Recap: Effective Grant Management: Lessons from Community Development, Disaster Recovery, and Infrastructure

In our recent webinar, Victoria Rojas, Senior Budget and Financial Advisor for the City of Miami, shared her career path in grants management and the lessons she has learned from working across individual assistance programs and citywide resilience initiatives. Today, within Miami’s Department of Resilience and Public Works, she oversees compliance for major infrastructure grants that support drainage systems, seawalls, and other projects.

Drawing on years of experience, she outlined her five key lessons for successful grant management: 

1. Design processes with the end in mind
2. never co-mingle funds
3. Build strong relationships with funding sources, 
4. Stay ahead on compliance requirements  
5. Always read the contract. 

These principles, she explained, have proven invaluable in both daily operations and large-scale recovery efforts.

Among the many projects in her career, one stands out: the reconstruction of Dinner Key Marina following Hurricane Irma in 2017. With 60% of the facility destroyed, the project required navigating FEMA’s complex Public Assistance program alongside state funding sources. By aligning contractor invoices with FEMA’s detailed Damage Description and Dimensions documentation, her team streamlined reimbursement, securing recovery funds quickly and efficiently.

From supporting rental assistance for families in crisis to advancing urban forestry and climate resilience projects, Victoria’s work illustrates how grant management can drive both immediate relief and long-term community transformation. Her story reinforces a central truth: public service is personal, and when done well, grants can be powerful tools to build stronger, more resilient communities.

The webinar presentation can be downloaded here, and the recording is below.

Want to build on the lessons from this webinar? Forerunner helps communities manage every step of a grant - from application to completion - in one platform by organizing funding records, tracking compliance, and monitoring progress. Request a demo or reach out to hello@withforerunner.com - we’d love to connect.