Los Alamos National Labs with logo 2021

Easing the pain of grant writing

Free grant-writing assistance is offered to small business, nonprofit organizations, and local government agencies in northern New Mexico
March 1, 2016
Students at Santa Fe Community College learn on-the-job while building a house for a low-income family.  The program, YouthBuild, was funded through a grant developed and written though a partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Students at Santa Fe Community College learn on the job while building a house for a low-income family. The program, YouthBuild, was funded through a grant developed and written though a partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Contacts  

  • Director, Community Relations & Partnerships
  • Kathy Keith
  • Email

Applying for and receiving a grant is no easy task. Now the Laboratory is providing free grant-writing assistance to northern New Mexico small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and local government agencies. The program is designed to help organizations and small businesses receive increased funding to build local infrastructure in education, economic development, and community programs within the region.

“This program is in its third year, and to date, we have written almost $8 million dollars in grants and have been awarded over $2.5 million for our partners within the region,” said Carole Rutten, Deputy Director of Community Relations and Partnerships at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

In 2014 Santa Fe Community College was successful in writing a grant to fund its alternative education program, YouthBuild, a federal program designed to assist young people the opportunity to earn their GED and also gain hands on experience in building skills.   The College partnered with the Laboratory to develop and write the grant proposal. “The assistance from the Laboratory was invaluable to us,” said Santa Fe Community College President,  Randy Grissom. “In our case, the help we received really was the glue that held all of the components of the complex grant application together. I’m not sure we would have been successful without the support and coaching we received all the way through the process.”

The Laboratory provides assistance by consulting on grant development, researching prospective grant opportunities, coaching others on how to write grants, and actually writing grants. There are no fees involved; however, applicants are required to provide a point of contact who can collect the information required to write and apply for the grant. The point of contact will work directly with the grant writer through the entire grant-writing process.

“This program meets a very important need in our community, as it allows us to help our regional partners to go after funding without having to pay a grant writer while still being able to focus on the primary goals of their business,” said Rutten.

Eligible projects must be focused on community or economic development or be related to science, technology, engineering, or math education.

Future issues of Connections will include postings and emails for grant opportunities and feature a monthly grant-writing tip.



Community Connections features news and opportunities that grow out of the Laboratory’s Good Neighbor Pledge: “To partner with our neighbors on strengthening math and science learning, diversifying the economy and expanding community giving in northern New Mexico.”