Lawrence Township's Grant Program: A peek inside one of the keys to improving our community and controlling our municipal budget.

         Every month I receive a "Grant" matrix from Brenda Kramer, one of our engineers, and our current Grant Czar (my informal title for her).    She is our point person for our grant program and tracks our efforts in securing grant funds for all of our municipal operations.  Along with Jim Parvesse (Municipal Engineer), she also works to identify county, state, and federal grant opportunities to repair, improve and add to our infrastructure.  But they are not alone in their efforts, staff from our various departments (i.e., Police, Fire/EMS, Recreation, Health, etc) also know that finding and applying for grant opportunities is as important as the other responsibilities they have in serving our community.   

        When Lawrence Township receives a grant award from a county, state, or federal agency, it helps our community to meet objectives that we may not otherwise be able to due to financial limitations and the never relenting goal of controlling municipal taxes.   Simply put, grants are essential for us to continue to be a healthy community, in terms of our finances and addressing important infrastructure, recreational, law enforcement, emergency management, environmental, health, and land preservation/acquisition needs.  

        Of course, we are not alone in applying for grants (i.e., close to free money as you can get does capture the attention of others), the competition is fierce, and we find ourselves being denied more than being awarded.  But our persistence and dedication to securing grants are proving successful, and we will continue to improve our grant game to improve our community.

        Here is a link to our grant matrix through June 2021 if you have an interest in taking a look: 

https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:e65dd39c-785b-4f9f-82af-e01d4170423e

        We continue to receive decisions (awards and rejections) for prior years, and we will continue to pursue grant opportunities for 2021.  You will see from the chart that in 2020 we identified and applied for $5.5 million in grant funds and were awarded $1.9 million (and counting).  In 2021 (to date) we have identified and applied for $3.3 million and have been awarded $1.5 (and counting).   We press on!