mentor Bios

Current Position:  Consultant and Mentor

Dr. Judith Lombana has a long history of helping to make the community more competitive in securing money from funders. She created the Grants and Research Operations Office for the School District of Hillsborough County generating over $170 million dollars through accessing local, state, national and foundation dollars. Receiving her doctorate in 1983 from USF, she was appointed as the Supervisor of Federal Programs and introduced program implementation evaluation processes to improve outcomes in Early Childhood, Head Start, Title I, Human Relations through a mixed methods evaluation approach.  She worked to create and incorporate the Hillsborough Education Partnership Foundation, Inc. in 1986, now referred to the Hillsborough Education Foundation. Dr. Lombana is well known for her grant writing training classes, founded and chairs the Hillsborough County Grants Collaborative, which she, Sandy Murman and Bill Stone initiated in 1997.  After she retired from the school district as their Grants and Research Operations Officer, in 2002, she worked as a Vice President at MOSI for 13 years, responsible for securing millions of dollars through grant writing, research proposals, evaluation and government relations. She has written many journal publications and authored books and book chapters on evaluation, grant writing and created the National Science Foundation REFLECTS model to assist museum educators to better meet the needs of underserved guests. Over the last 35 years, she has worked with many school based, community and faith-based organizations providing them with technical assistance in securing funds for their mission-based programs. Her passion is giving back to the community through volunteering with the Collaborative and providing guidance to numerous non-profits in the area.   She retired from MOSI in 2015.

Current Position:  Director of Community Development

Michael Provenzano is a lifelong Tampa resident that has been with the Agency for Community Treatment Services, Inc., (ACTS) for over 24 years.  In his current position as Director of Community Development, he works closely with other agencies, groups and individual in the community and has been on the boards or served on several local projects and initiatives. Michael is on the executive committee of the Hillsborough Grants Collaborative and has been with the group since near its inception.

Current Position: Manager with Hillsborough County’s Homeless & Community Services

Laura Rice is a manager with Hillsborough County’s Homeless & Community Services Department. In her role, she is responsible for promoting and supporting a comprehensive approach to homelessness through contract administration, community partnerships and leveraging of resources. Ms. Rice has previously held positions in both government and non-profit sectors, focused on proposal writing, grants management, program development/implementation as well as community outreach. 

Her experience in human services spans from education of young children to juvenile delinquency prevention all the way up to services to assist seniors with aging in place.  She has over 20 years of grant writing experience in the Tampa Bay area and regularly participates on grant review panels for local funders.  Ms. Rice has a passion for supporting non-profits in not only developing stellar proposals, but expanding their capacity to implement high performing successful projects.  She is a graduate of the University of South Florida (Go Bulls!) with a degree in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Cognates of Psychology and Social Work.

Current Position: Senior Grant Writer with the Children’s Home Society of Florida

Alexandra Furnari is a Senior Grant Writer with the Children’s Home Society of Florida.  Her previous positions have included Director of Grants and Evaluation for the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, VP for Community Building with the United Way of El Paso County, and Policy and Resource Development Coordinator with the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County. She has served as Executive Director of nonprofit organizations, led numerous collaborative initiatives, and community organizations. 

Current Position:  Director of Grants and Contracts Compliance for Lighthouse for the Blind & Low Vision

Veronica White, Director of Grants and Contracts Compliance for Lighthouse for the Blind & Low Vision, has been with the organization for 24 years, coordinating numerous local, foundation and government grant applications and managing any resulting contracts.  Ms. White has worked in the non-profit field for over 30 years, as an employee and as an independent Contractual Grant Writer and has worked with numerous start-ups, faith-based, and established non-profit organizations providing grant writing services, training, and assisting in grant writing and administrative capacity building, many as a previously contracted consultant with the CBHC.  An at-large committee member of the Hillsborough County Grants Collaborative and a former member United Way of Central Florida’s Community Investment Committee and Impact Cabinet, and of the United Way Suncoast’s previous Community Investment Strategies Committee,  Ms. White has presented and co-presented numerous trainings on Grant Development and related activities for the Polk Grants Alliance and various organizations in Hillsborough County including the Non-Profit Leadership Center and developed and conducted trainings for specific to requesting organizations.

Current Position: Consultant

Bobbi Davis has spent her entire 30+ year career in the nonprofit sector.  Her early work in health and wellness at the Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA laid the groundwork for her career.  As a part of her YMCA duties, Bobbi began to write short proposals for funding for special events and corporate gifts from local partners. This early writing eventually led to grant proposals where she led the Tampa YMCA to establish a $10 M department funded almost exclusively by grant funds. Bobbi’s journey from the YMCA after 20 years, took her to the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County where she changed her role from soliciting for grants to overseeing grant funding to local organizations. This experience helped to hone her skills in grant development and to look at the writing from the perspective of the reviewer. Since her time at the Children’s Board she has continued to work full-time in various nonprofit agencies while she has developed a portfolio of clients for grant writing and strategic planning.  Bobbi joined Tampa Housing Authority in 2020 as the agency’s Grant Writer. Bobbi has a Ph.D. in Adult Education from the University of South Florida in Tampa where she makes her home.   

Current Position: Director Jewish Community Relations Council

 Director with the  Jewish Community Relations Council - Tampa Jewish Community Centers & Federation. She has been with the Grants Collaborative for over 5 years.  She is experienced in grant and copy writing, editing, media relations, social media and other communications skills, marketing, event and volunteer management

Current Position: Founder And CEO of Faces of Courage Foundation

Peggie founded Faces of Courage Foundation January 6, 2004. Faces of Courage is a 501(c)3 that provides, free of charge, day outings, educational workshops, virtual programming and medically supervised overnight camps for adults and children with all types of cancers. Faces of Courage is the first organization in the Nation to tailor a women’s weekend camp for minority cancer survivors and is considered a leader in minority outreach and education. Ms. Sherry serves and has served (since 2005) on numerous committees and research grants for both University of South Florida and H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center. She has been a grant reviewer for Department of Defense, Susan G. Komen and Hillsborough Education Foundation. Ms. Sherry Co-Authored Breast Cancer Tips and Tricks from Two Survivors with Phyllis Mikolatis in 2022.