The Quality Education for Minorities Network will create a resource and project center to build capacity -- in as many as possible of the approximately 250 predominantly minority institutions of higher learning in the United States -- to respond to and compete effectively for external grant funds for the strengthening of participation by minorities in the fields of science, mathematics, and engineering education. QEM will establish on- and off-campus links with such institutions to help them benefit fully from the programs of the National Science Foundation, in particular the Education and Human Resources directorate. Over a period of three years, campus-by-campus needs assessments will be done; workshops for proposal development and project management will be conducted; and collaborative links will be forged between institutions with similar or complementary characteristics. Various kinds of communication systems will be put in place within and between institutions, and between the institutions and QEM: for example, E-mail, electronic bulletin boards, document sharing, an 800 number at QEM, a Clearinghouse of grants-related materials, and access to federal databases on science and math education and minority education. For institutions presently receiving support from the NSF, the goal is to improve proposal and project efficiency and to increase the rate of successful proposals. For institutions that are not presently NSF grantees, the goal is to move them into the grantee category.
