The Grant Assistance Program at IPA

Lori Spagnolo is a Policy Scientist at the University of Delaware's Institute for Public Administration.  With a broad background in environmental policy, she has worked in numerous capacities with non-profits, and federal and state government programs.  Most recently she was the Brownfield Program Coordinator for the State of Delaware, where she supported the revitalization of Delaware communities by helping developers navigate the redevelopment of contaminated sites.  Lori is also the Team Lead for the Grants Assistance Program, which provides free grant writing and technical assistance to Delaware municipalities. Resiliency is one of her primary areas of interest, along with helping to uplift the state's underserved communities through various grant opportunities.

Chase Barnes is an Associate Policy Scientist at the Institute for Public Administration, where he works directly with municipalities pursuing large infrastructure projects to draft, submit, and manage grant applications. 

Since July 2022, Barnes has worked directly on nearly three dozen grant applications worth over $48.5 million through the Grant Assistance Program. To date, his team has secured over $8 million in project funding benefitting municipalities statewide. He also provides local grant trainings and workshops, and stays informed on the latest opportunities by regularly attending state, regional and national conferences. 

While earning his Master of Public Administration at the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration, Chase served as a Local Government Management Fellow for the City of Dover and as a Legislative Fellow for the Delaware General Assembly.

Matthew Harris is an Associate Policy Scientist and Urban Planner with over 12 years of experience in community planning and development. He holds a Master’s degree in Community and Regional Planning from Temple University. Much of Matt’s career has been spent as a Planner for the City of Wilmington, where he contributed to various community-driven projects, including comprehensive, strategic, and transportation planning. He has coordinated community engagement on a range of topics, most recently leading an EPA-funded Area-Wide Planning process and Assessment Grant. In this role, Matt designed and implemented the community-driven process, managing community meetings and steering committees. He also led the development of the city’s bike plan, Moving Us Forward: A Plan for Biking in the City of Wilmington, with a strong focus on equitable transportation planning.

Troy Mix is Associate Director of the University of Delaware's Institute for Public Administration (IPA). Hailing from small farming and mill communities across the northeast, Troy is passionate about helping communities chart successful paths through economic transition, decline, and renaissance. He leads IPA’s Regional Development Team, which works with communities, individuals, and organizations seeking to shape the future of the places they care about. Troy is recognized as a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, and his work focuses on delivering data-informed research and analysis, strategic planning, and training services to support the economic and organizational development efforts of governments, business groups, and community stakeholders across Delaware and the mid-Atlantic region. 

Collin Willard is a grants specialist at the University of Delaware. With a background in transportation policy, land use planning, and historical research, Collin works on the Grant Assistance Program (GAP) and alongside IPA’s planning team to provide local governments with grant writing, research, and technical planning assistance. Collin is a founding member of the GAP team, assisting with the program’s launch in 2022 as a graduate student. Collin’s research interests include walkability, urban development, infrastructure resilience, and the history of transportation and land use policy.

Larry Windley serves as a senior fellow at IPA after spending his career in economic development leadership roles, including ten years as senior director for special projects and economic development for U.S. Senator Thomas Carper. He advises and directly supports IPA's work on economic development and the Grant Assistance Program. Larry earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Delaware.