From Water to Roads: How One Grant Writer Shapes Cloudcroft's Future
Lauren Groesbeck has become a vital player in securing money for Village projects. Meet the most valuable player in the adminstration you don't know - yet

Amid all the recent discussions at Council meetings, one theme consistently receives unanimous agreement: Grant manager Lauren Groesbeck has been a terrific addition to the Village administration.
She plays a key role in our future: getting more money. With less than $2.5 million in annual revenues, the Village must secure grants to fund significant projects.
Repairs and enhancements to our aging water and wastewater system won’t happen without grants.
Grants are necessary to fund Cloudcroft’s much-needed property cleanup for fire mitigation, the reimagining of Elevation Park, and long-overdue upgrades of our roads. And the list goes on.
Groesbeck’s addition to the village team was itself funded by a one-year grant of $25,000 from the Southeastern New Mexico Economic Development Department (SNMEDD) initiative.
When funding from that grant ends shortly, the Village will either have to secure another grant, pay for her services from the operating budget, or lose her altogether.
Since Groesbeck is the Village’s best bet to snag crucial grant funding and to do the necessary follow-through to maintain good standing with grantors, the hope is that the Council will, as a last resort, find the money in the annual budget to secure her services for years to come. With the savings in salaries from the two still-unfilled police officer positions, the money exists to ensure she is not lost.
Turning $25,000 into millions in grants, Groesbeck's position pays for itself many times over. How can the Village of Cloudcroft afford not to renew her money-machine contract?
In a recent interview, Mayor Turner said, “Lauren G. is one of the most impressive people I've ever worked with. She is just incredible. One of my highest priorities over the next six months is to secure her again for another year.”
Trustee Gail McCoy calls her “a fantastic resource who has helped the village tremendously.”
Trustee Tim King says, “Lauren has been an invaluable resource to the Village of Cloudcroft. Her knowledge of the grant writing process is second to none, and the Village needs to keep her on the payroll.”
Public Works Supervisor J.J. Carizzal, who works closely with Groesbeck in project planning and grants, says,
“I work together with Lauren on our grants. She's freaking awesome. I’m trying to get her to get hired here full-time in the village because we need her, we need her knowledge here in the office for the grants.”
“Nobody in here knows how to write a grant. And she does. She knows where to chase it. And you've seen her in those meetings we have. She's very intelligent. She asks the right questions. I think she's fantastic.”
On a cool October morning Lauren Groesbeck joined Cloudcroft Reader’s Hannah Dean at Zenith Park to chat about how she came to consulting work, grant writing and management, her future goals, and her message for her fellow villagers.
The picturesque park is dotted by morning sunlight pouring through brilliantly chartreuse aspen leaves. Zenith is the epicenter of Cloudcroft’s public spaces, making it an apt setting to discuss village funding future.
Groesbeck has become indispensable to village operations, combining sharp intelligence with infectious optimism about Cloudcroft's future.
The following is Lauren Groesbeck in her own words unless otherwise indicated. This interview was lightly edited for length and clarity.
Lauren Groesbeck and Cloudcroft: “Grants-Focused”
“I’m a New Mexico transplant. I moved here in 2014. I followed my grandmother, who set her roots here. I started in the Santa Fe and Albuquerque area and then moved down to Ruidoso and Roswell. My family decided to put roots here in Cloudcroft in 2021.”
“I started my business, which is GG Consulting, in 2020, right when the whole world shut down. Brilliant timing on my behalf [laughs]. So those first couple of months were definitely very nerve-wracking.”
“I wore a marketing hat at the beginning of my business endeavor. Then, it evolved into virtual assistance and operations management. Today, I focus on operations management, grant writing, and grant management.”
“I like to work with businesses to help them operationalize better and streamline their approaches to help maximize whatever funding they can get. So sometimes I offer just the operations approach, sometimes just the grant management approach, and sometimes a fusion of both.”
“One grant that I'm particularly excited about is that we got a grant through New Mexico Clean and Beautiful that will help us in our community make sure that everything is cleaned up. And through that grant, we're going to be able to strategically put rollaways and roll-offs throughout the community to provide more access for people who maybe can't get to the dump or who don't have pickup trucks.”
“I'm also excited about the Non-Federal Land Grants, the NFL grants, in partnership with the Forestry Department and the Fire Department. That will help offset the cost of brush and fuel cleanup for Cloudcroft residents.”
