Federal, state grants have greased the wheel of progress for City of Tracy for years
How vital are grants in this day and age? A couple of years ago, the City of Tracy considered them important enough to label a City employee — Library Director Val Quist — its unofficial grant writer.
Since then, Quist has written dozens upon dozens of grants, many of them successful, for projects that otherwise would not have come to fruition.
Under a different administrator, roughly eight of Quist’s hours were shifted solely to grant writing. And it’s paid off.
“You have to have people who know how to do them and who have time to do them,” she said. “These people working in smaller towns are already overworked and have a lot on their plates, and they just simply don’t have time.”
Quist’s hours are flexible enough that she is free to juggle between grant writing and her library duties depending on the circumstances.
“I go with the flow,” she said. “In January, I had three (grants) that were due in a couple weeks, I spent more time doing grants than I did on library things. Then there are times like in the summer when there aren’t as many grant opportunities, but the library is really busy. I think it evens out.”
Tracy Community Development Director Tom Dobson said the City has a civic responsibility on behalf of its residents to stay aware of as many funding opportunities as possible.
“The City Council has been tremendously receptive to new ideas and to exploring funding alternatives. They, along with city administration, have taken a proactive perspective in encouraging staff to request funding, be it Dale (Johnson III) as fire chief, applying for multiple grants to supply our Fire Department, Jason (Lichty) doing the same for the Police Department, (Public Works Director) Shane (Daniels) and all the hats he wears, and Val who advocates for the Parks, the Library, the VMC, Safe Routes to schools, and the list goes on.”
QUIST
Of course, grant writing is nothing new. The City of Tracy knew about grants decades ago. In a 1975 front page article in the Headlight Herald, the top headline asked the question: “Others get them, why not Tracy.”
The story used Pipestone as a comparison to the smaller city of Tracy, stating that that community received more than $4 million in grants over the previous decade. “Pipestone is receiving over $250,000 each and every year,” the story read. “When looking at these astonishing facts, one wonders WHY NOT TRACY???”
In that article, a former City of Pipestone Housing Authority director told the author that “Tracy must use its trump card in the game of grant applications as soon as possible. That trump card turned out to be Tracy’s high percentage of senior citizens; at the time, Tracy had the second highest percentage of senior citizens of other communities of similar size in the state.
But demographics are just one piece of the grant puzzle. Today, many grants are based off of population, just as they were 50 years ago. However, back then, Tracy was up against communities of up to 50,000 in population, which meant attaining grants was next to impossible. Cities like Tracy also have strong partnerships with other organizations.
“The City has received a number of grants through an outside agency applying on its behalf,” Dobson said. “This includes several SCDP, Small Cities Development Program rehab grants we contracted to have UCAP apply and administer on our behalf thru the last 10 years. The most recent was awarded for 2024 to 2026 was for $1,127,000 and included 20 Residential and 12 Commercial Rehabilitation projects.
“I have been amazed how many communities do not apply for grants and funding for projects,” added Dobson. “Many don’t have the grant writing experience or perhaps don’t even realize these funds are available.”
Dobson, who has applied for several grants for housing, economic development, and even in cooperation with the school, added that grant funding goes a long way — long enough to be the difference between status quo and progress for small cities like Tracy.
“I believe this will increasingly be the difference for Tracy moving forward,” he said. “We have to look outside our taxing authority and our residents who are already feeling the pinch if we are to continue to go above and beyond with things like parks, housing and infrastructure. We won’t get them all, but, If we don’t ask, we won’t receive. This is a team and a really, really, good one, and we will continue to seek out grants and apply for all that make sense to make Tracy a better place to live.”
Quist, who City Administrator Jeff Carpenter said deserves more credit than she receives for her grant writing work, said all grants are competitive by nature, with many hands reaching out for money, so nothing is guaranteed. She said the key to landing a grant is to have a defined plan.
For example, the City was turned down multiple times for a DNR grant for park improvements before eventually hitting the jackpot with a company that was having a special deal on playground equipment. The City learned through failure about the importance of crossing every “t” and dotting every “i.”
“There’s an application process, and they’re rated and ranked …how a granting organization does that varies,” said Quist. “One of the key things is just being ready. If you have a project, you need to be to the point where if a grant comes up, sometimes you have only a month or two to get that going and you don’t have time to get a project fully developed in that time.”
Timing is also key. Quist said the City was in the right position at the right time to apply for and attain a $500,000 Multi-Purpose Community Facility Projects grant to retrofit the ADO building to a community center. This is on top of a successful 2022 $100,000 Blandin Foundation Grant for the new center. The City decided to not apply for a community center grant a few years ago, a decision that had many in Tracy at the time wondering why it didn’t go for it. “We were not to the point where we were ready to apply for that grant,” Quist said. “I understand that it was frustrating for people that we weren’t ready, but there’s no point in applying for something if you have no chance of getting it. That’s a waste of everybody’s time.”
Quist said it’s important for residents to understand that getting grants can often be the difference between the City choosing not to spend money on other projects that need attention.
“People ask why we’re spending money on this when this needs work — well, it’s because there was a grant available for it,” she said. “The point is that it’s not local taxpayer money that’s being used for those projects. We just need to remind people of that.”
Dobson also received word Monday that the City was approved for $150,000 in funding under the 2025 Local Housing Trust Fund Grants Program. The funding is contingent upon the receipt of required due dilligence items and execution of a grant contract agreement.
The City is planning to apply for a historical grant for tuckpointing the older section of City Hall this summer.
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People ask why we’re spending money on this when this needs work — well, it’s because there was a grant available for it. The point is that it’s not local taxpayer money that’s being used for those projects.
— VAL QUIST
