Tippecanoe Drug Free Coalition outlines grant RFA, timeline and application tips at workshop

Tippecanoe County Drug Free Coalition presenters walked applicants through the coalition's request-for-applications, application requirements, scoring priorities and timeline at a grant-writing workshop on Oct. 1.

The coalition presented the RFA's structure, the three problem statements it will fund, the requirement that each proposal include only one program, and practical advice on writing SMART goals and budgets so applications match reviewer expectations.

The workshop matters because the county-level Drug Free Coalition distributes state grant funds that local organizations use to run prevention, treatment, intervention and justice-services projects. Coalition presenters said reviewers will weight project narrative and SMART goals more heavily than budget details, and they urged applicants to follow instructions, provide clear target-population numbers, and supply supporting documentation for claims about program effectiveness.

Rebecca, a presenter for the Tippecanoe County Drug Free Coalition, emphasized application structure and a strict rule applicants must follow: "Each proposal can only contain 1 program per project. If your organization does multiple things, they have to be all separate proposals. We will not review multiple programs in 1." She said applicants should read the entire application before starting and draft long narrative sections in Word or Google Docs so they can spell-check and track word counts.

The coalition framed grant funding around four areas defined by the Indiana Commission to…