“There's a complicated billing procedure that will be handled by a third party for that, but hopefully, the cost for 80% of every acre will be offset through that program. So that's a cool one.”
“We've got some funding to redesign many Cloudcroft roads. Hopefully, we can pair it with some funding we've got for drainage because my goal is to help the village create a stack of funds that work together. We have sewers and roads, and we have funding for sewers and roads and drainage all happening and hitting simultaneously so that we can really effect some of the changes that I think people are looking for.”
The Contract
“My contract is set to expire in November of this year, but I know that Mayor Turner has been working with SNMEDD to bring a new contract into effect. We're waiting to see all the details, but I'm confident I'll still have a future here in Cloudcroft.”
“Fingers crossed.”
“It is a collaborative effort from a whole group. My name is definitely out there, but many people are all working together to put grant applications forward because I can't just... manifest information on my own. I've got to work with department heads and individuals within the community to get the numbers and understand the project. So it's not just me. I'm just getting a lot of the credit for it.”
The village could hire you as a consultant or extend your services, even without a grant, correct?
“Yes, and that's above my pay grade, but theoretically, that could happen. I know there's work being done to make sure that this role stays consistent.”
“I also am keeping an eye out for any grants I might get to pay for this role. So anything that's labeled as a ‘technical assistance grant’ is what could pay for a grant writer.”
“To stay on top of applications and the management, researching, and attending everything is a pretty intensive role. That would be a lot for any one village employee at any municipality to be solely responsible for, especially to the level at which we're applying now.”
“(Before I came aboard), grants were applied for. We had already secured grants when I came into this role, so it's just carrying that through. I don't want to take away from what anybody else had done previously because significant work was done. Erich Wuersching has been getting his Fire Department grants for years, and the police department and library have historically sourced their own. I know Trustee Tim King has secured grant funds for the Village, too. I've been working with Police Chief Roger Schoolcraft on some funding opportunities he has sourced that are set to pan out. I don't want to take credit for what anybody else does.”
Village Priorities
“Right now, we're focused on Capital Outlay. Capital Outlay is sort of in my purview because it comes back to us in the form of a grant, but that's essentially when the mayor and, hopefully, the council will go to request our top priority projects before the legislature. These are off the top of my head, and to the best of my recollection, water, roads, and emergency support. So that's coming up, and that's been the primary focus and probably will be through the end of the year.”
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“Water, in general, is a huge priority. With the Council’s support, Mayor Turner and I just applied (in person in Santa Fe) to improve our storage tanks and conveyance systems. It's a preventative grant, though. We're trying to be proactive in ensuring that we have the funding to support J.J. and his team and that things are in good condition. So that was a million-dollar ask.”
“The jury's still out on that. But some funding projects are coming in the new year that I think we're going to be well positioned for, given that we've got our 2023 audit submitted to the state auditor and under review, so that helps us to build a strong foundation for future requests. The work that Julie Pinson, Suzanne Peralta, and the mayor have been doing with the auditors has helped set a solid foundation for next year's application cycles.”
“Not to say that we aren't getting opportunities because of anything with the audits, but I know that the more full and complete package we can provide, the more likely people will trust our municipality with additional funding.”
“Many funding groups were very understanding and willing to work with us. There are a lot of external checkpoints in grant management to help prevent hiccups.”
“There were definitely some opportunities that we were able to pursue that we may not have been able to pursue in previous years because there's just not enough hours in the day.”
“Next year, I would like to see an uptick in applications and in awards. A caveat there is that it will largely depend on how we deploy some of the funds we are already receiving. One of the things with grants is you have to manage them well. Because it’s much like a credit score in that if you make a major financial misstep, people are less likely to lend or give a grant to you.”
“To my knowledge, there's no credit score mechanism in terms of municipal evaluations, but in the same way that we think of our personal credit score, it's just really important that we take care of our financial history as a village to make ourselves really attractive applicants in the coming years.”
“Yes, I think we will see another uptick if I'm secured through next year. But, like I said, it's a whole team. And I think that we're setting a really strong foundation. And I think we're headed in a direction where we would be well positioned to increase grant volume next year.”
Will there be Elevation Park funding?
“We've already put some funding out for that. No awards have been made, but we have some applications. The Parks and Rec. team is clear about their goals, which I think helps drive a strong funding approach because they know what they want to get done.”
