Grants and Funding

Led by Dr. Patricia Reeves, professor emeritus, and Dr. Jianping Shen, the John E. Sandberg Professor of Education and the Gwen Frostic Endowed Chair, in WMU's Department of Educational Leadership, Research and Technology, have secured over $55 million in grant funding over the past 25 years.

The original HIL Project (HIL1.0-SEED2017) started in 2017 with the help of a three-year $12.5 million Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant from the U.S. Department of Education, awarded to WMU,  in collaboration with the Reading Now Network (RNN) and the MAISA General Education Leadership Network (GELN). We were proud to be one of only four projects in the U.S. to receive two-year renewal funding in 2020. 

More recently, the HIL4SR team was awarded two additional grants:

Grand Rapids Southeast Promise Neighborhood (GRSEPN) 

A 5-year, $ 29.5 million implementation grant, funded in 2021 by the U.S. Department of Education with matching cost-share provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. As a place-based grant, WMU, alongside seven partners, anchors the work in the Southeast Grand Rapids neighborhoods and schools, developing cradle-to-career solutions to ensure children and youth can succeed in school and beyond. Visit the dedicated project website to learn more:  GRSEPN.org

HIL2.0  

Funded by a second Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant in 2023, in the amount of 15 million dollars over 3 years. HIL2.0 provided resources, in-school Facilitation, and School Renewal Summits to school teams as they implemented the High Impact Leadership Principles, Practices, and Processes.  Read the original press release and visit our dedicated project website at hilwmu.org to learn more.  

Note: HIL2.0 was defunded in February 2025.

Between 2002 and 2017, Dr. Shen and Dr.  Reeves were granted multiple other awards from the Wallace Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education.

We have also welcomed contributions from generous community donors such as the Guido A. and Elizabeth H. Binda Foundation and Scholastic, Inc.  They have made it possible to equip school and classroom libraries, offer special school-wide events, and provide substitute teachers and subsidies for professional learning. 

Contact Dr. Patricia Reeves if you are interested in contributing to this exciting work.