Show and Tell Using Data and Language to Write Powerful Grant Proposals

1. Show and Tell Using Data and Language to Write Powerful Grant Proposals Alison Glastein, MEd Gabi Lockhart, MPH

2. Workshop Agenda • Introductions • Grant writing lessons-learned • Telling your story • Anecdotal evidence • Tangible goals and objectives • Showing your story • Accessing data sources • Q&A

3. Introductions • Freedman Public Health • Affiliate of Freedman HealthCare, LLC consulting firm • Expertise to nonprofits, health organizations, and academic institutions • Strengthen health improvement strategies • First-hand experience implementing prevention, population health, and planning initiatives • Work at the state and community level

4. Introductions • Grant Writing Team • Education and public health • Public and private funders • Foundations • Corporations • Federal/State • Additional Services • Project Management • Strategic Planning • Evaluation/Assessment

5. Grant Writing Lessons-Learned • It is more than just writing • Involves strategically positioning organization and/or program • Critical first step is crystallizing idea, then filling in the details • Requires specificity to ensure reader understands vision for program or organization • Customization to funder or funding stream

6. Telling Your Story • What do we mean by “Tell”? • Provide evidence • Offer details • Suggest solutions • Cite sources • Who, what, where, when, how, and why

7. Telling Your Story Example 1: Many children in southeast Michigan receive free or reduced priced meals in school, even more than the national rate. Most of these children are living in poverty, with a large number of parents facing unemployment. Not surprisingly, a significant number of these children are not receiving adequate nutrition.

8. Telling Your Story Example 2: In southeast Michigan, more than 300,000 children receive free or reduced-price meals in school. According to Kids Count in Michigan, released in 2014, more than 48% of school-aged children are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch. To be eligible for reduced-priced lunches, kids must live at 185 percent of poverty, or about $41,000 a year for a family of four. Out of the Michigan children who receive free or reduced-price school lunch, 42 percent live in Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, or Wayne County. More than one in three Michigan children lives in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment. In fact, 59 percent of Detroit’s children live in poverty; more than double the national rate (23%). According to Children’s Defense Fund (2014), more than 3 in 10 Michigan children relied on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to meet their nutritional needs on an average month in FY2011.Only 11.8 percent of Michigan children receiving a free and reduced-price lunch during the school year participated in the Summer Food Service Program – ranking Michigan 20th of 50 states in ensuring that children have adequate summer nutrition.

9. Telling Your Story Example 1: The ABC organization has been serving hungry children in Michigan since 1989 and our government funding has been reduced. We have had to cut back on personnel and fear that our operations may be in jeopardy. Without foundation support, we can not continue to do our work.

10. Telling Your Story Example 2: The APCD organization has been serving hungry children in Michigan, and the need continues to increase. With the community demand even greater, recent government funding reductions mean that children are going hungry every night. Without foundation support, we cannot continue to meet the growing need to provide food to needy children and families through community based food pantries, nutritional assessment and education, and partnerships with schools and churches.

11. Anecdotal Evidence • Adds depth, passion, emotion • Helps reader envision program or organization from someone who experienced it • Examples • Observations • Success stories • Quotes from stakeholders

12. Anecdotal Evidence “We lived in my mom’s car for a while. It was horrible. We would go to a parking lot and sleep there for the night. When people would pull up next to us, they would point and stare. I hated it.”

13. Anecdotal Evidence “The moment I came to ORGANIZATION, I felt safe. I found a place where I could interact with people who made me feel like a better person, people who have goals and know where they want to go."

14. Tangible Goals and Objectives • SMART Objectives • Specific • Measurable • Attainable • Relevant/Realistic • Time-specific

15. Tangible Goals and Objectives • SMART Objectives • Specific • Who and what of program • One action verb only • Use verbs that document action • The greater the specificity, the greater the measurability

16. Tangible Goals and Objectives • SMART Objectives • Measurable • How much change is expected • Quantify the amount of change • Provides a reference point from which a change can be measured

17. Tangible Goals and Objectives • SMART Objectives • Attainable • Within a given time frame • With available program resources

18. Tangible Goals and Objectives • SMART Objectives • Relevant/Realistic • Accurately address the scope of problem • Program steps can be implemented within specific time frame

19. Tangible Goals and Objectives • SMART Objectives • Time-specific • Provide a time frame indicating when the objective will be measured or met

20. Tangible Goals and Objectives SMART or NOT SMART? Teachers will be trained on the selected scientifically based health education curriculum.

21. Tangible Goals and Objectives SMARTER? By year two of the project, LEA staff will have trained 75% of the health education teachers in the school district on the selected scientifically based health education curriculum.

22. Tangible Goals and Objectives EVEN SMARTER? By year two of the project, Brockton School District Administrative staff will have trained 75% of the middle school health education teachers on the selected scientifically based health education curriculum, The Great Body Shop.

23. Tangible Goals and Objectives SMART or NOT SMART? 90% of youth participants will participate in lessons on assertive communication skills.

24. Tangible Goals and Objectives SMARTER? By the end of the school year, district health educators will have delivered lessons on assertive communication skills to 90% of youth participants in the middle school HIV-prevention curriculum.

25. Tangible Goals and Objectives EVEN SMARTER? By the end of the FY2015 school year, Brockton School District health educators will have delivered two one-hour lessons on assertive communication skills to 90% of youth participants in the middle school HIV-prevention curriculum.

26. Showing Your Story • What do we mean by “show”? • Maps • Graphs • Pie Charts • Tables • Images of clients • Before and after pictures

27. Showing Your Story

28. Showing Your Story

29. Showing Your Story

30. Showing Your Story

31. Showing Your Story

32. Accessing Data Sources • Example 1: US Census- Demographic • How many people live here? • How has the number of people changed? • How old or young are the people? • What race and ethnicity are they? • How well educated are the people? • What languages do they speak? • How many single parents? • How many households are low-income?

33. Accessing Data Sources • Example 2: MassCHIP • City, County or regional level health data • Health Insurance • Health Equity/Disparities • Risk Factors • Diseases (Cancer, Asthma, Diabetes) • Hospitalizations • Weapon related injuries

34. Accessing Data Sources • Example 3: MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education • School-District Profiles • Student enrollment data • Race • Low Income • Students with Disabilities • English Language Learner • MCAS Scores • Class Size

35. Questions and Answers ?

36. For More Information Freedman HealthCare www.freedmanhealthcare.com Freedman Public Health www.freedmanpublichealth.com 29 Crafts Street, Suite 470 Newton, MA 02458 617-243-9509