Virginia Grants Website is Dramatically Overhauled For New Virginia Economy
No state wishes to be 49th out of 50, and The Commonwealth of Virginia certainly did not aspire to this when they decentralized the processes for applying for federal grant funding in 2011. Yet, in short order, Virginia landed on precisely this ranking in their receipt of federal funding. Clearly, a solution was required to better serve the Commonwealth's grant activity.
Under Governor Terry McAuliffe, a desire was kindled to centralize and consolidate grant information into one location, to serve the primary goal of ensuring that agencies and the public have easy access to information to make informed decisions regarding applying for available grants. According to McAuliffe, (our initiative is to) “create a new Virginia economy, and this can only be done by ensuring that we are diversifying federal funds coming into Virginia through a centralized process.”
A new and robust grants website and infrastructure was built from the remnants of a grant tracking application originally built for the Department of Planning and Budget in 2012. Never released, the nascent application was resurrected in 2015 by the Office of the Governor to provide needed functionality for the Governor’s new Virginia Grants Website.
The Virginia Grants website serves as a hub for taxpayers to search for grant opportunities and have a better idea of how federal tax dollars are being spent. It also presents a clearly defined nucleus for presenting grant opportunities for state and local governments, as well as private businesses and organizations, to best make use of. The additional functionality of the grant tracking application means agency personnel in charge of applying and tracking for federal grants can now search for potential grants and report their progress and activity in a single convenient location.
Said McAuliffe of the new site, “The new Virginia Grants website will help my administration serve taxpayers better by increasing transparency and accountability and offering residents a single hub for grant funding opportunities that may help them grow their businesses, improve their communities or make life better for their families. Using technology to improve government customer service and seize more opportunities to fund important priorities is a great step forward in our efforts to build a new Virginia economy.”
Accurate and well executed web design is truly about providing a platform that serves the needs of those who it is intended for. With design powered by Virginia Interactive, the user experience starts with benefit to the individual, and ends with the Commonwealth taking big steps forward.