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Community participation in the grant-making process

To advance equity in the grant-making process, DEED utilizes diverse grant review panels in its grant-making process for competitive grants.

The community reviewers who make up these diverse grant review panels are volunteers who evaluate proposals and make funding recommendations to the Commissioner of DEED. Community reviewers are selected based on their experience with workforce or economic development, past work with diverse groups and experience with grant programs.

Some of the responsibilities of community reviewers include:

  • Attend training on the grant review process
  • Adhere to Conflict of Interest & Confidentiality policies
  • Evaluate and score up to 20 proposals over a two-week period
  • Participate in a panel review with other reviewers
  • Make funding recommendations
  • Provide DEED with overall feedback on the programs and processes