Member Portal
Centralina members have access to numerous opportunities to shape our regional agenda and access to valuable resources to improve outcomes in their communities. This portal provides a central hub to help your community better connect with the information and services that we offer exclusively to members. There are four primary sections – Grants & Funding (grants alerts, forecasts, grant support videos), Intergovernmental Advocacy (congressional representatives, congressional calendars, state & federal action plans), Your Membership (information about member benefits, Centralina delegate handbook, member liaison information) and Your Resources (a repository of Centralina Learns videos, guides / toolkits and external resources that you can filter by topic and type). We continuously update and add resources to each section throughout the year and highlight new additions in our monthly newsletter. Reach out to our member liaisons at info@centralina.org with any questions or if you need to be added to our distribution list.
Grants & Funding
Grant preparation and administration can be a daunting and overwhelming process for local governments to undertake. Centralina is here to help you successfully secure funding for critical projects and priorities in your community. This section houses various grant-related resources member governments can utilize, including our monthly grants alert, annual grants forecast, training videos (scroll down) and more. These available resources, along with the grant support services our team provides to members, aim to enhance our region’s capacity to attract competitive funding for local and regional initiatives. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news. Additional information like the importance of a grants strategy is available on our Insights page.
Weekly Grants Alert
Our federal lobbyist, Leslie Mozingo of Strategics Consulting, regularly assembles a list of available federal grants, along with the deadline and application details, that may be of interest to our member governments. Please check back weekly for an updated list.
Annual Grants Forecast
Plan for future funding opportunities with our annual forecast of federal grants. This information will help you prepare for the application process and stay ahead of changes that often shift year-to-year. In some cases, federal agencies have forecasted plans for the next competition. When that information has become available, those dates and related links are provided along with the current year’s funding opportunities.
State Grants Directory
Centralina has assembled a list of funding programs offered through North Carolina state government agencies.
Foundation Grants Directory
This list includes information about charitable foundation and private funding grant programs available to local governments.
State & Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Project & Expenditure Report Quick Guide
Centralina has reviewed the US Treasury resources and compiled quick tips to assist our members in preparing for and submitting the Project and Expenditure Report. This guide highlights key steps in the reporting process.
GRANT SUPPORT VIDEOS
Grants Writing: Mastering the Basics & Beyond
Gain in-depth information about the variety of granting organizations, the process of applying for grant funding and the most common components of a grant application. This class will help you to be more competitive and successful in the grant-seeking process.
Effective Pre-Planning for Grant Applications
Gain a solid understanding of pre-planning strategies and tools to use before you apply for competitive grants.
How to Make Your Grant Application Stand Out
Learn how to go beyond putting together a basic grant application and increase your application’s likelihood of being funded.
How to Think Like a Grant Reviewer
Learn how to create and utilize a mock review process to provide as close to a reviewer’s perspective as possible, how to critique proposals and how to solicit reviewer-like feedback to improve your grant application’s competitiveness.
Proposal Budget Design for Grants
Join us for an in-depth training session to learn about the intricacies of designing a budget for a successful grant application. Participants will learn basic principles of how to present the costs of projects and gain skills to become competitive in the grant seeking process. Let us help you increase your grant success ratio and make grant writing less stressful.
How to Establish and Maintain Excellent Grant Funder Relationships
This training will strengthen your grant funder relationship building efforts and ultimately your grant funding success. Learn how to establish and maintain relationships with grant funders in order to sustain and increase your organization’s grant revenue.
Infrastructure Funding Briefing to Regional Managers Group
At the September 21, 2022 Regional Managers Group meeting, Centralina staff shared information on federal and state infrastructure grants and discussed strategies and resources available to assist local governments in pursuing this funding.
Understanding the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)
A special lunch and learn session hosted by Centralina Regional Council & Triangle J Council of Governments (TJCOG). Hear from our experts, Erich Zimmermann, (NARC) and Leslie Mozingo (Centralina & TJCGO’s federal relations consultant) as they unpack the $550 billion dollar bi-partisan infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
EDA Funding Opportunities
This Centralina Learns session provides an overview of U.S. Economic Development Administration grants available to the Centralina region, including supplemental funding for disaster recovery, communities impacted by job loss or supply chain disruption and more.
Building Budget Champions
Centralina and UNC Charlotte MPA Public Management Academy partnered to share best practices on how to advocate for and secure resources in a competitive budgeting environment.
How to Effectively Research Grant Funders to Ensure You Win the Grant
This training will strengthen your initial grant funder research, relationship-building efforts, and ultimately your grant funding success. Learn how to use proven tools and strategies to successfully compile the multitude of information and documents collected during the research process in order to create a prioritized proactive grant-seeking strategy.
How to Tell Your SMART Story in Grant Applications
Learn how to craft compelling grant proposals and customize grant application proposals to engage grant funders and secure competitive funding. Walk away with the understanding of the art of creating impactful need statements and specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based (SMART) objectives to secure funding for community projects.