To quote Phil Davis and John Harris, the visionaries behind Downey Unified School District’s MADE: A Career Initiative, “What we do matters.” We were reminded of this sentiment when Downey High Class of 2018 graduate Natalie Hernandez returned to the district in search of one special person she wanted to thank for helping her get accepted into the college of her dreams. One new project in partnership with DUSD is facilitating the College Admissions Academy.

The College Admissions Academy is a pilot program that started in summer 2018 designed to support around 50 incoming high school seniors from Downey and Warren High Schools who have at minimum a 3.0 grade point average, meet the University of California (UC) “A-G” course requirements, and whose parents did not graduate from college. It was at the precursor to the College Admissions Academy, back in Fall of 2017, that Natalie met Joyce Yamaguchi. Joyce had recently retired from teaching an array of courses at Glendale Unified School District, including English Literature AP and Journalism. She now uses her vast experience to connect with, engage, and listen to students in order to support them in the process of sharing their stories when writing their personal statements for college admissions applications. Joyce only met Natalie a few times; in that time, she encouraged Natalie to share her story. After Natalie was accepted into University of California, Berkeley, she tracked Joyce down to thank her for helping her write the most compelling and authentic essays she could. In this short video, you can hear Natalie tell the story in her own words. Congratulations, Natalie! We’re honored to have been a part of your journey, and we can’t wait to see what you do next.

By Lindsay Park

It was 80 degrees or higher in Downey, where I made the regrettable decision to wear black skinny jeans, a blouse easily susceptible to signs of perspiration, and unbreathable shoes with absolutely no foot support. Coupled with the less controllable aspect of my black hair, I became what you might call a human sauna. But the heat was only my first challenge. Trying to find the meeting room where the MADE Work Experience Orientation would be held was the next.

My name is Lindsay, a rising senior at Westmont College, and a freshly minted intern at Bayha Group. In the past month, I’ve been charged with guest blogging for our site and learning the various processes of drafting and submitting a grant.

That being said, my primary focus is educating myself on the Bayha Group partnership with Downey Unified School District (DUSD) and learn about the MADE Work Experience. Here are some of my insights.

Changing student futures in Downey

The majority of DUSD students either live on or below the poverty line, with many of those students coming from minority groups. However, a four-year $6M grant awarded to the district has allowed Downey to maintain high graduation rates due to the implementation of career technical education (CTE) courses and pathways.

Giving students a robust selection of courses and pathways have equipped them in their transition out of high school and into either post secondary education or direct employment. Downey ‘MADE: A Career Initiative’ is a product of this grant. In an effort to better prepare students with a solid foundation and future success in jobs that require critical thinking and problem solving skills, a summer program was launched where students could participate in six weeks of workplace experience. It has proved a huge success, with a new record of 82 participants this summer alone.

My experience at MADE

Working remotely in San Diego, I had a murky understanding of everything I read in print and perhaps felt an indifference to the whole thing. I understood that this grant supported student futures and provided a gateway to opportunities. But that was the extent of my personal feelings or reactions, as I hadn’t worked on the grant previously, nor was I present for the inception and growth of the MADE program.

Because of this, I attended the Parent and Student Orientation to give myself some more context of the involvement Bayha Group has with the MADE Work Experience program. So, on Monday June 11, I set my GPS to Downey High School and drove 90 miles north to southeast Los Angeles County. Now, to pick up where I left off… well, once I arrived, I was completely lost.

I was aimlessly roaming in between the Downey High School buildings, in a desperate search for both the meeting room and our Outreach Manager at Bayha Group, Carmen Tovar, who I hadn’t yet met. I thought I had already failed my first assignment, but to my blessing, Carmen saved me with a phone call and directed me to where the meeting would be held. After acquainting myself with Carmen, Ben Sandoval from the Southeast Los Angeles County Workforce Development Board, and another Bayha Group intern, we settled our things and prepared for the arrival of participating students and their families.

As five o’clock approached, my flushed cheeks and sweating forehead calmed down, and students began filing into the meeting room. As the numbers grew, so did the feeling of anticipation and nervous energy; it was something akin to that ‘first day of school’ experience. It was the kind of feeling where you don’t know what to expect but were excited nevertheless.

After Carmen and Phil Davis, the Director of CTE, STEM, and Support Programs for Downey Unified School District, primed the session with a summary of the program, the meeting transitioned into the nitty gritty details of W-4s, time sheets, and other points concerning employer information.

Going over paperwork wasn’t awe inspiring and probably caused some participants to lose focus… (okay, fine, my mind drifted a little). But it was also in this moment that I, a complete stranger to the MADE Work Experience until now, saw this program come to fruition. These small details were part of a grander process that far exceeded a six week internship; it was a soft introduction to real life. I found myself witness to tangible proof of the impact of the program and the potential it was instilling within participants. My murky understanding became clearer.

The benefits of the MADE program

At this point, you may ask, “What’s the big deal about signing a W-4 or getting a part-time job for the summer? Everybody does it.”

While that may be true, the MADE Work Experience is a lot more. It’s an opportunity for access–to build a network of bridges and expand a student’s list of resources that may not otherwise be as readily available to them.

Setting students up for the future

Upon my experience at MADE, I now see why this program is an unparalleled summer experience. In the same way that I had to navigate Downey High School on my first on-the-job assignment for Bayha Group, these participants will be navigating the intertwining roads of their work environment.
In the same way that I was unprepared for the LA heat, these students will experience the road bumps we face all too frequently in both our jobs and life. In the same way that I was temporarily lost within the Downey campus, these students will come across many moments where they may feel lost in their positions and will need a helping hand.

And, in the same way that I felt proud to be a part of a process that clearly made a difference, DUSD participants will learn, grow, and become proud of their accomplishments through this impactful program. That’s a win in my book.

Photo: David Hanlon of Vista High School in Vista, California.

By June Bayha

More than 10 years ago, I had the pleasure of helping Vista Unified School District (VUSD), including teacher David Hanlon of Vista High School (VHS), acquire $2 million in federal grant funding for the Partnerships in Character Education program from 2006 to 2010. The goals and objectives of this grant program was to promote schools as caring communities, instill leadership skills and develop positive character in students, and improve academic performance. Character education is a learning process that enables people to understand, care about, and act on core ethical values such as respect, justice, civic virtue and citizenship, and responsibility for self and others. Historically, this grant program had mostly funded middle and elementary schools.

Though our grant application was not initially funded, by a stroke of luck, a district selected for funded declined the grant award and we were the next in line for the funding. We were surprised and delighted the Character Leaders Program (which was the name of VUSDs grant program) received funding to be implemented at both high schools in the district. David’s program at Vista High continues to flourish, while the other school’s program has since come and gone. I sat down with him to talk about those early days, what he’s done in his program since its grant funding ended in 2010, and how he’s sustained it all these years later.

It was great to learn more about the program and how the grant was able to bring the dream of character education at VHS to life.

JUNE:  I can’t believe that you guys are still doing the program. Has it grown over the years?

DAVID: You know, it’s interesting. It just grew each year and it was truly just phenomenal. We had a really large group of kids then, and we still have about 120 kids in the program every year.

JUNE: How do you run the program? Have you come across any challenges since your inception?

DAVID: It’s a class – an elective. This challenge has been that we used to have it one class during the day. For the fourth year now, we’ve only been able to offer it two periods after school as independent study, because not enough kids can fit it in their schedule during the day. Now it’s an independent study version. I meet with the kids who can stay that day, so it’s different every day. Sometimes I have a lot; sometimes I have a small number. It depends on the time of year.

JUNE: Does that make it hard to achieve your goals that way?

DAVID: Thankfully, we have a great group. We just kind of manage projects, and they come when they can. We have small groups on certain days. They come check in and work during lunch or when they can. It takes a lot of flexibility and dedication.

JUNE: What do you do with the students?

DAVID: There are four levels, so a kid can take it for four years, which is really cool. It’s neat to get to work with them that many years, just to see them develop and grow as people and as leaders and such, so that part’s really cool. There’s no textbook of course, because we’re the only high school that has the program. So, we read inspirational books.

Most of it’s just a lot of self-reflective work, personally, and then a lot of hands-on work. They do service learning projects. Service learning is a big part of it. They do a big project each semester. Each student has to do an individual project, and then we do a lot of large group projects. It’s like an umbrella for anything positive on campus.

JUNE: What kinds of projects do you do?

DAVID. We still do ‘Breaking Down the Walls,’ which you started. Never missed a year. We also do the Safe School Ambassadors Anti-Bullying Program and the Museum of Tolerance. We still have not missed that either.

Last week we did a performing arts fundraiser that was an all-group program. We worked with different performing arts groups on campus and put on an event called ‘Spotlight on the Arts.’ It was a performing arts benefit concert for Spot Animal Rescue. We raised almost $1300 just from the one concert.

We’re doing Dude, Be Nice Week this week. It’s a national movement but we kind of changed it to meet our needs. The idea behind it is that students choose somebody they want to celebrate and someone to express gratitude towards. Then they bake cookies, make cupcakes, make painted rocks that say ‘You Rock,’ and make crowns, and they go to the teacher or student and honor and celebrate them. They tell them why they’re grateful for them and what they appreciate about them. They also do gratitude and kindness journals. They have to practice saying an attitude of gratitude and kindness and keep those all year long. We do a lot of self-reflective work and group projects – projects that are designed to improve the campus or in the community.

JUNE: Do you have any good stories from past students?

DAVID: Yesterday I had two kids visit who are just going to be juniors in college. One of the guys is a Resident Assistant at his school, and he goes, “Oh, I can’t tell you how often I use my leadership skills working with some of the kids.”  His school kind of has a reputation as a party school, and he wants to be supportive and be there for the kids but also do what needs to be done in keeping them safe. He just mentioned yesterday that it was really beneficial, the leadership piece of our work together – how he learned to do the right thing but also be compassionate and be person-centered.

We also had one student, she was in our first year of the program. In her junior year, she went to Cambodia for a month with a program through her church. She volunteered at an orphanage for a month, and then it completely changed the trajectory of her life. She was going to be a business major before, and she came back and she majored in social work. Now, fast forward, she graduated from Oregon State and she now works at a Catholic NGO called Cabrini House in Swaziland, working with AIDs orphans and victims of violence. She’s been working there ever since. Her focus changed because of her service.

Many of our students who did their projects with kids of special needs are special ed teachers. I’ve got a number of those. It’s just neat to see how it can change their focus and career pathways.

JUNE: Your program lasted long after your grant funding dried up. What’s the key to sustaining a program like this?

DAVID: I think you have to love it. I think you have to really believe in it, and honestly, when you work to build something, and then it’s like, “Oh, sorry, it’s going away because of the money,” to me that’s just unethical. When you’ve built something that you know works for kids, you keep it.

It’s also important to have great people on board. We had a great group. We had a great team support and support from the school. It wouldn’t happen without an admin team supporting it. If I had not received support, if the district hadn’t picked it up when the grant was over, it would have gone away.

JUNE: What do you think garnered that support? Why did the district decide to pick it up once funding was over?

DAVID: I think they have to see that it works. I think that’s the big thing. They need to see that it works, that it benefits. And we were able to show that. I think even anecdotal stories were really powerful to see kids that were more engaged. It was never going to change everything completely, but it had a noticeable impact on the school, and the staff would say that as well. We had very strong staff support. The administration too. We had no naysayers, none, and I think you need to have buy-in from all the participants.

