As is the nature of the BOCES, Questar III’s Grant Writing Service provides a partnership approach to seek out and apply for funding opportunities on behalf of participating school districts. These grants often result in the district having the ability to create new programs thus expanding the educational opportunities for students.
Successful grant writing requires expertise, experience and persistence – all of which is offered through this service. In fact, in the 2013-2014 school year the service developed more than 26 separate grant proposal for projects as short as one year to as long as five. These proposals lead to $5,904,893 being awarded to school districts in the BOCES.
Experienced grant writers specialize in state, federal and Title 1 grants. The grant service seeks out opportunities and works with districts to examine their needs and conceptualize the design of the program.
“Questar III’s grant writers have been collaborative, working with our staff to flesh out how best to portray our needs, and provide great follow through once funded to support reporting requirements to the funders,” said Catskill CSD Superintendent Kathleen Farrell. “I can’t imagine another way to manage this type of activity more efficiently and effectively.”
According to Jacqueline Johnson, grant research specialist, the service is not new, but it now places greater emphasis on partnerships and networking that will help schools sustain programs that receive funding. When districts can demonstrate they have partners in the community they serve – be it other districts or businesses – they have a better chance of being awarded a grant.
Recently Questar III formed a consortium of five districts and Tech Valley High School to apply for a New York State’s Virtual Advanced Placement (VAP) Program. The consortium was awarded $534,261 in Race to the Top funds to develop online and blended courses Advanced Placement courses.
Taconic Hills CSD Superintendent Neil Howard said they couldn’t have received the grant on their own, as many grants are designed for large or needy districts.
“We couldn’t have met the qualifications of the grant unless we partnered with Questar III,” said Howard. “I am very thankful we had the opportunity to participate. Clearly the grant was well written and it was very little work for us – Questar III did the bulk of the work and gets credit for the heavy lifting.”
Districts can purchase the Co-Ser, as Catskill CSD does, or they can choose to utilize specific service areas. For example, some districts have in-house grant writers and use Questar III’s service as a way to learn about available grants. Other times, districts may already have a grant they know they qualify for but they utilize the service to design and write the proposal.
Rensselaer City School District was also part of the consortium receiving the VAP grant. Thanks to the grant, students in the district are now able to take AP courses, something they did not have the opportunity to do before. The district also successfully utilized Questar III’s Grant Writing Service for the Teacher Leader Effectiveness grant and the Teaching is the Core grant.
“Whenever grants come up I take advantage of the service because we simply don’t have the time or people to pull a competitive grant together,” said Rensselaer CSD Superintendent Sally Shields. “Questar III has the resources our district looks for to dedicate to grant writing.”
Districts that purchase the Co-Ser are treated as “preferred customers” and are first in line when an RFP is released. Districts in the Co-Ser know they have a grant writer who is prepared to start work immediately. This is important because of the small window applicants have to submit a proposal.
Farrell said the grant service has provided her district with resources it needs.
“The grant writing co-ser is invaluable. Our district could not afford to purchase high-quality grant writing services without it and we do not have the in-house staff available that highly technical grant applications require,” she said. “We have the ideas and the ability to carry out the work but we need to get the application together in a manner that will be successfully funded and the Questar III service has proven to be successful.”
Co-Ser participants have access to virtual and in-person workshops that can help foster partnerships, thus making them “grant ready.” They also have the option to have an embedded grant writer so they can work closely with them throughout the entire process. Future plans for the service include provisions for grant management within districts that have multiple initiatives in place.
Please contact Questar III’s School Improvement Office at 518-477-8771 for more information.
