Harvard’s Office of Culture and Community announced the first recipients of a new grant program for undergraduate student organizations on Wednesday — a rollout that comes as many affinity groups continue to adjust to the College’s restructuring of diversity-related funding.
Seven projects, sponsored by 18 student organizations, were selected to receive awards of up to $2,500 each through the Office of Culture and Community’s new grant initiative. The program replaces several funding streams previously administered by Harvard’s diversity offices, which were shuttered last summer.
The new grants require collaboration between at least two student organizations and mandate that funded events be explicitly marketed as open to all Harvard College students — conditions that some affinity groups have welcomed.
The grant program, which began accepting applications in October, is intended to support events that “promote community building, exchange of perspectives, and honest dialogue among the student community,” according to the Office of Culture and Community.
The inaugural class of recipients is made up of seven projects, sponsored by eighteen student organizations, including Harvard Hillel, the Harvard Black Students Association, the Harvard Undergraduate Rural League, and the Harvard Turkish Student Association.
HURL Chief of Staff Elizabeth R. Place ’27 said the group planned to use its $2,500 to co-host the Harvard Rurality Forum, a one-day event in April that will include expert speakers and panel discussions to foster understanding between students from all geographic backgrounds.
“This event is really supposed to bridge the divide between being rural and being urban,” said Place, a Crimson Editorial editor. “No matter if you’re from the United States or if you’re an international student, you either have experience in rural or urban environments.”
The HTSA wrote in a statement that it is planning to use the grant to fund their Transnational Justice Seminar Series, which is designed for students to engage in dialogue over international legal issues such as climate change and migration.
The Association of Black Harvard Women, which also received the grant, used funds last semester to host the “Road to Success,” a week-long series of professional development opportunities across different fields, according to ABHW Treasurer Olaeze J. Okoro ’28.
Final grant decisions are made by Associate Dean of Students for Culture and Community Alta Mauro, who reviews applications and is advised by a board composed of 11 students.
Associate Director of the Harvard Foundation Matias Ramos, who serves as the grant’s program manager, said the OCC is looking for projects with “themes that are either around generating dialog or discussion among students, and also to continue fostering cultural exploration or topics that might be up for debate or exploration, related to culture and to intellectual exchange.”
“When students bring that initiative to us and it aligns with the goals of the grant, then we’re looking forward to continue supporting,” he said.
In past years, organizations could receive similar grants through the College’s diversity offices — the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, Women’s Center, and Office of BGLTQ Student Life. But when the centers were shut down last July, some student organizations were left scrambling to find funds.
While the OCC grants offer a new source of support, the program’s requirements have drawn skepticism from some affinity groups. Harvard Black Men’s Forum President Miles K. Reeves ’27 said he was wary of the requirement that events be marketed as open to all students.
“Obviously, the majority of the programming we do is for Black men, and though everyone is welcome, and we can write on a flyer that everyone’s welcome, if you come to an event of ours, there’s gonna be Black men there,” he said.
Reeves wrote in a statement that the group had initially refrained from applying for the grant because members were “cautious about the ‘accessibility’ of our programming to the entire Harvard community.” (BMF was ultimately listed as one of the co-sponsors of the BSA’s application.)
Ramos defended the structure of the application process, calling it “equitable.”
“It asks the same things from all orgs,” he said. “In any case, this is a student center process, and anybody who feels there is a barrier can always reach out and ask for guidance on what a good application looks like.”
Ramos said funding remains available and encouraged additional student organizations to apply.
“If anybody has not yet decided to apply and is interested in pitching an idea, there is still money available,” he said.
—Staff writer Kaylee Razo can be reached at [email protected]
—Staff writer Mark C.Z. Snekvik can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at marksnek.62. Follow him on X at @markcsnekvik.