JUNE: What advice would you give to others looking to sustain their grant-funded programs?

DAVID: I would say that you can’t isolate. You have to been engaged in all areas of the school, and so that includes administration and staff, but also connect with the district admin. Invite them to programs you’re doing so they can see its impact in action. We have a new superintendent. She’s wonderful. She just was hired in January, and she came to Breaking Down the Walls. She saw it and she said, “Oh, yeah, this is a valuable piece.” Literally, she came like three weeks after she was hired. She wasn’t from here. She didn’t know, and she’s great. When you have the top leader saying “I support this” and doing so very visibly, I think that’s key.

Lessons Learned

There are some great lessons to be learned in how David, his students and his district have supported the program through the years. I’m proud to have had a role in getting this educational effort off the ground and can’t wait to see it grow and develop as the years go on.

Do you have an educational program that you’re looking to accelerate? Contact us to learn about the grant funding process and what opportunities may be out there for your efforts.

Listen to the Full Interview on our Podcast

Image: Middle school students in Downey learn design thinking. This was made possible through a California Career Pathways Trust grant.

Picture this: You submitted a grant proposal months ago and now, finally, the list of successful grant recipients has been posted online. 

By June Bayha

You anxiously scan through the alphabetical list of names over and over but can’t find your organization. You think, ‘is this a mistake?’ Then, the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach grabs hold and you realize that the grant proposal you submitted did not receive funding—that same grant that you spent months working on, weeks writing and hours formatting. You feel very disheartened, and maybe a little sick.

I can tell you that in my many years of grant writing, I have experienced this feeling. It’s not easy, and it can be difficult to overcome. However, there are some silver linings. Here are my four strategies for recovering when your grant proposal doesn’t get funded.

1. Learn from the outcome

Accept that you can learn a lot even when your grant proposals don’t get funded. Sometimes, not getting funded the first time can be a blessing in disguise because you’ll receive invaluable feedback that can help you strengthen your next proposals. Often funders will release the scores and comments from reviewers for your grant proposal. Remember that the reviewers are real people—they have accountability and have to follow a grading rubric, so don’t take the responses too personally. If the scores and comments are not readily available, request to receive them. I highly recommend using this feedback to your advantage, especially if you plan on submitting the grant for the next round (if it’s offered).

We have seen feedback get as specific as, “Incorrect codes listed for this item,” or, “Limited answer to Question #4 regarding XYZ,” or “Assertion made to follow guidelines, but not description of process for procurement.” In all of these cases, the feedback is specific and easy to address for the next round.

2. Go back to the drawing board

Gather your team and review the scores and comments together. Discuss what you learned as a result of reviewing the feedback. What would you, as a team, do differently (or better) next time? If you decide to re-submit the grant, ensure that you address all of the reviewers’ comments in the next proposal. Even if you can’t re-apply, you can still gain valuable experience from reviewing the scores and comments.

3. Repurpose the content

Don’t let all that hard work go to waste—chances are that your past grant proposals may be reused in other contexts for other funders. Plus, re-writing the grant proposal helps you to be clearer about why you’re seeking funding and what you want to accomplish. You can read more about the importance of finding your why in one of our previous posts. Remember to be persuasive and explain exactly how you intend to use the funding.

4. Practice, practice, and practice some more

Part of the art of being good at something involves going through various periods of not being good at it. In Malcolm Gladwell’s best-seller “The Tipping Point,” he purports that the secret to the success of people such as the Beatles and Bill Gates comes down to what he calls “the 10,000-Hour Rule”—the number of hours of practice that’s required “to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert.”

I take solace in this and you should too. If you’re new to grant writing, I encourage you to keep writing and get more hours of practice. With each grant proposal you write, you’ll gain more experience and you learn from each one. Anything worth doing takes time, so be patient.

Don’t be discouraged

Securing grant funding is no easy feat. Government funding, community funding, and school grants are not easily come by, otherwise everyone would be applying. So, please don’t be discouraged if your initial proposal wasn’t accepted. Try, try, and try again.

Need help finding or writing grant proposals? Get in contact with us to see how we can help guide you.

Image: High school students in Downey learned how to program the NAO robot and prepare to present what they learned to a panel of science expert judges. This was made possible by Downey’s California Career Pathways Trust grant.

Congratulations, you’ve received the formal “you won” written confirmation for your grant funding submission. This means wonderful things for your school or organization.

By June Bayha

However, finding out that your grant has been funded can bring up a range of emotions. First, you might feel euphoria and relief that all those nights of sleep deprivation were worth it. Then, after sharing the good news with your team and the rounds of congratulatory emails and phone calls with your partners, the panic sets in. You suddenly face the reality of having to actually implement what you wrote. Now what?

Here’s my advice for getting started on executing your plan while staying as cool as a cucumber.

1. Speak to your stakeholders

Early communication is key to starting off on the right footing, so take some time to notify all stakeholders. Outline the goals and expected outcomes clearly from the outset. Often a grant can’t move forward without formal approval from the School Board, so make sure everything is in order before taking the next steps.

2. Plan for implementation  

Once all the internal district leaders, departments, and the School Board are aware and comfortable to receive the grant funding, the next step is to map out a clear plan and timeline for implementation.

Consider the ‘who’ and ‘what’ you need to get the grant underway by asking yourself a series of important questions. For example:

• Who needs to be involved to get the work done?
• Do they know?
• Do you need to hire or contract with people?

If you need to hire, start that process as soon as possible. In my experience, school districts often take a long time to hire and then there’s concerns about how to sustain that position once grant funds end. It’s tricky.

If there’s no new hiring required, does the grant proposal include subcontractors to complete the work? If so, does the school district require a bidding process or can direct subcontracts be made? You may also want to check if you need general liability or other insurance, and if you need to complete background checks, including fingerprinting, for your team.

3. Check for research components

If the funding agency requires a research component, chances are the grant proposal already had to include language about protecting human subjects. If you’re unsure, you can find detailed information on the US Department of Education’s Information about Requirements page.

4. Establish clear roles and responsibilities

Grants work best when there’s a lead person who communicates regularly with the funding agency, the internal team, and any subcontractors, to monitor progress. This lead person must work hard to build trust and communicate clearly about who is responsible for what task and how they will be held accountable. I find it helpful to mutually agree on expectations, and put them down in writing, early in the process.

However, it’s not always easy. I’ve learned some valuable communication and leadership lessons throughout the grant writing and application process that I’m happy to share:

Check in regularly

Schedule regular check-in meetings with your internal team to monitor the progress of the grant work plan and timeline and address any roadblocks. Use the regular meetings to build strong positive team culture where everyone feels supported and heard.

Bring your team together

Involve all key stakeholders early in the process. Perhaps create a big kickoff event that lets everyone know the grant was funded and what was written in the grant to be implemented.

Make introductions

If there are grant subcontractors, introduce them to all key stakeholders within the school district. The subcontractors will be more effective if they build relationships with school and district staff. As a subcontractor agency, my team and I pride ourselves on making it easy for the school district to gain traction on the project by providing clear communication and thorough planning from the start. We always include the project director on our communication to school or district and other stakeholders.

Work with the willing

Let’s face it: not everyone at a school or district wants to be involved with new programs. Some view it as more work on top of their already full schedules, and some just don’t understand the value. My advice? Build a coalition of the willing. Include only those who are excited to try something new or at least willing to step outside their comfort zone and give it a chance. It’s better to work closely with a small group of highly motivated people (who will become the project champions), than to force participation of a big group of naysayers who are bitter and will likely poison the process.

Document and share the process

Share the news—both the good and the challenges—on social media, reports to funders and internally as a way to address areas of improvement. Use small wins to create a healthy dose of jealousy so that those who may have been reluctant to be early adopters, or even other districts say, “Hey, I want to do that, too.”

