Skip to content

Drexel Project Application

There are 20 questions in this application, with half requiring checked boxes or short responses. Each NRVC member may complete one application. If a religious institute has a license membership, every NRVC member can submit an application with a different parish and project proposal. Your completed application indicates you will be completing the project with your team, not merely designating other team members to do the intended service.
For the purposes of this micro-grant, the following definitions are helpful to understand:
Protagonists: teen leaders entering ninth grade and not yet graduated from high school. Every teen must have parental/guardian permission to participate in all components of the Drexel Project. There must be at least 3 protagonists on the team.
Parish Companions: any adult who is an active parishioner in the parish the service will be coordinated. This can be a parent, volunteer, or paid staff such as a youth minister, faith formation director, catechist, music director, pastoral associate, etc. There must be at least one parish champion on the team, and all companions must be current in Safe Environment Standards.
Champions: NRVC members who are applying for the micro-grant and coordinating all grant requirements. Additional members of the religious institute are welcome to participate; however, each must be current in Safe Environment Standards.
Before completing this application, please read through the entire application. Unlike service that is decided by adults before inviting participants to serve, the Drexel Project requires protagonists, companions, and champions to meet together before submitting the application to discern their gifts, reflect on the needs within the area, consider age-approprate theologocal reflection questions, decide together where the greatest need is to serve, and ways that a micro-grant can enhance the project. This period of discernment happens before submitting the project proposal, and if selected for the micro-grant, the service takes place any time between December 1 and February 28, with an evaluation process during March 2027.
FORM YOUR TEAM: IDENTIFY ADULTS AND TEENS WILLING TO WALK TOGETHER
1.Write your full name, including your vocation prefix (sister, brother, priest, etc.) and congregational initials. If you are a lay vocation director, please indicate this after your name.(Required.)
2.Write your complete email address and preferred phone number in case clarifying information is needed for your application.(Required.)
3.All service must be completed in the United States with a parish. If your religious institute sponsors a school, connect with the parish the students belong. Please check each box indicating your agreement with the NRVC expected outcomes for this micro-grant.(Required.)
4.Provide the full name of your religious institute.(Required.)
5.Creating a rich context for theological reflection throughout this experience is expected. Describe your congregation's spirituality and charism (200 word limit).(Required.)
6.Provide at least two quotes from your founder(s), patron saint(s), and/or congregational leaders, that can be published in the theological reflection booklet. Indicate the the full name of the person who is quoted.(Required.)
7.Write the full name of the parish and the arch/diocese where the service is being coordinated.(Required.)
8.Each team needs at least one adult from the parish that can be a parent, volunteer, or on the staff. Write the full name of every adult currently involved and their role in the parish. If there are additional members of your religious institute involved, please list them. If you are a lay vocation director, include at least one professed member of your institute. Please note: If selected, more names can be added in your mid-progress and final reports.(Required.)
9.If selected, each adult will have to send a copy of their current certificate of Safe Environment Standards to NRVC.(Required.)
10.Provide the full names of at least three protagonists on the team and the grade they are entering this fall. More teens can be added later while serving and noted in the mid-progress report.(Required.)
11.Parental/Guardian permission, please check each box. If selected, permission forms will be included in the workshop materials that need to be sent to NRVC.(Required.)
12.Provide a meaningful, original quote from each teen describing their understanding of service, being a protagonist, and/or shared leadership. Please do not use quotes already attributed to other authors. This quote will be published in the theological reflection booklet.(Required.)
DESIGN: LISTEN TO EACH OTHER TO IDENTIFY SPIRITUAL GIFTS, IDENTIFY NEEDS, AND PLAN MEANINGFUL SERVICE WITH THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION
13.Explore each team member's gifts by completing the McGrath Institute Spiritual Gifts Inventory. List the top three spiritual gifts for each team member and how they connect to your intended service. While the survey uses 12 saints as models for the gifts, feel free to personalize the inventory for your group by substituting your own congregational saints/founders, if appropriate, to each gift.(Required.)
14.Your service involves working with people in under-resourced areas, so clear communication is essential. Describe the mission, vision, and expectations of the organization/venue/population your team has selected for service. Include any connection team members may have to your selected organization/venue/population, including if applicable, congregational sponsored ministries.(Required.)
15.Service must be meaningful and impactful, yet is not based on counting hours. It needs to be completed between December 1 to February 28 (this time frame allows for varying schedules, inclement weather, etc.). Describe your intended service with a clear timeline that does not exceed thirty days of service. Include any formation needed that would assist the team in understanding the population being served, especially if the service includes serving together. This also includes any time needed to educate the team about advocacy, systemic change, and the core principles of Catholic Social Teaching.(Required.)
16.Create five open-ended theological reflection questions that invite deeper conversation designed around the intended service to reflect upon throughout and as part of the evaluation process. Consider questions that connect to the spirituality of your religious institute, charism, and founder(s).(Required.)
PLAN A REALISTIC $3,000 BUDGET
Micro-grants do not fund pre-existing, recurring, international, or previously planned service projects. They fund only those projects newly discerned using the application criteria and NRVC expected outcomes. The grants do NOT fund the following expenses:
  • Major capital expenses or general parish/religious institute operating costs
  • Salaries or stipends for volunteering
  • Monetary donation to an organization or person in need
  • Jackets, shirts, gift cards, or other memorabilia that would reward participant involvement
  • Any project without a clear plan of service with theological reflection.
  • Projects driven solely by adults without meaningful teen leadership.
Micro-grants can be used for engaging additional teens, families, and religious community members in carrying out the service project. This includes:
  • Materials or supplies needed for the service project
  • Transportation, food, or site costs
  • Training or formation materials/presentations for adults and teens
  • Accessibility adaptations or translation of project resources
  • Costs associated with one theological reflection gathering and meal at your religious institute in March 2027
  • Modest technology or media costs associated with video recording in March 2027
Please note, if selected, $1500 will be given at the workshop at Convocation and the second payment will be made after completion of the mid-progress report.
17.Describe how the team intends to use the $3,000 micro-grant by listing all major expenses using the above criteria. Include whether your religious institute will provide additional funds (this is not a requirement) or if this service can be provided without the full $3,000.(Required.)
SERVE: Carrying out the project with prayer, flexibility, and shared leadership.
Highlighting the distinct charisms and spiritualities in consecrated life is essential throughout this project. God's endless call is the theological and pastoral foundation of this project, not vocation recruitment. Every person called by God is not called to be the best version of themselves for themselves. Rather, God invites each of us to respond to the greatest needs of the Church in the world and to be open to transformation. This call to discipleship, an intimate relationship with God, is unique to each person, yet is rooted in mission. The invitation to Come, Follow me, is an encounter with God, and every time we say, "Yes!" we are never the same again.

