About Me

I got motivated to connect people with sources of funding when, as a high school math and language teacher, I saw altogether too many under-funded but highly promising students summarily dismiss the idea of college for lack of funds.

I had contact with some teens through my teaching at school; some who joined me in playing in my marimba band or taking lessons in marimba; still others who helped at our small CSA Organic Garden (2 acres). The aid and passionate support of so many teens and young adults wanting to learn how to OG/BD (biodynamic) farm made light of much work to be done. (Our first OG farm, Rapture Gardens, was established in Eugene,OR in ‘90)

I helped some kids translate from low skills to high skills throughout our high school time together only to find their hopes dashed: parents lacked funds, and stress at home, stress at school, all these interfered. The home and school social things were not issues I could readily address. Finding funding for these kids and finding low cost programs was entirely within my scope. I started 10 years ago, and have been doing so ever since.

Having known 7 high school students who became mothers while in high school, some not living with their parents at that point, I definitely wanted to post all free resources to such women and families. The current name for what used to be called welfare services is TANF: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. this resource list links each state resident with a host of state/county/local public funding programs. EACH STATE IS VERY DIFFERENT! and each state has different levels if income that qualify the resident to receive TANF or other assistance. (So complicated!)

Eventually, this got me going as well. I founded my own organization, donating real estate in 3 Oregon cities to homeless kids to be used as shelter and, if desired by the homeless teen, as an arena to request and get the skills they lost by not attending school (I find these homeless kids to be so astoundingly capable, and that they often feel embarrassed at how they speak).

My opinion: it is truly SALT IN THE WOUND for these kids to be embarrassed about ANYTHING! …after all they have managed to survive. They are sharp and among the most capable people I know.

At our facilities, if the homeless teens chose, retired teachers and college volunteers acted as vocab/grammar/anything else they want to know “guides” to help them develop what they feel they lack, or to direct them to an expert who can help them (some of them have legal matters they need to address). Most started out too shy to ask “if that word means what I think it means.” As trust blossomed, this problem abated.

THE BLOG: I started this blog in an effort to create a central clearing house for private and public info cash awards (NOT! loans). Largest problem: what is offered today may not be offered tomorrow, next month, next year, or in two years.. whether talking about public and private grants.

So I tried to reference as many lists and resources that are kept current as I found to be reliable .

As I did that research , I found two things.

ONE: nobody seemed to know that the public funding information is available at Public Library nearest you.. BY LAW as well as in online format at grants.gov. same applied to foundations for private funding currently offered (these change all the time).

Problem is..
these lists can be cumbersome and completely overwhelming.. in short an absolute rat’s nests.
QUESTION: Do you want the money or don’t you?
DIVE IN and GET YOURS. Look for free info or buy software available online.. IT IS THE EXACT SAME INFORMATION (just one is easier to sort through).

TWO: upon more thorough investigation into grants/funding for women, I saw more and more offers available for business start-up, business expansion and health care funding, not just education and “welfare”, to mention a few.

Funny thing happened: as I took in this secondary discovery, other people began to contact me for help.

Businesses in particular:
* women’s organizations looking for funds for things from exercise to fashion businesses;
* health care businesses to grow what they have (connected one woman with a $250K growth grant);
* art cooperatives;
* a weight-loss organization in FL seeking to help kids lose weight and develop self esteem (eventually educate theri parents to change their eating patterns! right on!);
* high-tech companies. Long story short, I either helped them myself if I could,
* I connected them with two real big grant writers and/or some other services.

The really big contracts, ones exceeding one million dollars were easy to find. They were at times in greater number than the $5K college grants. As it turns out, if the money is not used by someone in the audience to whom it is specifically offered, then it gets funneled into another government branch department. (Aha). Often the deadlines for these enormous contracts landed within 5 to 30 days of being posted (AHEM). Not exactly easy to meet such deadlines with competent applications, paperwork and references. I found one fabulous contact in DC who can help with the really big grants. Her name is Olessia Smotrova-Taylor at OST Global Solutions, Inc. “Your resource for Capture and Proposal Management.” 15621 Holly Grove Rd Silver Spring, MD 20905 USA Tel.301-384-3350. Look for her under recent posts.

I sought to inspire readers to get their dreams funded with public and private funding aid. This is why I made efforts to cover people/organizations that have chosen to get their dreams funded and do more of what in their opinion they are here to do.

Example: “Girls On The Run”. The founder used public and private funds to create this dream organization of hers that now has chapters all across the US and abroad.

Lastly, I found that grants and funding go both ways: you might be someone who wanted to give back and needed some fuel for the fire to see what kind of organization you want begin. My intention was to inspire that reader to set up her/his own idea of how she/he desired to give back.

Enjoy. Please contact me or leave comments with information or ideas. Love to hear from you.
Inesz