Community organizers from neighborhoods across the city are already making efforts towards improving their communities. What is often missing is the connection between the people aiming to make an impact in their community and the organizations that want to fund them.
In an effort to empower community members to gain the skills and resources they need to receive funding, the Port Covington Development team partnered with the United Way of Central Maryland (UWCM) to introduce a grant writing workshop for community organizers from the SB7 Coalition.
For more than 90 years, UWCM has been helping to improve the lives of those in the communities they serve, and now their primary focus is to “provide the building blocks of a self-sufficient life through programs and initiatives across central Maryland.”
Over 20 participants from SB7 communities attended a two-day workshop held at United Way’s office in Montgomery Park Business Center to learn how to identify grant opportunities, strategies for completing and submitting grant applications, how to better understand what funders are looking for, as well as the resources that can help to develop stronger grant proposals. They also went through the process of applying for grants that are currently available in Baltimore.
Alicia Wilson, who serves as the Head of Impact Investments for Port Covington said, “The vision behind having UWCM as a partner was to help to provide proper training to community members, and to encourage them to expand upon what they’re already doing for their communities with grants that are tailored to their needs.”
UWCM will offer on-going technical support to the group of workshop participants to help them to hone their skills, measure their progress and provide continued education through the grant writing process.
