MEMORANDUM

TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
DATE:

JESSICA JORGENSON
LAUREN CAMMACK
INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEW
APRIL 28, 2015

Introduction
On the morning of April 23, 2015, I had the opportunity to interview Dr.
Kevin Thompson. He is a faculty member in the criminal justice
department at North Dakota State University. He has been at NDSU for
twenty-six years. He has written several grants throughout his career
while the success of them is either a hit or miss. He collaborates on
grants with his colleagues or programs throughout the Fargo-Moorhead
area. He has managed to be devoted professor all while conducting
research throughout the community.
Background Information
Dr. Kevin Thompson is a professor at North Dakota State University
where he specializes in adolescents and young adult risky behavior. He
works directly with the local schools and police departments in order to
conduct his research and provide services to the community. He has
served on several boards in the Fargo-Moorhead community, which
allows him to build his connections with members of the community on
a personal level. His current research emphasizes on whether or not
drug courts along with domestic violence courts have an influence on
recidivism rates, and the effects of heavy drinking on college students
to name a few. Within in the college he teaches two undergraduate
level classes, which are deviant behavior and crime and delinquency.
Additionally, he advises three graduate level courses of advanced
criminology, criminal justice policy, and individual theories of crime.
Process
Dr. Thompson gets involved in the grant writing process in a possibility
of two routes. One route is the good ole fashion way by sorting through
the websites and tracking for the requests for proposals (RFPs) that

pertain to what he would like to research. The other direction is when

agencies come to him when they would like their programs evaluated,
which he sees quite a bit of.
He addressed the fact that within the criminal justice field the research
is either about studying a phenomenon or evaluating existing
programs. He stated that more of the phenomenons that are put into
place are never complete failures, except Scared Straight and he
pointed out that they dont receive any federal money due to the
statistics. Most of the programs simply need to be tweaked or modified
slightly to make them better and his research can provide them with
the evidence to address the weaknesses.
The agencies he has worked with in the past are schools, local police
departments, and agencies in the community. He mentioned a specific
study he worked on involved observing children in a YMCA after school
program in which the children where supposed to be doing homework
and have tutors in subjects they needed assistance with. Graduate
students would then observe their behavior and if the program helps
the children or not. This evaluation was also one of the few that he was
able to receive a federal grant for.
Dr. Thompson mentioned that it is very seldom he receives approval
for a federal grant. He writes one or two grants a year, most of them
locally and has only received two federal grants in his career. I asked
him if he had a specific type of program that he asks for federal
funding for and he stated that he doesnt really put that much thought
into which ones he applies for locally versus federally. I also questioned
him on whether or not he holds on to the ideas he really likes that get
rejected. He replied that he moves forward and puts them past him. I
was quite shocked at this because he believed some of the ones he
wrote were really good and he thought they would definitely get
funded and then they dont while some of the ones he thought were
decent but nothing special would turn out receiving the most attention.
With all the effort that goes into these decisions he cant do it alone.

He has never written a grant by himself and it is usually completed by

at least three people. He stated that in most cases he will work on it
and two other individuals from the agencies interested in the project
would collaborate with him. He mentioned that the hardest part is
collaborating and getting everyone on the same page. The timeline to
write one varies quite a bit from his perspective. He said that if it
needs to get done they could complete it in as little as two and a half
to three weeks. I was kind of shocked by how fast they could whip up a
quality grant for the amount of money they could be receiving. Once
they have finally received the funding the real work has only begun.
When asked what the first step is once a grant has been approved for
them to use, he noted they must make sure the entire project is
properly implemented. This is a crucial part to the process especially
when funding is coming from federal agencies. If evidence is not
produced and programs arent being run the risk of being reported
comes into play. One of the most interesting facts I got out of the
interview is that schools are one of the worst facilities to work with. I
thought that they would be in favor of trying out programs and seeing
what is the best benefit for the kids; however, he stated that they
would try to use the money to get materials and whatever else they
wanted for the school instead. Not only are there downfalls to this long
process some benefits are in store as well.
Benefits
The benefits that are included with completing the grant can be worth
all the hard work in the long run. Dr. Thompson said that his favorite
part about the grant process is seeing which programs succeed and
finding ways to improve existing programs. Seeing the benefits placed
on the individuals within those programs is very rewarding.
When asked if he had any advice for me, he said that I should really
value the skill of grant writing because it can be useful in every job I
will face in the future. It is a very good marketing tool to get into
agencies and can take one places that they may not have reached
without the skill of writing and precisely grant writing because the skill
is needed in every agency one can think of. He also said to master the

budget area or find someone who knows it well because it is by far the
most difficult part of the process.
Conclusion
Dr. Thompson provided me with an insight to grant writing that I had
never thought about before. Prior to this class I wasnt all that sure
what professors had to do with the grant writing process and now I
realize they are in the deepest depths of it all. I also learn a lot about
how it can be applied to the criminal justice field and examples of
programs that have had success and failure. In the end I received
advice on how grant writing can influence all aspects of my career and
can take me places with this skill Im just starting to grow.