PR 2006 May 22

Staff Profile: Jennifer Black, Director of Grants and Resource Development

Question: How do you impress a new boss when you’ve just been hired as Director of Grants and Resource Development? Answer: You win a highly competitive grant for $15 million in your first three months on the job.

And that’s exactly what Jennifer Black, Shelton State Community College’s new Director of Grants and Resource Development did. From conception to final submission, Black had one month, not only to write the grant but also to create and facilitate a two state consortium of partners who would participate in the Department of Labor’s new WIRED initiative – Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development.

“The grant struck me because of the potential it held to really impact the economic conditions of some of the poorest counties in West Alabama,” said Black. “I also realized however that to be competitive and have a shot at winning this thing, we would need to also bring on several strategic partners and increase our proposed service area.”

Thus Black launched a search for partners in East Mississippi and because the application could only be submitted by state governors, she doubled the number of hoops that had to jumped through dealing with both the Alabama and Mississippi Governor’s Offices, two state offices of Workforce Development and the U.S. Department of Labor.

Of course this 30 day period was from December 7 to January 5 – not the easiest season of the year to get things accomplished. “There was a huge amount of work to be done and of course the campus was about to close for the holidays. I wasn’t going to let that obstacle daunt us so, off to Florida for the holidays I went: laptop, wireless internet card, research files, husband, baby and Christmas presents,” laughed Black.

Long hours, long days but on February 1st, immediately after President Bush’s State of the Union address, where he announced the program, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao revealed the 13 regions throughout the United States that had been chosen to receive $15 million.

“Can I say I was more than happy?” smiled Black.

“Can I say, I was more than proud of the outstanding work she did and the dedication she showed during this process,” said Lew Drummond, Director of Advancement for Shelton State and Jennifer’s new boss.

Black joined the staff of Shelton State Community College after serving as Director of Marketing for The Veterans Corporation in Alexandria, Virginia. There she wrote and edited newsletters, created marketing materials to promote the organization and its programs.

She’s held marketing and sales jobs with telecommunications companies, newspapers and non-profit organizations. She received her B.S. degree from Florida State University and her M.A. from Wake Forest University. In addition to her grant writing duties, she also teaches public speaking at Shelton State. Married to her high school sweetheart, Black is the mother of a 2 year old daughter.

Jennifer has prepared a “how-to” kit for use by Shelton State faculty and staff on grant preparation. The kit explains how her office approaches looking for a grant and gives faculty members information on how to help her office identify needs and opportunities in the wide world of grant development. The information is available to faculty and staff through their division chair or by contacting her directly at 391- or by email at jblack@sheltonstate.edu.