Selection Criteria

Applicants must submit a narrative that addresses each of the selection criteria (Significance, Impact, and Influence), responding where appropriate to the questions under each criterion.

Discussion of each of the three selection criteria should be a maximum of 850 words. Applicants will be judged on the following three criteria:

Who can apply?
Individuals, nonprofit and community organizations, private businesses, religious groups, and government entities, agencies, or officials operating in the United States. The goal of the E Pluribus Unum Prizes is to recognize existing immigrant integration initiatives that meet the selection criteria set out below. The awards are not intended to support the launch of new initiatives.

MPI staff, J.M. Kaplan Fund staff, and Advisory Board members and the organizations employing them are not eligible to apply.

Selection process details.

SIGNIFICANCE: How significant is the issue, population group, program, or practice that your initiative addresses?

Questions to Consider:
• What is the concern that your initiative seeks to address or the need it seeks to meet? What made you or your organization decide that this was an important enough issue to get involved in?
• How is your initiative critical to strengthening relationships between native-born and foreign-born Americans, and/or helping immigrants and their children to succeed in the United States?
• Given other efforts in your community, state, and/or field to address immigrant integration and success, what makes your contribution especially valuable? How does your initiative compare or fit with other work in the area of immigrant integration and its various subfields?

IMPACT: How effective has your initiative been in achieving significant immigrant integration outcomes?

Questions to Consider:
• What did you set out to accomplish? To what degree did you accomplish it? How do you know?
• What specific and measurable results can you provide to show individual, family, or broader community outcomes that resulted from your efforts?
• To what extent has the initiative resulted in changes in the policies and practices of organizations or institutions in your community? In relationships among members of your community? In other factors that affect immigrant integration?

INFLUENCE: To what extent is the initiative likely to influence the efforts of others?

Questions to Consider:
• Has your initiative influenced others in your own community or field or in other communities or fields? How?
• What is your assessment of whether your initiative could be replicated? What would it take and what kinds of organizations or communities would be best suited to do so?
• What core elements of your approach are particularly innovative and/or effective? Why would people want to adopt these rather than other approaches?
• How long has your initiative been in operation? Do you foresee that your initiative will still be in operation two years from now? Five years from now? What do you think are the obstacles to sustaining your initiative and how do you plan to handle them?