-: Research skills are a big thing.
My undergraduate degree is in history
and then my master's degree is in historic preservation,
both of which have a lot of research component to it.
And I would say that that has been
a huge help with that challenge aspect
of sorting through those regulations
and making sure that you have good notes on what goes where
and what things you can and can't do
with certain types of funds.
And being able to
take those good notes
and keep those things in the back of your mind
and have that ability to match things up
and hear someone say something and go,
"Oh, that would work if it fits under this category,"
and being able to go back and say,
"I think I know where that is," and finding it
and putting those things together.
That's really helpful.
Show up to the events.
I mean a lot of these ribbon cuttings
and event kind of things, those are open to the public.
A lot of our organizations really want
the whole city to know what they're doing.
And so showing up to that kind of thing,
coming to city council meetings,
coming to our public meetings.
We hold multiple public meetings throughout the year
to keep people advised on what's going on.
You know, show up to that.
Another thing too, is reaching out and asking questions,
if you're not sure about what is a CDBG Grant,
the Community Development Block Grant.
What is it? How does it work?
Sending us an email, reaching out and saying
"I've heard that your office does this kind of thing.
"What is it? How does it work?"
All of that kind of stuff, reaching out to us.
I'd say that's a big part of
just making those first connections.