The Lang Center has limited funding to support student events that are congruent with the Lang Center mission. Requests are considered on a first-come, first-served basis and may be granted at a portion of the total requested. Awards are generally $50 per request.

The Lang Opportunity Scholarship (LOS) Program each year selects members of Swarthmore’s sophomore class as Lang Scholars. Selection criteria include distinguished academic and co-curricular achievement, leadership qualities, and demonstrated commitment to civic and social responsibility. This program offers a diverse range of benefits including a $10,000 grant, a designated adviser, and networking opportunities to support the development of a project that creates a needed social resource in the U.S. or abroad.

The Civic Scholar program seeks to open new pathways for communities and campus to engage with each other, enhance networks (social capital) of students and community members beyond Swarthmore College, and increase capacity of both students and communities to achieve their civic and social responsibility goals. To that end, this program provides students with mentoring, education, training, and funding over multiple years. Swarthmore Civic Scholars is a program of the Lang Center and the Richard Rubin Mentoring Program.

The Fund supports groups of Swarthmore students who propose and implement social and civic action projects whose scope and sustainability will advance solutions for the issues in question and also promote recognition of students' motivation and capability to address such major issues effectively. Any team of two or more currently enrolled students may apply for grants of up to $25,000 to fund projects that are visionary in scope and groundbreaking in practice.

Projects for Peace is a global program that encourages young adults to develop innovative, community-centered, and scalable responses to the world’s most pressing issues. Along the way, these student leaders increase their knowledge, improve skills, and establish identities as peacebuilders and changemakers. Every year 100 or more student leaders are awarded a grant in the amount of $10,000 each to implement a “Project for Peace,” anywhere in the world, typically over summer break. Projects for Peace are grassroots activities that address root causes of conflict and promote peace.

ESRGs support research that applies knowledge to needs, and aims toward understanding and/or ameliorating social problems or community needs. You can request funding for research assistance, the purchase of equipment, and travel essential to Engaged Scholarship research that will take place during the calendar year. Successful applications are typically able to show how the proposed research is likely to culminate in products including but not limited to publications, public performances, or art installations.

In the President’s Sustainability Research Fellowship (PSRF) at Swarthmore College, students learn by leading: by taking stewardship over vital sustainability challenges. The program matches motivated students with small teams of staff and faculty mentors to research, develop, and implement projects in a year-long course and associated internship.

Each summer, one Swarthmore student is awarded a fellowship to complete an independent reporting project with preferred focus on issues that reflect international concerns and have been unreported or under-reported in the mainstream media. Students are mentored by Pulitzer Center grantee journalists as well as Pulitzer Center staff. (This opportunity is open to all class years.) 

The Lang Center supports students to conduct research in the service of a Swarthmore College faculty member's Engaged Scholarship through the Faculty-Led Engaged Research Grant (FLER) Program. Students interested in applying for a FLER grant should reach out directly to the faculty member with whom they would like to work and receive confirmation of their acceptance before submitting an application to the Lang Center. Unlike other grant programs of the Lang Center, both students AND faculty are required to complete applications for this type of funding: