Letter of Recomendation

[WSVFD239]

I was wondering if anyone can give me some information on the effectiveness of Congressional letters of support. At the workshop I went to the person from the grant program said that the letters dont get associated with the application until the decision has been made on whether the grant is going to be awarded or not. However, the representatives from my area talk about the importance of getting their letters of recommendation.

What's the scoop - do they help or not. Since this is supposed to be a needs based program support letters shouldn't make a difference.

wsvfd239

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

They don't. They use the letter from Congressional representation so they know who to notify the Wednesday before the awards are announced on Friday. The only letters of support that might make a difference are those at the local level to show local support (i.e. financial) to the project. Peer Review never sees them so they have no bearing on scoring.

[Diane E]

But they certainly are popular (and it appears to not matter what state the request is for either)!