Wendy R.
De Shong-Neuhalfen

Very early in life, I realized that writing stands at the core of everything you may want to achieve while on earth. Learning to write a grant/proposal is one of the skills you need to develop in order to have a chance of getting your projects funded. I love to write. I grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and still today, I sometimes glance at an article I wrote back in the 70’s which won me a prize in the school’s annual writing competition.  My career began when I taught science, French, German, and biology at two schools in Staten Island, New York. Creating and editing Notre Dame Academy’s Science newsletter was a good start to my writing. Later, I taught Biology at the American School of Paris, in France and I also designed their Adolescent Health Curriculum.  Luckily, I had spent a few years at the New York City Department of Health as a Coordinator in the Lower East Side district of Manhattan working in adolescent health at two schools.  Later, my writing developed as I worked in the Anti-Hunger area at the largest food bank in the world (Food Bank for New York City) where I managed servicing 1,200 non-profit organizations. Responsibilities included grant and contract research, writing and development, allocation and management as well as developing community networking connections, liaison with elected officials and funders while working with logistics to ensure that these clients were satisfied with our services. In addition to this, I was part of the team for the Food Bank’s first publication, « Who Feeds the Hungry. » 

When I left the food bank, I worked for a short while providing development and grant writing technical assistance to non-profit organizations, grassroots organizations and entrepreneurs. I was also an Adjunct Professor at Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus teaching grant writing to graduate students.  In 2000, I co-founded New Direction Services with my husband-a Vietnam Veteran working in the architecture field-designing mostly churches and elderly housing complexes. We have been in operation for 20 years and contract development, management, grant research, writing, and fiscal responsibilities are key functions of running a successful organization. The COVID 19 pandemic of 2020 presented many challenges and having grant writing skills helped us address the heightened needs of food insecurity, community relations and societal life adjustments that increased during the pandemic.