As we enter into a new year, a New Year’s resolution is the most common tradition Americans practice.
Almost every person resolves to change an undesired trait or behavior, to accomplish a personal goal or otherwise improve their life. I challenge you to commit to securing more federal funds in the area of government contracts.
You may be saying why would I do that given that the government has been shut down for nearly two weeks; however core government functions remain up and running. The military, law enforcement and entitlements are largely unaffected. Grant it NASA, which can affect the Minority Serving Institutions the most, has ceased operations, but the work and effort of the agency's mission still must go on. Additionally, a lot of Department of Defense operations are functioning because they are considered “essential employees.”
I believe when we are committed to something and truly commit to make a change, we will educate ourselves and find ways to make things work. We cannot give up on generating new funding into our universities simply because we don’t understand it. The health of our schools depends on it. Think about it like this, if the doctor told us we will die at the end of the year if we don’t change our eating habits, the majority of us will try and more than likely succeed if they knew their life depended upon it.
Now, you will have others that are just not disciplined, or even worse, too set in their ways to change, And guess what happens? They may not die at the end of year, but eventually they will die when they least expect it. I am simply saying let’s begin this year doing what we should be doing to acquire government contracts. Our resolution should be if opportunities are out there that can grow our school financially, we will do the things necessary to equip ourselves to receive this type of funding.
Starting this year I urge you to seek guidance on how to receive additional funding from these government agencies. Gather the necessary tools to prepare you to become successful. Reach out to subject matter experts such as PMP to get trained and start reaching your goals for 2019.
Latonia Jones is the chief executive officer of Phenomenal Management Partners, a consulting firm that specializes in creating and implementing business development strategies for academic institutions that conduct research and development for federal government agencies.
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