To Jennifer Coile, grant writing is not magic.
That’s why she and other Hollister residents have been perplexed
at the lack of success by a firm hired in late 2001 to write grants
for the city.
”
There’s no mystery to it,
”
said Coile, who earned a master’s degree in planning from
Harvard University.
”
If you can write good English, you could be a fabulous grant
writer.
”
To Jennifer Coile, grant writing is not magic.
That’s why she and other Hollister residents have been perplexed at the lack of success by a firm hired in late 2001 to write grants for the city.
“There’s no mystery to it,” said Coile, who earned a master’s degree in planning from Harvard University. “If you can write good English, you could be a fabulous grant writer.”
After she moved to Hollister in mid-2001, Coile responded to the city’s request for a proposal (RFP) and interviewed with a panel of city officials to be the consultant. One other person also responded to the city’s RFP.
But following that group’s recommendation, the City Council eventually awarded the contract to a firm from the Bay Area, Randall Funding and Development, which has since garnered one grant worth $26,000.
The problem, said Coile, who insisted she is not bitter over losing the contract, was the city’s approach – along with a willingness to enter what she called a “wacky” agreement.
That two-year term expired Nov. 5. But Randall Development has apparently abided by a clause in the contract that guaranteed grants only upon specific requests from city department heads. That amounted to 15 sent applications, 10 of which came from the Fire Department.
Early this week, the city received notice a $350,000 grant application was declined from the federal government to pay for Hollister’s new fire engine – the third consecutive year for the denial. Federal officials reasoned the city didn’t show enough financial need, according to city leaders.
The city, however, is squirming financially. It has dipped into its General Fund reserve annually since 1999 and is considering a 40-person reduction of its workforce by July.
“I suspect we applied for the grant before we fully understood the city’s financial situation,” Shaddox said.
Coile claimed the city in general has not adequately prepared itself for grant applications.
When she interviewed for the job, Coile was surprised at the outdated contents in both the city’s General Plan and Capital Improvements Program (CIP), she said.
The General Plan had last been updated in 1995, and the CIP sometime in the late 1990s, according to Public Works Director Clint Quilter.
However, Hollister could be on the right track, Coile pointed out.
The Council approved a new five-year CIP in late 2002, and the city hopes to finish updating the General Plan in four or five months. She also mentioned the Parks Masterplan – updated in mid 2002 – as a good tool for grant writing.
Shaddox acknowledged that such documents help the city depict its level of need.
“They (granting agencies) like to help people who are helping themselves,” Shaddox said.
The city’s ability to obtain grants lacked relative to other area communities for years, which prompted the hiring of Randall Funding in 2001, officials concede.
Previous to that, pursuit of grants was left up to individual department heads, according to Finance Director Barbara Mulholland. She did not have figures on the number of awarded grants.
The City of Gilroy, on the other hand, has experienced “very good success” in recent years – receiving grants from several state and federal agencies, such as the Department of Justice, according to Gilroy City Manager Jay Baksa.
Its department heads pursue grants, but Gilroy also hires grant writers for more complex applications, he said.
At some point, Shaddox said, the city will address its strategy for pursuit of grants. Though the number of offered funding opportunities – which snowballed in the late 1980s – has significantly declined in recent years, he said.
Meanwhile, the city has not given up on Randall Funding – six applications are pending. And Hollister will continue subscribing to mailing lists that specify availability of grants.
Clearly, though, Shaddox said, especially with fewer grant opportunities out there, the city should not rely on alternative funding sources to support its infrastructure or programs.
“There’s a common misconception, the solution for every problem is to go out and get a grant,” he said. “That’s certainly not the case. It’s not a good idea for agencies to rely on that future grant to do a project.”
