculty, Residents, and Students".

The Department of Family Medicine - "Women of Color Faculty in Academic Medicine Well-Beng and Career Development Retreat"received Round 4 IEIP grant funding.

The School of Dentistry also received Round 4 IEIP grant funding to support the "Mississippi Diversity in Oral Science (MDOS): A Summer Enrichment Program for Minority and Underrepresented Students to Promote Diversity in the Oral Health Workforce"program.