Tenorio meets with stakeholders on grants

by Nick Delgado

Guam - All seats were occupied at the Governor's Conference Room at Adelup during a meeting with Lieutenant Governor Ray Tenorio, community stakeholders, and government agencies on ways to improve the grant acquisition process locally. Guam State Clearinghouse administrator Eric Palacios was at Tenorio's side, overseeing the packed meeting and said they want to open the lines of communication in order to secure the chances of grant funding with various government agencies.

He said the group was there "to hear their concerns and their suggestions on how to streamline the process and where improvements can be made so that ultimately the community and the entire island of Guam will benefit from the work of the clearinghouse as well as well as work of the individual agencies."

Some issues raised at today's meeting include inefficient procurement processes, insufficient staff and the lack of statistical data for grant writers. Lieutenant Governor Tenorio says he and the Guam State Clearinghouse staff share a vision of providing multiple services not previously provided - from implementing an online content management system to provide grant writing training.

Palacios adds he would like to form a multi-agency task force to address issues local agencies may have regarding obtaining grants.