THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 30, 1994 TAG: 9412280227
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
When City Councilman Ward Robinett asked if the city had considered seeking private funding for projects such as soccer fields, he got little more than blank looks from city staff and others attending the council's discussions of the capital improvements budget.
But Robinett is exactly right. Grants from both private foundations and public agencies, more gifts from private companies and individuals, often are available for particular uses.
Robinett mentioned sports equipment manufacturers or wholesalers as a possibility for help with a soccer field. That is not far-fetched.
Nor is it inconceivable that we could find money for a variety of other projects in the city.
But we have to go looking. And we have to someone who know how to make the pitch asking for it.
Once again, I look to our North Carolina neighbors for a good example.
The Watermark Crafts cooperative down in tiny, rural Camden County along the Virginia border knows how to find money.
They have done so well that people now just give them money without being asked. Last summer, the Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation awarded a $300,000 grant to co-op director Carolyn McKecuen to spend as she sees fit.
One of the projects she earmarked for part of the money is a program to train small social and economic development to seek grant money and foundation support for their efforts.
George McKecuen, Carolyn's husband and development of a non-profit organization that trains people to work with the crafts co-op, also is a good money seeker.
Whenever I run into one or both of the McKecuens at the grocery store in Elizabeth City, I always ask what they have cooking now.
Never have I asked that I didn't get a report on a new project financed with money from a special grant or a special contract agreement.
``The money's out there,'' George told me when I saw him recently. ``You have to find what's there that fits, what you're doing, and you have to ask for it.''
He's not the only person who's told me there's plenty of money available if you know how to find it.
Camden County is home to Watermark because Camden businesswoman Winnie Wood gave them the land and helped raised money to construct a new building. The county is totally rural with not a single incorporated town and only a few widespread subdivisions that are home for people seeking respite from Hampton Roads living.
Despite some very well-to-do citizens and the influx from this area, there are so many poverty level residents that countywide demographics still place it toward the economic bottom in North Carolina.
The McKecuens make this unhappy statistic work to their advantage. They also use their successes to their favor when they ask for money.
Grants vary in size from a few thousand up to the $300,000 from the MacArthur Foundation. Sometimes a few thousand can get the job done and even a small amount makes a difference in a poor city.
The soccer field project under discussion when Robinett asked his question is projected to cost about $130,000. Getting as little as $30,000 of that amount from a source other than the city could make a difference in the city budget.
The highly successful new Children's Museum of Virginia is a good example of what can happen when people ask the right people for money to support a good, viable project.
I believe, as I wrote last week, that we could get a sizable grant from a private foundation for an experimental day-care program for mothers and their children dependent upon public assistance.
Some city agencies have been able to take advantage of state and federal grants, but there probably are quite a few untapped government resources. Most of all, there are hundreds of private foundations across the country. Many earmark their money for specific kinds of projects and that's where smart grantsmanship comes into play to make requests fit the parameters.
In addition to outright grants, George McKecuen also finds a lot of ways to generate income for the craft cooperative. Recently, he was telling me about bidding on a contract to answer telephones for a New York agency.
They don't care whether we're in New York or North Carolina, just so we do the job, George said. The contract will provide training and ultimately dozens of jobs for Northeastern North Carolina residents and bring millions into the local economy.
When Ted Masters retired last year, the city did not replace him. His duties, which included seeking government grants, were split up among other city employees. That means nothing much gets done about grants.
In fact, the city should have hired someone recognized as an expert in grantsmanship. That's the sort of job that more than pays for itself and never should have been cut from the city payroll. by CNB