President Barack Obama spoke about jobs in Ohio today. While the stimulus packages are designed to support job creation, existing limitations on selection of contractors sometimes create a "catch 22" in that the money for job creation does not go for job creation.
It is challenging to be in a position to bid on a government contract or to go for a government grant. Many organizations promise to educate and to help would-be contractors or grant recipients for "nominal" fees of $5,000 or $7,500. While government contracts or grants could certainly be higher than those fees, most start-ups or experienced workers laid off from their jobs cannot afford these "nominal tuitions."
What is a challenge is that, in today's economy, age, experience, and education often limit job options. When employers are looking for employees in this economy, they often would like to find someone on the "low-end" of the experience and education spectrum who might be willing to work for an annual salary significantly less than the salaries needed by more senior employees who are trying to replace retirement funds or to support their families.
If some of those people could move to become part of a network of government contractors, they may actually be able to create jobs for themselves and their peers.
Perhaps some of the stimulus package needs to focus on helping start-up contractors and people with good ideas for grants to learn what they need to learn in order to be successful in working with the government on these contracts and grants.
Showing posts with label grants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grants. Show all posts
Friday, January 22, 2010
Thursday, August 27, 2009
When do we look for a mentor or guide? Why invest in mentorship?
Shortly after graduating from college I had the opportunity to travel for a few weeks in Europe--I was a graduate counsellor at Florida State University's Study Center in Florence, Italy, and had a couple of weeks off in the summer. I went to Switzerland, and did some labor in return for room and board at an inn in Zermatt, on the side of the Matterhorn. In my spare time, I hiked up the Matterhorn as far as someone could go without a guide and climbing gear. Should I have wanted to go to the top, I would have needed a guide--someone who had been there many times and knew what I needed to do--and wear--to achieve the goal. At the time I didn't have that kind of money, so I got as far as the climbers hut that is the starting-off place for a real ascent of the mountain.
In the U.S. Army, on my way to Vietnam, I became a paratrooper. In three weeks at Fort Benning, GA (at the age of 22), I went through lots of hands-on-practice guided by experienced instructors. As an officer, when we made our first five jumps at the culmination of the training, I was the first to leave the plane. A colonel had spoken to us before our first jump, reminding us that, after we opened our parachutes, if we saw anything other than a circle of white above us, use our reserve parachutes. When I jumped, a panel melted in my parachute and I had a circle of white above me with a big patch of blue (a blown gore). I used my reserve parachute and remembered what my mother taught me about putting sheets on a bed--that's what I had to do to get the air under the reserve parachute. I landed just a little faster than normal with both parachutes fully open. (I later learned that experts use parachutes designed to be the way mine was.) At the time I was very thankful to have had a mentor whose advice I followed less than 30 minutes after receiving it. (I only had 10 jumps in my career and loved them. After I left the Army I found it hard to justify the risk, though it is fun!!)
When I have sought to engage in other work that I perceived as challenging, I have sought mentors. I invested $4,000 as a discount price to be a protege of a mentor who I believed had some real insights that would help me in book publishing and in building net worth.
School districts frequently have mentoring programs for new teachers--someone who is an experienced teacher who can guide new teachers through the challenges of the first few years of teaching.
Three years ago I registered on the Federal government database to be a contractor and recipient of grants. As a full-time teacher, I didn't have the time to follow-through with any. This summer I renewed my registration and also registered with the ORCA (word for Shark) database--another government-required registration site. President Barack Obama, in his Recovery Act program, has improved two federal websites to help people and small businesses find government contracts and grants. These websites are FBO.gov and Grants.gov. By following the instructions and registering on the federal CCR database--first obtaining a DUNS number individuals and organizations can be ready to do business with the Federal Government. ORCA registration is another step to take after the CCR registration is complete. The Business Partners Network is designed to be a "single source for vender data for the Federal Government.
To be successful with Federal Grants, all the "i's" need to be "dotted" and the "t's" need to be "crossed." I applied for a Federal Education Grant this summer and had only a few hours to complete the Letter of Intent (LOI). The Grant Administrator called to my attention that the project I proposed (or the way I had proposed it) didn't match the Grant Application Requirements.
