The First Steps byHannah McDade
Our most recent class period was spent assigning our members to agency partners. The assigning committee had everyone write down their top three desired agency partners and matched us all to the best of their ability. Waiting to find out what agency we would spend our semester working with was both exciting and nerve racking. For many of us, if not all of us this is our first ever experience working with grants and that creates a sense of uncertainty.
Our potential agency partners all sent in letters of intent to the class email which were reviewed and then given to the assigning team. While the assigning team was working we discussed other class topics such as peer reviewing and reviewing proposals. At the end of class everyone’s agency assignment was put on the board along with our class partner.
Me and my partner were matched with Open Doors, a thermal homeless shelter open from November through March. The next step is to let our agency partners know that their letters of intent have been accepted and together we will be making a grant proposal! This step is the most exciting so far because we get to tell these wonderful agencies that they are a part of this process and could potentially receive a $5,000 grant!