Caring Culture Grants

The Caring Culture Grants: a Work Life Initiative for Workplace Well-being

The past several years have placed a burden on our well-being resulting in the need for our community to reassess and refocus ways to contribute to a healthy workplace. Research has shown a direct correlation between our workplace culture and our well-being. Improving our workplace well-being demands that we look at systemic interventions that impact our culture and values.

The Work Life office has been focused on improving workplace culture and well-being of faculty and administrators at NYU. Together, we can envision and create a more caring culture at NYU by fostering grassroots changes. By addressing systemic well-being issues and through continuous feedback and evaluation of our NYU community we can design a future where we all can flourish.

2024 Grantees

In response to our inaugural call for proposals, Work Life received an unprecedented level of interest in the Caring Culture Grants. We are excited to announce 15 grantees:

Wasserman Center for Career Development
Project Title: Wasserman Culture Collaborations
Meyers Nursing
Project Title: Cultivating a Culture of Care: Building a Community of Practice to Enhance the Work Life of Undergraduate Nursing Program Faculty, Staff, and Administrators.
Institute of Human Development and Social Change
Project Title: Nourish & Restore: IHDSC’s Collective Care Initiative
Global Programs/ NYU Washington, DC
Project Title: NYUDC Water Cooler Talk
Spanish & Portuguese
Project Title: Fluencies: puentes y corrientes (bridges and flows) in the workplace
NYU Silver
Project Title: Elevating Culture at NYU Silver
Office of the Vice Provost for Research/Provost
Project Title: VPR Caring Culture
Office of Academic Program Review and Assessment (Office of the Provost)
Project Title: Setting Boundaries in a Time of Growth
MPAP/Dance Education Program
Project Title: Strategies for Embodying Wellness and Compassion
Library Lab, Division of Libraries
Project Title: Growing Library Connections
Metro Center
Project Title: Metro Cares
Liberal Studies/A&S
Project Title: Breaking Team Silos at LS: Connection, Collaboration, and Care
Enterprise Information Governance and Management (NYUIT) in collaboration with the Office of Data Governance (GEMSS)
Project Title: Cross-Department Job Shadowing Program
SPS Division of Programs in Business
Project Title: Bimonthly Mini DPB Wellness Retreats
Campus Safety
Project Title: Operation Mindfulness: Enhancing the Well-Being of Campus Safety Personnel

Highlighted Projects

Meyers Nursing

The project “Cultivating a Culture of Care: Building a Community of Practice to Enhance the Work Life of Undergraduate Nursing Program Faculty, Staff, and Administrators” represents a holistic, inclusive, and environmental approach to culture change. Through a series of workshops, the Meyers Nursing team will address ways to foster common values, improved communication, peer mentorship/coaching, and mindful leadership practices centering on self-care.

Wasserman Center for Career Development

The “Wasserman Culture Collaborations” project seeks to access subject matter experts to help their team navigate important conversations and work. Utilizing an appreciative inquiry framework, the Wasserman team will be able to identify and build upon the existing strengths within the unit, gathering constructive, actionable, and sustainable feedback. The goal of these actions is to provide equitable, inclusive, and developmental spaces for staff to share their beliefs about current strengths in their department, and leverage them to take part in building the vision for our future.

Campus Safety

"Operation Mindfulness" consists of three key elements: Stress Management Workshops, a Health and Fitness Program, and a Digital Resource Library. Through these interconnected components, "Operation Mindfulness" seeks to foster a supportive and peaceful environment, significantly improving the quality of life for NYU’s Campus Safety personnel.

Spanish & Portuguese

The project “Fluencies: puentes y corrientes (bridges and flows) in the workplace” uses a combination of relationship building methods, such as team meetings, peer mentorship, and more formal mentorship pairings, as well as other strategies to promote individual well-being and engagement through mindfulness and process improvement workshops.

NYU DC

The project titled “NYU DC Water Cooler Talk” uses extended excursions in Washington, DC to help team members get to know more about their colleagues. Instead of having set parameters for discussions, team members are provided with a sheet of workplace culture topics, to help guide (but not dictate) the conversations. Additionally, the program concept is geared towards creating a sustainable program that can be used for future onboarding of new NYU DC staff members. NYU DC Water Cooler Talk provides the opportunity to strengthen the community at NYU DC, improve workplace culture, and encourages taking time to converse with fellow colleagues.