Fund Your Impact

VIA’s Maria Posey worked with the CAYL Institute in Boston to secure $7.8 million in new funding for an initiative to develop an employer-driven sector strategy for early childhood. The initiative was part of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Good Jobs Challenge. Maria’s work with CAYL included negotiating a partnership agreement with the Boston Metropolitan Area Planning Council and the City of Boston’s Office of Workforce Development; facilitating design sessions with various stakeholders including early childhood employers, family day home providers, training providers, the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, and other industry groups; writing content for the application including a statement on need, past performance examples, key personnel biographies, and an implementation plan; and developing the cost-reimbursable budget aligned to federal cost standards.

VIA’s Maria Posey partnered with the Fox Valley Workforce Development Board and six other workforce boards in Wisconsin to secure $4.7 million in funding for a new initiative branded as Re-engaging Out-of-Work, Barriered & Underserved individuals through System Transformation (ROBUST). The initiative sought to revise outreach and service delivery by making them more responsive and relevant to various customer groups - especially groups who experienced the lowest workforce participation and the highest unemployment rates. Through her work, Maria compiled labor market and census data into easy-to-understand charts and guided the workforce boards to use the data to priority counties and population groups to target based on unmet need. Maria also wrote the formal funding application for the Workforce Innovation Grant Program issued by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. When the application was rejected, Maria resubmitted it to Senator Tammy Baldwin for consideration under the Senate’s Congressional Directed Spending program where it was accepted and included in the FY2024 Appropriations Bill.

VIA’s Maria Posey worked with the National Governors Association (NGA) to secure $1.5 million in new funding to facilitate a SNAP Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) Policy Academy. The Policy Academy aims to help cohorts of state leaders enact policy and programmatic changes to strengthen SNAP E&T delivery. The funding application was submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Partnership Grant program. Through diligent program design, effective writing, and creative budgeting, Maria ensured that the final proposal to the U.S. Department of Agriculture was clear, compelling, and compliant with all program rules and regulations.

During her tenure at Third Sector Capital Partners, VIA’s Maria Posey was credited with standing up the organization’s first business development division and effectively aligning its functionalities with other departments including project delivery, operations, finance, the executive office, and communications. Maria led recruitment for new mid-level staff; defined business development processes, tools, and standard operating procedures; overhauled the grant sourcing and opportunity management system; developed a customer relations management (CRM) system; curated a new knowledge management system, wrote the financial management procedure handbook; and instituted templates for all grant and proposal activities. Maria also coached and trained other staff on client cultivation, project design, proposal-writing, budgeting, and compliance management.