It’s time to get started

After much-deserved celebrating, take a deep breath, roll up your sleeves, and set your grant proposal work in motion. Tag us on social media @bayhagroup so that we can learn about your work, and we would love to hear if any of these tips helped you along the way. Good luck!

Image: Middle school students in Downey learn design thinking—made possible through a $6 million California Career Pathways Trust grant.

When people learn that I write grants for a living, I often get asked: “I want a grant; how do I start?” or “Where do I even find grants?”

By June Bayha

I’m happy to share what I know because I feel strongly that knowing how to apply for grant funding can help sustain an organization or even one’s career. Here are my seven steps to finding grant funding for your next big idea.

Step 1: Know your Why

If you’re interested in grant funding but don’t know where to start, I suggest doing some soul searching. Get some clarity on what the mission and vision of your organization is.

Start by asking yourself, “why?” I really liked Simon Sinek’s book and TED talks about Starting with Why. What are you trying to accomplish with the funding? Write it down, just as you would a vision or mission statement.

Step 2: Shop for Money

After knowing your why, the next step is what I call ‘shopping for money’. I use this expression because I love shopping. It’s fun for me, and I think of searching for grants in much the same way. It’s fun to explore what grant opportunities are available.

My shopping tool of choice is Google: Create a list of some keywords for your Google search. For me, I do a lot of grants in California and often look for funding from the state and federal departments of education. In additional to Google, I also shop for money on Grants.gov, where the U.S. government has put all available grant opportunities from every federal agency in one place.

Use the search tool to enter the keywords from your list and start shopping. I’m interested in education, so I would write that into the search engine of the site. From there, a list of grants related to education will appear. The next step is to check how far away the close date is for those grants to see if they fit my needs.

Step 3: Know the Grant Landscape

Spend some time getting to know what kinds of grants are available in your area of interest. If you click on any of the grant opportunities on Grants.gov that interest you, you can learn how often they are offered. If you missed this year’s due date on a particular grant, you can add it to your calendar as something to pursue for the upcoming year. Depending on the grant opportunity, you may get access to previous winning grant proposals to get an idea of what was funded before. This is a great way to learn how others structure their grant proposals and learn by example.

Step 4: Do Your Homework and Use the Free Resources

As you are shopping for grants, look at Grants.gov’s many free resources to help you learn about the grant process. Start with Grants 101, which includes descriptions of federal grants, grant policies, eligibility, grant terminology, grant-making agencies, grant programs, systems and reporting, and the grant lifecycle. It’s important to understand the context of federal grants and ultimately what you or your organization are signing up for, should you decide to pursue this avenue of funding.

Other resources available on Grants.gov include How to Apply for Grants and the Grant Writing Basics in their Community Blog. There’s even a YouTube channel for Grants.gov, and there is even a mobile app.

Step 5: Prepare for Eligibility

After reviewing the available resources, decide if you definitely want to apply for federal grants. If so, I suggest you register as an applicant on Grants.gov. The website states “Before applying for a funding opportunity, you need to register an account with Grants.gov. Whether you are an applicant for an organization or an individual applying for grants on your own, you only need to register one account on Grants.gov.”

After you register as an applicant, be sure to register your organization. Your organization needs to have a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and register with the System Award Management (SAM).

How do I get a DUNS number?

Call 1-866-705-5711 or visit the Dun & Bradstreet website.

How do I register with the System Award Management (SAM)?

Go to https://www.sam.gov and complete the online registration process. You also need the authorizing official of the organization to send a notarized letter to SAM and an Employer Identification Number (EIN).

Getting the SAM registration may take up to two weeks, so plan accordingly to meet your submission deadline. You must have both the DUNS and SAM registration to submit a federal grant with Grants.gov.