While serving, each team is encouraged to reflect on Scripture stories of call and to hear the lived responses of call of the people being served, protagonists, companions, and champions who are religious sisters, brothers, or priests. These faith-sharing conversations throughout service are intended to create sacred lifelong memories instead of completing service-hour requirements. Because this is designed to be a smaller parish group experience rather than a mega-service event, providing protagonists with ample opportunities to experience, then lead prayer steeped in the charism and spirituality of your religious institute.
18.Check this box to indicate your agreement to the expectations described above in carrying out this project with prayer, flexibility, and shared leadership.(Required.)
REFLECT: Gathering to theologically reflect on what was experienced, learned, and how faith was deepened.
Religious institutes have distinct charisms marked by different prayer styles, devotions, and traditions in monasteries, motherhouses, convents, and friaries. By using prayer already rooted in the spirituality of each religious institute, theological reflection will not be an add-on or quickly invented; it will be integrated into the pattern of design and service, ensuring theological reflection before, during, and after service.

At its core, this service project is intended to foster vocation ministry, not recruitment, to deepen understanding of God's call as a lifetime response. If selected, each team is expected to:
  • Design the program, participate in, and evaluate the service experience.
  • Respond on time to required dates outlines in the grant agreement.
  • Submit a status report in the middle of the grant period that includes expense tracking and financial accountability.
  • Prioritize the feast day of Saint Katharine Drexel on March 3 to participate in an evening Zoom for all participants.
  • Create a 4-minute video testimonial after service completion with content that demonstrates a deepened parish engagement and vitality.
  • Provide feedback on the draft copy of the theological reflection booklet.
19.Check the box to indicate your agreement to the terms of evaluation as stated above.(Required.)
20.Please write any additional information that may be helpful in your application.
Thank you for completing your application. NRVC will notify all applicants by October 15 whether a micro-grant is awarded.
1 / 1
100%