Over half of the students who are now enrolled in post-secondary education in the United States attend community colleges, with enrollments expected to increase and to continue to draw on populations with exceptionally varied cultural backgrounds.

Students at community colleges frequently take

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courses and earn certificates and degrees that are tailored to their vocational needs and career advancement, as well as their personal interests.

Yet the essential role of humanities instruction at these institutions is sometimes overlooked, despite the fact that many students� only serious study of the humanities takes place in two-year college classrooms.

For the most part only slender resources are devoted to humanities instruction at community colleges.

Furthermore, community college humanities faculty carry very full teaching loads, often on part-time or adjunct appointments.

They therefore have few opportunities for professional development.

These factors combine to make it hard to create and sustain a strong, shared intellectual community within institutions and between them.

NEH invites proposals for a cooperative agreement to develop and administer a nationwide project to advance the role of the humanities at community colleges through curriculum and faculty development focused on the theme of Bridging Cultures.This agency-wide initiative encourages exploration of the ways in which cultures from around the globe, as well as the myriad subcultures within America�s borders, have influenced American society.

With the aim of revitalizing intellectual and civic life through the humanities, NEH welcomes proposals that enhance understanding of diverse countries, peoples, and cultural and intellectual traditions worldwide.

Applications might also investigate how Americans have approached and attempted to surmount seemingly unbridgeable cultural divides, or examine the ideals of civility and civic discourse that have informed this quest.