Step 6: Jump In and Write the Grant

So you’ve successfully completed the first five steps and now find yourself ready to jump in and write the grant. Go back and review your why. Let that why help motivate and inspire you during the writing process.  

Grant writing gets easier the more you do it. Perhaps the hardest step is the first one, so take deep breaths and just start. Create a workable timeline, keeping in mind the grant due date. Here are some grant writing tips that may be helpful.

Step 7: Support One Another

I want to be transparent about my why for grant writing. My motivation, my why, is about equity and access to opportunities. To me, communities and school districts should not be excluded from grant funding because they can’t afford grant writers. This why motivated me to write a lot of grants pro bono for almost 20 years. I only got paid when a grant was successful. In writing the grant proposal, we included services that could be completed by me or my team should the grant be funded. These services included data collection, writing reports to the funder, serving as evaluators, and project management services. Often, school districts did not have staff readily available to do these grant-funded tasks, so it was a win-win for the school districts or communities and for my team.

As we build Bayha Group, I want to help more people learn how to write grants and support both organizations and individuals with innovative ideas to improve our society. But, I need your help in this endeavor. I want our blogs to be helpful to you. Please share your comments about how we can support your efforts. These comments will help inform our future blogs and perhaps other resources we can offer.

Image: Walt Disney Studios

A Wrinkle in Time represents a positive disruption amidst the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements of what is possible in the workplace, whether in movie making or in any business.

By June Bayha

I’m on the countdown to March 9 — the day A Wrinkle in Time opens in theaters. Why am I so excited about this film? Yes, I love the book and read it aloud with our kids. Yes, I geeked out and slept overnight inside the Anaheim Convention Center for Disney’s D23 Expo to be among the first fans to see a preview of A Wrinkle in Time in July 2017.

Yes, I was there when everyone in Hall D23 jumped up, screaming with excitement after that preview. Director Ava DuVernay was introduced on stage accompanied by Oprah Winfrey (Mrs. Which), Mindy Kaling (Mrs. Who), Reese Witherspoon (Mrs. Whatsit), Chris Pine (Mr. Murry), and Storm Reid (Meg Murry).

But the overriding reason I am excited about this film is because of the behind-the-scenes stories I learned that make this film a success already. A Wrinkle in Time represents a positive disruption amidst the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements of what is possible in the workplace, whether in movie making or in any business. The joy, love, and enthusiasm for this film by the director and actors were contagious at D23. It was clear on that day in Hall D23 and from the interviews we at Bayha Group conducted with crew, this film is special.

Read the full article on Medium.com >

By June Bayha

I’ve been involved in grant writing for many years now, and while I’ve certainly honed my craft and garnered millions of dollars of grant funding for my clients along the way, it wasn’t always easy – especially in the beginning.

There are a lot of nuances to writing a persuasive and well-received grant proposal, and some of those nuances take a while to pick up. In my early days, I would have loved to have an experienced pro guiding me along the way, keeping me from making common mistakes and pointing me toward the most effective (and successful) proposal prose possible.

Are you new to grant writing and want to be as effective as possible? Let me be that guide. Here are the 10 things I wish someone had told me at the outset:

1. Read every word of the Request for Proposal (RFP) or Request for Application (RFA) over and over again

In the grant writing world, one quick read through of the guidelines won’t cut it. Take time to reread and highlight the requirements and points needed in each section of the proposal, as well as any other details regarding the funder’s preferences. Failing to meet the basic requirements of the RFP or RFA will likely count your application out from the start.

2. Carefully review the eligibility requirements: does your organization qualify to apply?

While it may be tempting to let your enthusiasm for the grant funding opportunity take hold, make sure you are, in fact, eligible to apply for the grant in question. If there’s any doubt, check out if there is a bidder’s conference or webinar where you can ask questions of the funder. Write down and ask your question(s) during these opportunities to get clarity before investing too much time in writing a proposal.

