Illinois ResourceNet: The Place-based Model Approach
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1) The document discusses Illinois ResourceNet's (IRN) place-based strategy of delivering training and technical assistance at the regional and community level to help organizations develop federal grant proposals. 2) IRN has found that this place-based approach is efficient and that over half of the proposals they have helped submit came from three regions where they have worked. 3) By working with existing regional and community partnerships, IRN can help match local goals and strategies with current and upcoming federal grant opportunities to fund implementation of local plans.
Illinois ResourceNet: The Place-based Model Approach
- 1. Detailing The Place-based approachIllinois ResourceNet
- 3. What Has IRN Learned?
- 4. Prime Condition for Federal Grant DevelopmentTraining and TA are most likely to yield federal grants when delivered at the intersection of organizational readiness and federal opportunity.
- 5. A process that yields ongoing resultsA unit of TA resources can generate the most value in federal grant development when one proposal can lead to another … and another … in a process of continuous proposal building. Proposal success is cumulative, especially when carried out in collaborative networks where data can be shared, partnerships can be forged, learning can take place, different program areas can be linked, and diverse resources can be leveraged.
- 6. Premises Behind the Place-Based StrategyFirst-rate community and regional (or place-based) planning creates the best conditions for continuous grant development in linked, multiple program areasSome organizations can succeed on their own in the federal grants process, but all organizations are more likely to succeed routinely when working in partnerships.Partnerships are most likely to form and be sustained in placesThe best way for Illinois to move up in the federal grants game is to play the game through great regional and community partnerships – the cumulative opportunities for federal grant development can’t be created at such a scale any other way
- 7. IRN’s experience supports the place-based strategyIt’s efficient to work in place: Over half of the proposals IRN has helped to submit originated in three regions: Crawford County area, Henderson County area, and SouthlandRegional planning organizations are already “in place,” but IRN provides the valued-added, “laser focus” on federal grants that can support the projects that emerge from their plansIRN fills a vitally important niche in the place-based development process through its focus on, and expertise in, federal grants
- 8. Regional and Community Plans Provide a Matrix for Links with Federal Grant OpportunitiesThe strategies on the left are among those contained in a Quality of Life Plan in one of Chicago’s community areas. The federal programs across the top are described in the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance. Some matches are very direct; others are indirect in that the federal program’s intent corresponds to some of the local strategy’s intent.
- 9. The value of place-based TAAn investment of resources in TA is most likely to lead to continuous proposal building at the points where readiness meets opportunity; this occurrence can be exploited when the TA provider is well positioned within regional and community networks. Such positioning enables the TA provider to see current and future opportunities & the partnerships that can form to capitalize on them.
- 10. IRN Value-Added Role in Place-Based Planning Whether at the level of planning councils or in entities that do their own planning (municipalities, schools, workforce development boards, for example), IRN provides a vitally important service by being the entity with the continuous focus and the expertise about federal grant possibilities. When positioned in place, IRN TA and training can match local goals and strategies to current and coming federal grant opportunities. Such grants can fund the implementation of local strategies.Local planning cycleIRN Training & TAFederal Grants
- 11. The approachAt the community or regional level, propose a one-two-year contract in which IRN would work with existing collaboratives to deliver (not write, but shepherd through intensive TA) at least six federal grant proposals with a combined value far in excess of a $80k-$100k contract. Funders: community foundations, local governments, and state agencies.
- 12. IRN has also learned that …
- 13. Although most workshops have not led them directly to grants, most participants in IRN training value highly the information and skill-building that they receive. IRN’s services demystify the federal grants process and show in practical terms what it takes to be successful in it. There is a hunger for more knowledge and skill-building.
- 14. A Proposed Response for Those Most Hungry: IRN’s Membership-based Federal Grants AcademyeAccess NewslettereAlerts about grant opportunitiesSignificant discounts on registration for IRN workshops and conferenceSpecial training and networking events at IRN annual conferenceSpecial webinars with federal grants experts
- 15. A Menu of Offerings for Non-MemberseAccess newsletter subscriptionWorkshops (fee-based - where possible, subsidized by agency or foundation)Stand-alone offeringsOfferings in clusters in particular program/policy areasOn-line seminars (fee-based – where possible, subsidized)Annual conference (fee-based – where possible, subsidized)Specialized TA (contract-based)
- 16. The TestWould these participants in an IRN workshop on brownfield grants see enough value in IRN membership benefits to subscribe, and at what level? Would their employers?
- 17. We’ll continue to test the watersListening sessions and individual meetings with clients will help us gauge precisely what they value most from IRN and for what services they or their organizations would be willing to pay.