“Nobody's gonna give us a million dollars based on something we've sketched on paper. So, the first step with much of this funding is to find a plan through design and engineering. And a lot of that planning can be funded through grants.”
“The important first step for Elevation Park is to have someone come in and design it to get an idea of what that looks like. And then, next year, we'll be able to pursue some larger construction-based funding opportunities.”
“It's going to be a multi-phase, multi-step project, but most are.”
“I know that there are a lot of funding programs out there that support outdoor recreation, and I want to make sure that New Mexicans spend time outdoors. There's funding out there for it. I think there's a great team in place at Parks and Rec. I think the village is on a financial upswing to where we're foundationally well-placed to secure the funding.”
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What about affordable housing?
“The Village has put affordable housing on our Infrastructure Captial Improvement Plan (ICIP) list. I want to say it's our maybe ninth or tenth listed priority.”
“The first step there will be finding somewhere to put it and a plan for it. We're landlocked with the national forests, and I think that continues to be a huge challenge for this village and a double-edged sword—but that’s also what makes us so awesome.”
“So, affordable housing is on the radar, but I would say that the top priorities for the village are infrastructure-based: water, roads, and sewer. The things we need to ensure are shored up before we can even begin to pursue anything else.”
The Grants Process
“I have found it most effective when an organization comes to me and says, these are the projects that we're trying to get done. Let's find funding for them. The same funding that's available for a municipality is not going to be available for a small business, is not going to be available for a non-profit, and is not going to be available for an individual. Programs always evaluate their applicants based on what group they fit into, if they're a municipality, for-profit, non-profit, individual, or tribal government in some instances.”
“It's really important that groups know where they want to go and have that roadmap. Or understand that they're applying for funding to get that roadmap because that is also possible.”
“There are many different databases that you can scout and scour. Many of them are paid. But I would say that the most impactful and effective way to find grant opportunities is to get involved in a funding network, like email lists, where they'll say, hey, this opportunity is coming out, and then have a plan that's ready to go when those funding opportunities present themselves.”
“That's a lot of what I've done with the village. There are plans of where we want to go, and there are a lot of roadmaps as to what we want things to look like. But it's just a matter of putting those all in one place and then going out and finding funding opportunities that fit those needs.”
“First, let's qualify what it means for the village to get a grant. There are a couple of steps here: the application process, which we're all familiar with. You have to have XYZ to even apply, so there's that first stage. And then, if our application is received favorably, we get to a point where the funding group will award us the money.”
“Let’s say they award us $100,000. There are a lot of steps between when we're awarded the money and when we see that money come into our account. So that's why it's very difficult to say, oh, we have X amount in grant funds because many different projects are at varying stages of that process. Maybe we’re waiting for agreements to be signed to secure the funding, or we've spent the money, and now we need to request it back from an entity.”
“The money that's announced is not just coming into our bank account, and often there's a large lag in when we're awarded and when you receive it. So it's been hard for me to give a clear amount of money we have in grant funds: they're all at different stages.”
“At the stage that we're currently in with the village, I'm finding, writing, and managing what we've got. I think (the management) is going pretty well. If you had asked me a couple of months ago, I would not have had a great idea of what was happening because I was only focused on writing until May last year. But I think that we've got a good handle on things. Some really good records were kept in the grant management.”
“We've got a lot of agreements on the horizon for funding that we had secured. Like, we've got agreements in and finalized, and we're receiving the executed copies back, which means we can start spending against those.”
“That's through a huge effort in accounting and just the administration because that's where it is a collaborative effort. I can't request funding back if I don't know if a vendor has been paid. And so there are places where Public Works, Accounting, and all of these different departments are working together to get me the figures I need to report on specific things. So, it's a group effort.”
Are there times when the money promised is not money delivered?
“Yes, that can happen, and that has happened. Not necessarily here, but in other instances. You know, if a signature is missed by a deadline, then that money could be lost. Or if we get a grant for $100,000, but we only spend $90,000 towards that project... you know, then technically, we've lost $10,000. So, there are varying degrees of commitment that happen throughout. Things could not go as planned.”
“It would be key to ensure that the community understands that just because we have an award letter that says that we have this, it's not like we are just stacking all this money in a bank. It's coming over months or years, sometimes reimbursable, and we must spend it to get it back. That creates a whole other level of challenges because then we have to ensure it's allocated for in the budget.”
“That is where the grant management capacity starts coming in. So there's the grant research component, there's the grant writing component, and then there's the grant management component.”
