DC's market for grant writers - salaried with an organization or free-lance (job market)

[Charlestondata]

I'm 55 with a BA in English and a pension as a retired state government employee. I'm thinking of taking what I suspect would be a rather intensive grant-writing course at the University of South Carolina, where I graduated from back when. I lived in DC from mid- '79 through 1983 and sometimes think about returning, this time with a built-in roommate (my partner). Does anyone know, just from the 'word on the street' or from some other, more official capacity, what the job market is like for grant writers in DC? I think that's what I'm supposed to be doing, wherever I live. Do you know whether grant writers there tend to be employed by a company or organization or whether they tend to be freelancers? Thanks!

Edit: Freelance is one word, not hyphenated. I can't edit the title of the thread.

[DistrictSonic]

It is usually a salaried position, and if you are experienced and have a solid track record you should not have to much difficulty finding a job.

[KStreetQB]

I think it's a worthwhile class to take. There is a lot of grant work out there, and I think the value proposal for hiring a grant writer is pretty solid. Grant opportunities are flooded with applications right now, and proposals are being disqualified over the most nit-picky things (like wrong font size in a graph and the application is tossed). If any of my clients are going after a grant, I recommend they hire a grant writer to help write the proposal or at least scrub it before it goes in.

It's not uncommon for grant writers to put up a shingle by themselves. If you can figure out a way to market yourself well, I don't think it's going to be a deal-breaker that you're not with a larger company. Most of the ones I have worked with are small operations.