For contracts, the Federal Government relies on the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) as its guide. If a bid for a contract does not meet all the requirements for that contract as listed in the FAR, it will not be considered.
Needless to say, working with the Federal Government either looking for grants or bidding for contracts seems to be as complex as climbing a mountain. Of course a mentor would be helpful. The challenge is to find a mentor who will add value and who will not require an "up front" payment. By this I mean that someone working with me to secure a grant is entitled to some of the moneys secured by his or her efforts to secure the grant. It would be built into the grant proposal. The same concept applies to a mentor for federal contracts. It's much better if the mentor can share the risks and rewards with the mentee.
In the U.S. Army, on my way to Vietnam, I became a paratrooper. In three weeks at Fort Benning, GA (at the age of 22), I went through lots of hands-on-practice guided by experienced instructors. As an officer, when we made our first five jumps at the culmination of the training, I was the first to leave the plane. A colonel had spoken to us before our first jump, reminding us that, after we opened our parachutes, if we saw anything other than a circle of white above us, use our reserve parachutes. When I jumped, a panel melted in my parachute and I had a circle of white above me with a big patch of blue (a blown gore). I used my reserve parachute and remembered what my mother taught me about putting sheets on a bed--that's what I had to do to get the air under the reserve parachute. I landed just a little faster than normal with both parachutes fully open. (I later learned that experts use parachutes designed to be the way mine was.) At the time I was very thankful to have had a mentor whose advice I followed less than 30 minutes after receiving it. (I only had 10 jumps in my career and loved them. After I left the Army I found it hard to justify the risk, though it is fun!!)
When I have sought to engage in other work that I perceived as challenging, I have sought mentors. I invested $4,000 as a discount price to be a protege of a mentor who I believed had some real insights that would help me in book publishing and in building net worth.
School districts frequently have mentoring programs for new teachers--someone who is an experienced teacher who can guide new teachers through the challenges of the first few years of teaching.
Three years ago I registered on the Federal government database to be a contractor and recipient of grants. As a full-time teacher, I didn't have the time to follow-through with any. This summer I renewed my registration and also registered with the ORCA (word for Shark) database--another government-required registration site. President Barack Obama, in his Recovery Act program, has improved two federal websites to help people and small businesses find government contracts and grants. These websites are FBO.gov and Grants.gov. By following the instructions and registering on the federal CCR database--first obtaining a DUNS number individuals and organizations can be ready to do business with the Federal Government. ORCA registration is another step to take after the CCR registration is complete. The Business Partners Network is designed to be a "single source for vender data for the Federal Government.
To be successful with Federal Grants, all the "i's" need to be "dotted" and the "t's" need to be "crossed." I applied for a Federal Education Grant this summer and had only a few hours to complete the Letter of Intent (LOI). The Grant Administrator called to my attention that the project I proposed (or the way I had proposed it) didn't match the Grant Application Requirements.
For contracts, the Federal Government relies on the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) as its guide. If a bid for a contract does not meet all the requirements for that contract as listed in the FAR, it will not be considered.
Needless to say, working with the Federal Government either looking for grants or bidding for contracts seems to be as complex as climbing a mountain. Of course a mentor would be helpful. The challenge is to find a mentor who will add value and who will not require an "up front" payment. By this I mean that someone working with me to secure a grant is entitled to some of the moneys secured by his or her efforts to secure the grant. It would be built into the grant proposal. The same concept applies to a mentor for federal contracts. It's much better if the mentor can share the risks and rewards with the mentee.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Getting Past "You can't get there from here."
It is amazing how many ways this concept is communicated on a daily basis. "You can't get there from here" seems to be a theme song of today's economy in the United States.
One thing is certain, we need help to navigate how to achieve our goals and "get there from here." I love the Global Positioning System (GPS). I have a GPS on my iPod Touch (2nd Generation) (which works when I am on a WiFi network) and another portable one I use for my car. One of the things I like best about a truly portable GPS is that, when you don't follow its directions, it recalculates a new set of directions from where it finds your car and tells you how to get where you told it you're going even when you go your own way.
