Brownfield Grant Writing Tip #24 - Charrettes, charrettes, and more charrettes!

It would be interesting to know whether there is a correlation between the number of times a proposal uses the word "charrette" and the number of points a proposal receives.  I'm, of course, saying this tongue-in-cheek; but I would presume that, other than the word brownfield, "charrette" ranks up there in the list of "keywords" that a successful brownfield proposal should have.  Maybe a more legitimate study would answer the following question, "how many of the successful proposals last year referred, in one form or another, to the term "charrette".

With DC sending the clear message that "community engagement" is a focal point of this administration's work, the design charrette is clearly something to embrace.  Obviously, just throwing in a keyword here and there within your proposal without clearly incorporating the concept into it won't get you very far.  However, there are some keywords/key-concepts that you should consider incorporating IF THEY FIT!  They include:

1. Partnerships


2. Collaborative problem-solving


3. charrettes


4. community engagement


5. sustainability


6. leveraging


7. walkable


8. green


9. community gardens


10. watershed


11. urban rivers initiative


12. environmental justice


13. diverse stakeholder groups


14. energy efficiency


15. renewable energy


16. jobs


17. jobs


18. more jobs

Good Luck!