Resilient Communities Webinar Series
The Resilient Communities Webinar Series is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Prairie Rivers Network's collaboration to build capacity for technical assistance and education aimed to help communities navigate energy- and environment-related funding opportunities, provide guidance on community inclusion, and lead community-specific strategic planning. This outreach should help communities secure and manage resources to address legacy pollution, invest in clean energy technologies, and more.
Unlocking Illinois Grant Funding: Building Capacity, Navigating Portals, & Writing Proposals
Tuesday, May 6 at 12 PM CT
Join us for a session that will guide you through the grant application journey, from creating an actionable community vision to developing a strong, competitive grant proposal.
Susan Odum will share best practices for developing a cohesive community vision and identifying actionable goals that lay the groundwork for an effective grant proposal, informed by her extensive experience working with rural communities. Adriana Perez will provide an overview of Illinois state funding platforms, including GATA and Amplifund, helping participants understand how to navigate these systems. Dr. Connie Frey-Spurlock and Dr. Diane Cox will share their expertise on developing compelling grant proposals, drawing on their extensive experience writing successful proposals at Southern Illinois University.
Speakers:
- Susan Odum (Building Community Capacity)
- Adriana Perez (GATA and Amplifund)
- Dr. Connie Frey-Spurlock and Dr. Diane Cox (Developing a Grant Proposal)
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Planning Your Green Infrastructure Projects: Learn how communities fund, implement, and benefit from these projects!
Tuesday, May 20 at 12PM
Join us for a webinar that will help you plan your next green infrastructure project! In this webinar, we will cover real community examples, and experts will share how green infrastructure can benefit your community and provide a grant opportunity to support it.
Darren Graves from the City of Peoria will share examples of how they implemented green infrastructure to address flooding concerns. Kim Erndt-Pitcher and Nina Struss from Prairie Rivers Network will share examples from their work of how green infrastructure can benefit communities. To finish, we’ll hear from Christine Davis with the Illinois EPA on their Green Infrastructure Grant Opportunity (GIGO), which opens this spring.
Speakers:
Christine Davis is the Manager for the Watershed Management Section of the Bureau of Water at the Illinois EPA. Major programs include the Illinois’ Nonpoint Source Management Program, the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy, the Total Maximum Daily Load. Ms. Davis has a Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomy from Western Illinois University and regularly invests her personal time to support environmental organizations in Central Illinois.
Kim Erndt-Pitcher has worked for Prairie Rivers Network for over 14 years. Before coming to PRN, she was a crew member and environmental educator at Living Lands and Waters based in Moline, Illinois, and she also worked as a technician with the USGS in Kansas City, Missouri. She has spent most of her career working to promote and advocate for the protection of biodiversity and the integrity of natural systems. She holds a B.A. Biology, M.S. Biology with a focus on Ecotoxicology from the University of Central Missouri, NSF IGERT Fellow – Watershed Science and Technology, Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Nina Struss joined PRN in 2023. Previously, she worked as a Registered Dietitian and Intuitive Eating Counselor, focusing on improving the overall health and wellness of the Quad Cities community through nutrition education, community presentations, public events, and media relations. She currently serves as a Board Member of NEST Cafe, the first pay-what-you-can restaurant in the Quad Cities. She holds a B.S. in Nutrition and Dietetics from Western Illinois University – Macomb
Darren Graves with the City of Peoria