TOLEDO, Ohio —
Toledo's grants team does a lot of the behind-the-scenes work to help bring in more money to the city.
Simon Nyi started his position as the city's grants commissioner in August of 2022. He said it was created when historic levels of federal funding became available after the pandemic. Some of the legislation includes the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act.
Laura Schaffer, the city's grants coordinator, joined Nyi about six months ago. She does research and data collection along with grant writing.
The two work with all the departments in the city.
"One day we may be working with our parks director, the next day we may be working with public safety, and the next with transportation," Nyi said. "We spend a lot of time just understanding what some of our top projects and priorities are."
Rather than searching for grants for the city, departments often turn to the grants team.
"A department will see something, they know it correlates to a need that they have and come to us," Schaffer said. "We'll work together to see is this something we can feasibly go for? If it checks all the boxes, then we go to work."
The city received its largest competitive grant of $28 million for east Toledo infrastructure, according to a press release Monday.
Some of the other projects the Nyi and Schaffer have worked on include the $20 million RAISE Grant for improving roads and pedestrian safety in the Junction and Uptown neighborhoods.
Another grant-funded project is the RE-TREE Toledo. The city received $6 million to plant over 10,000 trees.
Schaffer said one of the larger projects she worked on involved finding obstacles that impact affordable housing in the city.
Although larger grants are important, Nyi said smaller grants can often have immediate impacts Toledo residents can see and feel.
The city has seen the impact of having the team through the amount of funding being requested and awarded.
In 2022, the city requested $57.5 million and was awarded $17.4 million, 43% of the funds it applied for. In 2023, the city requested $179.5 million and was awarded $43.2 million, 71% of the funds it applied for.
Nyi and Schaffer in 2023 brought the city over $25 million more than the previous year.
Nyi is paid an annual salary of $88,000 and Schaffer is paid $83,811, according to city of Toledo spokesperson Amy Voigt.