Student Success and Workforce Development drive the mission of TBR, the College System of Tennessee. In 2025, the Tennessee Board of Regents adopted a strategic plan to guide the pursuit of this mission: TBR 2035: Building Tomorrow's College. This plan rests on the system's enduring pillars: its open-access mission, its focus on postsecondary completion, and its commitment to workforce development.
The TBR Success & Innovation (S&I) program supports TBR's mission by helping colleges develop new strategies to improve student outcomes. Since the program's origins in 2008, S&I has supported efforts to improve teaching and learning, reduce barriers to postsecondary success, and connect students with economic opportunity.
S&I Competitive Grants help colleges turn promising ideas into better outcomes for students. S&I Competitive Grants, awarded to colleges annually, provide a mechanism for strategic investments through which TBR can mobilize the knowledge, creativity, and commitment of college faculty and staff. Competitive grants provide colleges with resources and time to test promising ideas and implement effective practices.
Upcoming Grant Opportunities
More information about S&I grant opportunities can be found on the TBR Grants Portal.
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S&I Block Grants
Block grants are designed to provide direct financial support to technical, community, and locally governed universities in support of scholarships, completion grants, student recruitment and retention, and student success programmatic efforts. Each institution must supply a proposed plan to the Office of Research and Innovation on an annual basis on how the institution intends to spend funds and provide an end-of-year annual report on program expenditures.
Competitive Grants
TBR invites colleges to submit proposals for college-led innovations that advance one of the three Strategic Priorities outlined in TBR 2035: Building Tomorrow's College.
The FY2027-2028 Request for Proposals (RFP) is available in the TBR Grants Portal. It also provides information about grant processes, proposal requirements, applicant resources, and the questions each project proposal must address.
TBR community colleges and Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCATs) are eligible to apply for S&I Competitive Grants through this RFP.
Colleges must submit completed proposals through the TBR Grants Portal no later than 11:59 pm Central Time on March 1, 2027. Awards will be announced in April 2027, and projects will begin in July 2027.