Now, if we could get more people to do with the "thinking" GPS gadgets do, we could really accomplish our goals!!
In my work with English language learners (ELLs) in the K-12 school systems in Illinois, I have discovered that introducing students to unabridged eAudiobooks with their companion books in print is a great way to motivate reading and to improve academic performance. I have published a research paper on this idea and am working to turn it into a pilot project for use in schools. Along the way I would like to receive some grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education to test the concept and to assure that the innovations we develop will be available throughout the USA.
Unfortunately, the way these grants seem to work, to gain funding to develop an idea, the "proof of concept" seems to need to be already tested. Grant funding is not for the first stage in development--putting the idea into practice. Instead it seems to be for a second stage--improving on the idea and developing materials to clone it.
At this stage in our development as a nation, we need to step "out of the box" and find out how to get there (helping ELLs learn to read and improve their academic performance by working with unabridged eAudio books and companion books) from where we are today--with or without federal grant funding.
Anyone want to help? Contact me via my Wiki project page.
One thing is certain, we need help to navigate how to achieve our goals and "get there from here." I love the Global Positioning System (GPS). I have a GPS on my iPod Touch (2nd Generation) (which works when I am on a WiFi network) and another portable one I use for my car. One of the things I like best about a truly portable GPS is that, when you don't follow its directions, it recalculates a new set of directions from where it finds your car and tells you how to get where you told it you're going even when you go your own way.
Now, if we could get more people to do with the "thinking" GPS gadgets do, we could really accomplish our goals!!
In my work with English language learners (ELLs) in the K-12 school systems in Illinois, I have discovered that introducing students to unabridged eAudiobooks with their companion books in print is a great way to motivate reading and to improve academic performance. I have published a research paper on this idea and am working to turn it into a pilot project for use in schools. Along the way I would like to receive some grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education to test the concept and to assure that the innovations we develop will be available throughout the USA.
Unfortunately, the way these grants seem to work, to gain funding to develop an idea, the "proof of concept" seems to need to be already tested. Grant funding is not for the first stage in development--putting the idea into practice. Instead it seems to be for a second stage--improving on the idea and developing materials to clone it.
At this stage in our development as a nation, we need to step "out of the box" and find out how to get there (helping ELLs learn to read and improve their academic performance by working with unabridged eAudio books and companion books) from where we are today--with or without federal grant funding.
Anyone want to help? Contact me via my Wiki project page.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Reading Challenge--Step "Outside the Box" and Make a Difference with Me in K-12 Education
"The Economy in 2009"‐‐at a time when students are graduating from high school reading at a third or fourth grade level, when employees need symbols on keys to enter sales at fast‐food restaurants, when beginning employees and students entering community colleges cannot read the textbooks, manuals, or follow written instructions well enough to be successful at their jobs, teachers are laid off in droves.
Many teachers who are not yet tenured and who chose to come to teaching as a second (or later career) to make a difference for students often command higher salaries due to education and, in districts already operating "in the red" are let go by some school districts and not hired by other school districts.
Beyond that challenge, many interventions designed to help struggling readers improve reading skills are not proving successful enough to produce a quality change in students' abilities to read. Research indicates that many students who have problems reading often engage in off‐task behavior and bring others off‐task with them so not to have to compete in academics. Schools invest money in "positive behavior intervention and support" (variations of discipline and rewards) rather than in helping students build solid social‐emotional skills appropriate to their grade levels and use "off the shelf" interventions to build reading scores (not necessarily skills or habits). (See http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/research
for several research articles which support these claims.)
