Five Grants to Increase Diversity and Representation in Key Fields

Diversity is imperative to building a better world. Having our public and private sectors be reflective of the people who live in the United States, ensures that people receive better healthcare and other services. It also ensures that critical products are created with all of us in mind.

That’s why today GrantWatch is sharing five grants that help to increase diversity in critical fields and make the workforce more reflective of the overall population.

Why Increased Representation Is Important:

It’s important to have a more inclusive public and private sector. Increasing the number of women, people of color and underrepresented groups is better for everyone. What kind of impact would have increased representation have on key fields. Let’s discuss this:

According to medical experts, there’s a gap in healthcare, especially at the top. This gap is especially true when it comes to physicians. And the largest gap, exists when it comes to socioeconomic status.

• 36% of doctors are female (versus 50.8% of the population)
• 17% of physicians are Asian (7% of the population)
• 5% of physicians are Black (12.1% of the population)
• 6% of physicians are Hispanic (18.7% of the population)
• Only 5% of physicians come from the lowest income quintile

And closing that gap would improve outcomes for patients and deliver better care overall, according to medical experts. Benefits to a more diverse provider network are vast. These benefits include:

• Increased provider comfort level,
• Improved communication between providers and patients (espeically true if there’s a language barrier),
• Increased patient trust
• Reduced health disparities
• Better workplace environments in healthcare

And what about Tech?

There are lots of talks about a severe lack of diversity within major technology fields and large tech companies. There may actually be some severe consequences for that gap. Companies that are more diverse, tend to be more innovative overall. And this isn’t just about racial or ethnic diversity, it’s about cognitive diversity as well. The Harvard Business Review found that after studying performance outcomes for six teams, the most cognitively diverse teams performed the best. In contrast, perhaps to what society might have assumed. Another study conducted by McKinsey found that companies that were more diverse were significantly more profitable.

Five Grants to Improve Diversity and Increase Representation

1. Firstly, there are opportunities for U.S. medical students from eligible backgrounds to participate in clinical rotations or clinical research rotations. Funding is for MD and DO students who are interested in pursuing careers in the field of oncology. Eligible applicants are from populations considered underrepresented in medicine.
2. In addition, there are fellowships of $60,000 to U.S. and Puerto Rico female postdoctoral scientists affiliated with qualified institutions for research in the fields of physical or material sciences, life sciences, computer science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. The award is intended to support the applicant’s research project and provide career advancement.
3. Grants of up to $6,000 to U.S. and Canada IHE faculty, as well as high school math teachers in conjunction with IHE faculty for projects that encourage girls and women to study mathematics. Funding is for the following two objectives: to encourage college and university mathematics faculty to develop projects to increase participation of women in mathematics, and to provide support to project directors.
4. There are also grants of $5,000, grants of $10,000, and in-kind support to U.S. Black entrepreneurs to support equal opportunities in business. The purpose of this program is to support high-impact ideas and solutions and break down barriers caused by racial inequality. 
5. Finally, there are grants of up to $5,000 and grants of up to $20,000 to U.S. Asian Studies scholars to further research in the field. Funding is to promote diversity through the development of curriculum, provide mentorship programs, and prepare and present seminars. 

GrantNews Notes

Looking for more grants that go towards funding increased representation? Check out our BIPOC grant category, as well as the category for women.

Also, make sure to give your organization the gift of GrantWatch this holiday season! Signing up for a paid subscription to GrantWatch will help you to gain access to resources to aid in your grant journey. Specifically, one of the tools that subscribers have access to is our exact keyword search function. This tool allows grant seekers to narrow down a grant search.