The office of Contra Costa County District Five Supervisor Federal Glover will be holding a free grant writing workshop here on campus in Room-109 on Wednesday Oct. 3 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The event will be hosted and sponsored by Glover —the goal of this workshop is to look for creative ways to obtain funding from nonprofit organizations, community groups and government departments in the midst of today’s economic difficulties.
Participants will also receive an overview of American Philanthropy, while discussing the importance of the different types of foundations and grantor agencies. Attendees will also be able to learn about the research process and basic skills necessary for writing winning proposals, as well as the development of organizational protocol for administration and grant budgeting. “Federal Glover sponsors it, while the college provides the facilities,” said Mary Oleson, senior administrative secretary and professional development coordinator. “[He] brings together local non-profits and people from the community, and guides them on how to writes grants. [It’s] very informative.”
Ed Diokno, a representative from Federal Glover’s Pittsburg office, noted that these workshops were first put together in 2007 as a kind of a safety net to recruit nonprofit agencies in an effort to secure new monies even before the economic downturn a pursuit that became even more vital when the housing market crashed. “We were having difficulties funding projects,” said Diokno. “We knew we had to go elsewhere to find funding around the Bay Area.”
The workshop will also feature a speech from United Way of the Bay Area’s Laura Escobar. Escobar, the Director of Safety Net Programs, will speak about funding requirements of the United Way of the Bay Area, one of California’s oldest granting agencies. David Frazier, supervisor Glover’s chief of staff and a professor in the Master of Public Administration program at California State University, East Bay, will also be on hand for a presentation.
Those seeking to attend the event may need to keep in mind that the use of any video or audio recording during the presentations is prohibited. Diokno gave greater insight into what brought all these groups together. “A lot of the non-profits did not have the skills to write the grants,” continued Diokno. “David Frazier has the knowledge and information that would be valuable to these nonprofit organizations. He is able to share the details of what these foundations are looking for, and how to write a good grant application.”
The results of these free grant-writing workshops have proven to be extremely rewarding and beneficial. A similar event was held earlier this year in Hercules, and drew 120 participants.
“They have proved to be very popular,” said Diokno. “We first started doing these once a year, but due to a great demand, for the last three years, we’ve now done them twice a year. Eventually, the government took after what we were doing, and as a result, a lot of government agencies are doing similar workshops to raise funds.”
Glover has served on the board of supervisors since 2000, and has served as president since 2004. He oversees all of district five, which spans the north shore of Contra Costa County, including Hercules, Pinole, Martinez, Pittsburg, and Antioch. During his time in office, Glover has sought to improve the quality of life for residents in his district by implementing several ordinances and county services, one of those being the initiation of youth conferences, giving youths an opportunity to express their views to community leaders for the purpose of their careers and education.
Registrations for the Oct. 3 workshop may fill up quickly, so those interested in attending and are unable to might have to wait until the next grant-writing session, which is scheduled for February. Those who are currently on the waiting list will automatically be added to the front of the list for February’s workshop. Further registration information can be found at http://ca-contracostacounty.civicplus. com/forms.aspx?FID=133. For more information contact Glover’s office at 335-8200.