Illinois ResourceNet
Illinois ResourceNet: A Funding Access Initiative (IRN) is a university-based resource providing Illinois nonprofits and local governments with the competitive assets to access federal funding. IRN offers organizations a unique approach to grant access centered on providing information and resources on an interactive website, working with experienced technical assistants on designing high caliber proposals, and connecting with a diverse group of partners to meet proposed project goals.
Valerie has recently served as Visiting Program Coordinator, responsible for providing technical assistance to non-profits and local units of government in the state of Illinois. This includes conducting outreach for the purposes of generating federal proposals; assessing organizations’ readiness to apply for federal funding; working with the organizations to search for federal funding opportunities and develop work plans; reviewing the full proposal for completeness, clarity, and adherence to the guidelines set forth in the RFP; proving expert critique and advice on all aspects of the proposal to insure high quality; and completing all of the appropriate documentation.
Valerie provided comprehensive technical assistance in the preparation of a successful BTOP Sustainable Adoption application for My Way Village, Inc. The $7.2 million project is in the implementation phases, and will impact 23 publicly-funded senior housing buildings in Illinois, including communities in Oak Park, Chicago, Rockford, Joliet, Moline and Lake Villa. The project scope includes training for residents on the My Way Village applications, e-mail transmittals, Facebook, and learning to navigate the Internet to support basic life skills including job searches, paying bills and ordering prescription drugs. Valerie’s role included researching national NTIA research and policies, analyzing numeric and spatial broadband data at national, state, local, Census Tract and Census Block levels to make inferences about adoption rates among low-income minority communities and seniors vis a vis the general population; working with interactive Census mapping tools and CMAP to develop prototype maps depicting adoption rates at the Census Tract level; providing technical assistance in the development, coding and analysis of resident survey instruments; providing technical assistance in the development of the program evaluation segment of the proposal; brokering relationships between My Way Village, Sankofa House and My Way Village as subsequent project partners; reviewing the proposal within BTOP guidelines and providing feedback as to how the proposal might be improved.
Valerie developed Capacity Building BlocksTM, a 10- week series of capacity building workshops in her own practice. These include modules on board development, fundraising, strategic planning, etc. Ms. Leonard’s capacity building series became the model upon which IRN conducted a series of facilitated online technical assistance conversations with IRN clients, in partnership with the Lumpkin Family Foundation and GoodWorks Connect.org. Valerie facilitated a discussion on program evaluation, including the development of a theory of change, program logic models, development of goals, objectives and program outcomes. A description of Valerie’s Capacity Building Blocks program is described in more detail in the Services section.
Valerie coordinated a comprehensive technical assistance workshop on the Second Chance Act. The workshop included an overview of the Second Chance Act by Congressman Danny K. Davis, the Act’s chief sponsor; a joint presentation by representatives from the Department of Justice and Valerie F. Leonard- Statement of Qualifications 4 | P a g e
Department of Labor featuring the sections of the Act that will be funded; an overview of the Illinois ResourceNet and best practices in developing prisoner re-entry programs. This workshop was also simulcast as a webinar for organizations in East St. Louis, Illinois. Over 180 people were in attendance,and the Power Point presentation and handouts have been used by the Department of Justice for further technical assistance. The handouts from the workshop are archived on the Illinois ResourceNet’s website, at www.illinoisresource.net.
Valerie also worked with IRN to develop a statewide conference, “Yes You Can! Demystifying Federal Funds”, which was held on March 20, 2009. The conference, which drew nearly 500 people from all over the state of Illinois, included representatives from federal agencies. Workshop topics included collaboration planning and federal proposal development; navigating Grants.gov; developing federal budgets and justifications; the nuts and bolts of grant seeking; federal grant writing, federal funding accountability and the Transparency Act; and building political support and networking. Ms. Leonard provided workshops on federal grant writing.
Valerie developed content and taught online courses and workshops an online course in federal proposal writing, and federal grants compliance and administration.
