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Grant-seekers facing more competition

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By Richard Wilson, Staff Writer 7:14 PM Sunday, November 8, 2009

HAMILTON — With the tightened economy, there are more federal, state and corporate grants available and more people looking to acquire them.

The push for this money — albeit with strings attached — has been a boon for one local company, Community Development Professionals.

Mindy Finnerty, CDP president and CEO, said in 2003 she saw a need in the community to “get stakeholders to work together around core issues.” Since then the company has operated out of the Biz Tech Center, but now has about 10 employees, about 15 contractors and offices in Covington, Washington D.C. and Denver.

CDP helps entities get organized and prepared to receive grants and trains people about various application processes.

“Everything in the grant world is deadline driven,” Finnerty said. “If you’re one minute late, you’re not being looked at, at all.”

The federal stimulus plan has brought its own challenges. Finnerty said there’s “less certainty” with the rush to get money out the door, and grant regulations are constantly changing.

While city directors and employees apply for grants that could benefit their departments, the Hamilton Police Department has Mike Collopy, a seasoned grantwriter who also handles budget and policy making.

The HPD has been awarded about $2.4 million in grants this year, helping to prevent the layoffs of about nine police officers.

Collopy said the first thing he does every morning is look for any updates on the list of available grants.

“In years past, it was a lot more difficult because you had to check each individual Web site. But now they’ve made it so that for all federal grants, you go to one main Web site,” he said.

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