Grant Writer

Urban Peace Institute (UPI) creates community safety and dismantles harmful systems to ensure justice and freedom from violence for Black and Brown communities.

Since its establishment, UPI has worked tirelessly to reform community safety practices in Los Angeles, and throughout the country, in an effort to dismantle oppressive and predatory institutions and establish lasting community safety that is community-led. UPI works in underserved neighborhoods, with a focus on developing unique safety strategies that prioritize non-violent solutions to community violence, training violence interventionists, or peacemakers, as an alternative to habitual policing, building out the field of intervention to provide professional opportunities to existing violence intervention practitioners, advocating for policy and systems reform in the youth justice sector, and lastly, providing training and power-building tools for residents in violence-impacted areas to advocate for better community safety initiatives and strategies in their neighborhoods.

The Urban Peace Institute (UPI) is seeking a motivated Grant Writer to support the organization’s fundraising goals and grant writing efforts. This position will support the organization’s Development Department with identifying, defining, and developing funding sources to support existing and planned program activities and will lead the development, writing, and submission of grant proposals to federal, state, and private funding agencies. This is an exciting opportunity to spearhead fundraising efforts to address the country’s most urgent social issues, including reimagining public safety and transforming justice systems.

Primary responsibilities include preparation of proposals and grant applications, as well as performance of administrative work in researching, identifying, developing, and responding to public and private grant opportunities in areas that support Urban Peace Institute’s programs.

Researches and identifies new government, corporate, foundation and private funding prospects to match the organizations priorities;

• Generates high-quality proposals, narratives, applications and supporting documents in response to solicitations consistent with all policies and procedures of UPI, and the requirements and guidelines of the funding agencies;

• Maintains primary responsibility for tracking grant application schedules and ongoing grants;

• Works with appropriate personnel to serve as a liaison to all funding agencies and organizations;

• Works with appropriate personnel to research, develop, write and submit letters of inquiry, concept papers, grant proposals and reports;

• Coordinates and follows-up on the progress of submitted proposals;

• Coordinates with the Development Director and Finance Department to create expenditure and income budgets to accompany proposals;

• Maintains UPI’s master file on pending grants and contracts and manages the organizations grants management system via SalesForce;

• Supports the appropriate personnel with collecting, analyzing, and reporting data on the

performance of program activities that are funded by federal, state, and private funding agencies.

• Bachelor’s degree required;

• 3 to 5 years of experience as a successful grant writer, preferably with a social justice focus;

• Experience which should demonstrate a proven track record of securing new funding opportunities; comprehensive knowledge of research, and the ability to distinguish and identify institutional funding opportunities for UPI’s programs.

• Previous experience with grant budget development and management;

• A proven record of securing major grants of $100,000 or above

• Knowledge of grant application process, scoring criteria and funding cycles;

• Previous federal grant application, submission, approval, and management of funds

• Be highly organized with the ability to implement systems and follow-up processes;

• Proficiency in research, interpreting, and analyzing diverse data;

• Excellent Computer skills (Microsoft Office Word, Access, PowerPoint and Excel), and database management skills;

• Motivated self-starter with the ability to work collaboratively and independently with purpose and accuracy in a fast-paced environment