“And that's typically how I break out my business service offerings. Like, do you just want me to find the grants? Do you want me to find them and write them? Do you want me to find them, write them, and manage them?”
GG Consulting Backstory
“I work with a number of organizations. Cloudcroft is one, but I spend a lot of time working with great leaders nationwide. I do a lot with tribal governments.”
“When I first moved to New Mexico in 2014, I got involved with the Santa Fe Home Builders Association and worked intensively with them. I had a wonderful mentor, Karen Paramanandam, who plucked me out of the Home Builders Association and put me to work with her. And that's where I started dabbling in grant work—through renewable energy programs. That's where I got my sea legs, for lack of a better term.”
“I worked in the renewable energy sector for years, and then I was hired through the New Mexico Workforce Development team in Roswell as a youth career counselor. And so I did a lot of work taking advantage of employment opportunities and grants to try to... You know, help kids who were maybe not going to graduate, and try to provide additional financial support and counseling to them.”
“I worked a lot in renewable energy construction before, and that was what much of my operations background is in: renewable energy and construction. That has translated well into much of my career because a lot of the funding I get for other organizations is construction-based. So that background has served me well.”
“I'm kind of all over the place in terms of my experience and specialty, I'm still niching things down. But operations, grant writing, and grant management are specialty focuses.”
Hope for Cloudcroft’s Future
“This community cares so deeply about everything that's going on. And I think that that's such an incredible component of the work that we're doing here. But at the same time, it's hard to explain every step of every process to everyone and to receive a favorable outcome. So I would just say the more united of a front that our village can put on, the stronger and better positioned we are to achieve some of these goals. A united front is very important.”
“We're a lot stronger than we believe we are, and the future is so bright for this community. We're in a place where we get to decide what our future looks like.”
“My husband and I moved here, and we were like, this is Ruidoso, 20 years ago. And so it's beautiful that we've been able to preserve this. We won't be able to stay here hidden forever. And so just making sure that this community reflects the values that we all hold so dear, and that we make sure to keep it a really special place that's not a carbon copy of somewhere else.”
“I can't speak for the whole village, but my perspective on being here is that we value simplicity. Nobody wants to overcomplicate anything here. And I think that that's what a lot of people come here to escape—overcomplexities of life.”
“Everything is pretty much off one main road, and everyone knows everyone. I think that our town has found a way to preserve a way of life that doesn't exist in other places.”
“Just making sure that we're able to enjoy the beautiful foliage, and we're able to step outside and take a deep breath of mountain air, and that our lives don't get so rushed to where that falls by the wayside. And our town doesn't get too big to where that falls by the wayside.”
“All of our success as a village will depend on everybody operating together. And I think that we've got a team in place that's helping to drive everyone forward.”
“There are more economic-based grants that we could pursue, and there's definitely recreational and creative grants that we could pursue. But at this particular juncture, I know that the focus for the administration is making sure that we've got all the funding to keep our residents with the utilities they need. And so I would say that hopefully, in the next year, we'll be able to focus a little bit more on some of those economic development grants and things of that nature. I would love it if this village saw more economic development because I'm an entrepreneur myself, and I think that it's such an important boost.”
“Your local economic development departments will always have a lot of funding opportunities.”
“We secured a recent grant with New Mexico True that the Chamber of Commerce used for Heritage Days. That weekend's expansion resulted from a $5,000 New Mexico Tourism Department grant.”
“I know that we had previously secured some funding to support other tourism events, but things happened, and some of that funding, about $15,000, fell through. There are tourism opportunities and grants out there, and they're typically for smaller amounts, though, so we’re focused on the bigger ticket items, such as the wastewater treatment plants and the roads.”
“You know, it's meaningful work within the community. And that's the reward.”

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This is very interesting information. I have been coming to Cloudcroft nearly every year since 1942 when I was not yet 1 year old. My friends ask me, "What is there to do in Cloudcroft?" I answer, "Nothing." And yet every time we come here, we are busy as bees until it is time to leave. So, how can both these statements be true at the same time? To me, both are true because anything I do in Cloudcroft, including working on our cabin, is cushioned with feelings of serenity, peacefulness, relaxation, and joy. So keeping Lauren Groesbeck involved with Cloudcroft creates a benefit to all of us to keep Cloudcroft wonderful for all our enjoyment in future years. I will make a donation to help make that happen.