3. Pay close attention to all the rules for the grant proposal.

Do you have a high attention to detail? Because, well, you’ll need it. Every grant program is different, so go through the rules with a fine-toothed comb. There are often small, seemingly insignificant details that may disqualify your proposal if you fail to comply. The examples that I’ve seen include exceeding the number of allowed pages, using the wrong font size, setting your margin size too-small or too-wide, using the wrong paragraph spacing, paginating incorrectly, and failing to include a table of contents.

4. Check if letters of support or reference letters are required.

Not all grant programs require supporting letters, but many do. If yours does, consider writing a sample or draft letter to your contacts, so they have a better idea of what to include in their support letters on your behalf. People are busy, so make sure you give your referees as much notice as possible, and set reminders to follow-up if you haven’t received what you need in a timely manner. The more you guide them now, the more likely they’ll deliver a product that really works in your favor.

5. If possible, complete the budget and work plan before writing the narrative.

It sounds backward, but this will help you be more clear about exactly what you’re proposing and how much it will cost the funder, and ultimately, it makes writing the narrative a lot easier. The narrative, work plan and budget all need to support and validate one another and the numbers need to match, so do all three in tandem and up front.

6. Use the text from the RFP to create a grant proposal outline.

When you’re ready to start writing, copy the actual text from the RFP including all of the required sections and point distribution. You want this information to be readily available as you write so that you may completely address what the funder is requesting or looking for. Use it as a sort of outline as you go about writing your proposal. Only delete a point or requirement after you know you have fully addressed it – in the right place, at the right time – in your proposal.

7. Remember, there are scoring rubrics and real people reading your funding proposal.

You can bet those people are going to read your application quickly and with that scoring rubric right alongside. Try to make their job as easy as possible by labeling sections that match the RFP and directly answering or addressing what’s requested. Don’t make the reader scour your document for information – at least not if you want your proposal to be seriously considered.

8. Ensure the people who need to sign off on the grant proposal are available well in advance of the deadline.

There’s nothing worse than scrambling for approvals and signatures on the day of the due date, so meet with your team early and often throughout the grant writing process. Always fill out all of the required forms and take note of the people who need to read, approve and sign off the proposal application. Set aside time in their calendar to meet, discuss the proposal and get approvals weeks in advance, if possible.

9. Assume all grant proposal deadlines are non-negotiable.

This one’s black and white. If the guidelines say the proposal is due at 5 p.m. EST on December 15, it is. If your proposal arrives at 5:01 p.m., it’s late and will not be reviewed. Assume there is no wiggle room and submit your grant application early.

10. Grants are a great way to get other people to pay for what you or your organization want to do.

But remember, they don’t have to fund your project. Be persuasive, tell them precisely how you’ll use their funds, and follow their instructions to the letter. Make them want to give you that grant – and be glad they did.

The best way to ensure your organization gets the funding it needs is to seek help from a professional grant writing team. Contact us today to learn more about our grant writing services and how we can help.

DIPTI – perhaps you’re familiar with this acronym.  Middle school students from all four of Downey’s campuses will become experts in DIPTI: Design, Ideation, Prototyping, Testing, and Implementation.  Whether you’re making a paper airplane or designing a creative solution to a problem with a deeper impact, the process is the same.

Approximately 5 students from each campus – Doty, Griffiths, Stauffer, and Sussman – gathered at the Columbia Memorial Space Center on Friday, September 8th to hold the inaugural meeting of this year’s innovation challenge.  From now, until the new year, these students will come together two Fridays each month to develop a challenge of their own.

Come February of 2018, just a few short months from now, these middle school students will have devised a worthy challenge for their peers.  This is an awesome opportunity for Downey’s students to gain insight into the design mindset and how it can be used to successfully overcome challenges, find creative solutions, and gain insight into the world we live in.

Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting project taking place at DUSD.

*Mission: IMPACT is an activity brought to DUSD by Carrot, a para-education organization that works with schools to grow student involvement and agency.