For the last six years I have been one of those multiple‐career teachers, working with English language learners (ELLs) in K‐12 school districts in Kane County Illinois. I have gone back to school to meet state requirements for teaching and completed a post‐doctoral Master of Arts in Teaching in May, 2008, then
took 15 graduate hours during the summer of 2008 to obtain state approval as a bilingual (Spanish) teacher and as a Teacher of English as a Second Language. I earned my doctorate degree in 1992 in adult education and human resources development. Before stepping into the K‐12 classroom, I had been a teacher of adults since 1968 (starting as a volunteer with the American Red Cross). I had designed innovative programs provided to employees of businesses and corporations in North and South America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. I had also been an organizational change consultant for organizations around the world for more than 40 years.
Most recently I have been focusing on the ongoing problem of below‐grade –level reading among middle school students and beyond. While prevalent among ELLs and students whose families are in the lower economic categories (receiving free or reduced lunches), it is more widespread than that. My research and practice have led me to explore a technology‐enhanced approach which had established a good track record in the 1990s and has even greater application today, leveraging the new technology. I am referring to the use of audiobooks and eAudiobooks (which can be downloaded to iPods and MP3 players) to encourage reading and improved academic performance. (See http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/research for an article and a presentation on this subject.)
Today, at the beginning of the 2009‐2010 school year, I am looking for school districts who would like to partner with me to introduce this approach with small groups of students, teachers, and librarians at the middle school level and above.
This is a time to step “outside the box” and to find a way to support something new that has the potential to make a real difference for K‐12 students and employers and future families in this country.
If you are ready "step outside of the box" to work with me to meet this challenge, please let me know. The website linked to the title of this blog entry takes you to the project page for DrM‐Resources and this is the “Providing Access to eAudiobooks and Audiobooks to Improve Reading and Academic Performance” project.
Many teachers who are not yet tenured and who chose to come to teaching as a second (or later career) to make a difference for students often command higher salaries due to education and, in districts already operating "in the red" are let go by some school districts and not hired by other school districts.
Beyond that challenge, many interventions designed to help struggling readers improve reading skills are not proving successful enough to produce a quality change in students' abilities to read. Research indicates that many students who have problems reading often engage in off‐task behavior and bring others off‐task with them so not to have to compete in academics. Schools invest money in "positive behavior intervention and support" (variations of discipline and rewards) rather than in helping students build solid social‐emotional skills appropriate to their grade levels and use "off the shelf" interventions to build reading scores (not necessarily skills or habits). (See http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/research
for several research articles which support these claims.)
For the last six years I have been one of those multiple‐career teachers, working with English language learners (ELLs) in K‐12 school districts in Kane County Illinois. I have gone back to school to meet state requirements for teaching and completed a post‐doctoral Master of Arts in Teaching in May, 2008, then
took 15 graduate hours during the summer of 2008 to obtain state approval as a bilingual (Spanish) teacher and as a Teacher of English as a Second Language. I earned my doctorate degree in 1992 in adult education and human resources development. Before stepping into the K‐12 classroom, I had been a teacher of adults since 1968 (starting as a volunteer with the American Red Cross). I had designed innovative programs provided to employees of businesses and corporations in North and South America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. I had also been an organizational change consultant for organizations around the world for more than 40 years.
Most recently I have been focusing on the ongoing problem of below‐grade –level reading among middle school students and beyond. While prevalent among ELLs and students whose families are in the lower economic categories (receiving free or reduced lunches), it is more widespread than that. My research and practice have led me to explore a technology‐enhanced approach which had established a good track record in the 1990s and has even greater application today, leveraging the new technology. I am referring to the use of audiobooks and eAudiobooks (which can be downloaded to iPods and MP3 players) to encourage reading and improved academic performance. (See http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/research for an article and a presentation on this subject.)
Today, at the beginning of the 2009‐2010 school year, I am looking for school districts who would like to partner with me to introduce this approach with small groups of students, teachers, and librarians at the middle school level and above.
This is a time to step “outside the box” and to find a way to support something new that has the potential to make a real difference for K‐12 students and employers and future families in this country.
If you are ready "step outside of the box" to work with me to meet this challenge, please let me know. The website linked to the title of this blog entry takes you to the project page for DrM‐Resources and this is the “Providing Access to eAudiobooks and Audiobooks to Improve Reading and Academic Performance” project.
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