August 14 , 2009
CONTENTS
NEWS YOU CAN USE California/Nevada Community Action Partnership launches “Fulfilling the Promise”
working with CBS-TV to show success stories and effective use of Recovery Act fundsEmerald Cities Collaborative (ECC) identifies 1st round of potential cities
for “greening” American metro regionsPartnership advocates for protections for low-income communities in Climate Change policy PARTNERSHIP NEWS
Partnership welcomes 11 new Peer Reviewers for Pathways to Excellence Program Oklahoma CAAs receive awards CONVENTION NEWS Philadelphia Marriott still has a few rooms available — Call now! If financial solvency & sustainability is a priority for your agency, then
learn from two of the best development pros in Community ActionNewcomer's welcome session at the Annual Convention Please bring your current membership cards to the Convention Convention program schedule now available online!
Cal/Neva Partnership shows how Community Action is
using ARRA $$$ to help people & families
Have you ever thought about how great it would be to have 30 second TV spots showing how effective your Community Action is in helping people? Is your agency doing significant work, using ARRA funds to weatherize homes, serve more Head Start kids and families, and provide multiple services and programs that promotes economic security for low-income people in your communities? Have you dreamed of a high-visibility branding initiative that highlights your agency’s important work?
Well, it’s happening now in California. Thanks to the incredible leadership and tenacity of Tim Reese, Executive Director of the California/Nevada Community Action Partnership (the state association of local Community Action Agencies in both states), Cal/Neva has developed a “first of its kind” education and outreach campaign to show how Community Action Agencies are fulfilling the promise of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Tim, a true visionary and can-do leader, saw the importance of telling the American public how Community Action is using ARRA funds to help people back to work, help those low-income and vulnerable people, families and children cope with and survive during our economic downturn.
Tim approached his trusted colleagues at Marshall Howard and Associates, specifically Mike James MHA’s Vice President of Program Development and they subsequently convinced Ross Chan of KPIX-TV, the CBS-TV station in San Francisco to help create a statewide campaign, “Fulfilling the Promise.” Focusing on Community Action’s effectiveness in using federal Recovery Act funds, Cal/Neva is working with CBS and airing 30 seconds spots in the Bay Area market, with future spots in the Los Angeles and Sacramento markets. The spots show ARRA dollars at work, providing jobs, training, and essential services. Cal/Neva’s partnership with CBS will include 60 second spots, the creation of web sites; CBS-sponsored, state-of the-art media training and a wealth of CBS in-kind resources and talent. This project is only a few months old and you can see the some of its work to date by visiting www.fulfillingthepromise-us.org.
There’s much more to the Cal/Neva design and implementation of Fulfilling the Promise, such as a one hour per month television show that Cal/Neva is producing with Marshall Howard and Associates. Our national Community Action Partnership is meeting with CBS-TV executives and actively pursuing a national replication of Fulfilling the Promise in major media markets across America.
There are costs involved for Community Action. Lloyd Throne, Director of California’s Department of Community Services & Development, provided some start-up funds for this project, and 20 Cal/Neva member agencies each contributed between $5,000-$25,000 toward this effort which will run for the next 14 months.
Our national Partnership is working with CBS-TV to replicate Fulfilling the Promise in other states. Interested? Let Don know at dmathis@communityactionpartnership.com. Stay tuned.
From our colleague Janet Topolsky at the Aspen Institute.
EARN IT / KEEP IT / GROW IT
Funding Opportunities—Three Grant Options for Green Jobs and Businesses!Everyone today is talking about the “Green Economy” – and for really good reasons.
Businesses that focus on producing cleaner, safer, more sustainable buildings, vehicles, technology, consumer products and energy sources for our future are a bright “growth” spot in our economy. And when those businesses do well, they tend to have the happy side effect of creating good jobs that pay pretty well! For rural America, Green Economy businesses have great potential, because many depend on resources available in rural places – like wind and specialty crops – to succeed.
Right now, you can find RuFES-friendly funding to help workers and businesses participate in the Green Economy.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provides $750 million for competitive grants for worker training and placement in high growth and emerging industries. Of that $750 million, $500 million has been designated to support projects to train workers for jobs in the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors. The U.S. Department of Labor has divided this $500 million into five separate grant competitions. [The remaining three are listed here.] Each is described below – and they are listed from the earliest application deadline (September 4) through the most distant (October 30).
Quilt It Bonus! To get the most for rural families, you can quilt several of these opportunities with the large ARRA grants already provided to local community action agencies and organizations to ramp up their efforts to weatherize homes and other buildings. Many of these agencies are having trouble using weatherization funds because they have a shortage of staff who are qualified to conduct energy audits and install required energy-saving methods. Training local people and businesses to do that weatherization is a terrific way to help workers increase their skills and earn more, to help businesses grow, and to help families lower costs through energy savings – a RuFES Triple Whammy!
So read on about the three grant competitions — and act quickly! Even if you don’t apply yourself, find out who is applying in your state and region, and make sure that rural becomes part of their action!Energy Training Partnership Grants
What is the program? Approximately $100 million in grant funds to be used to provide training and placement services to help workers gain employment in energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors. The focus of these grants is on incumbent and dislocated workers. Some amount of the funds available under this program will be reserved to help communities or regions impacted by the restructuring of the auto industry.
Who is eligible to apply? There are two separate sets of applicants competing for this program: (1) eligible national labor-management organizations with local networks; and (2) state or local nonprofit partnerships made up of labor-management organizations, labor, business, workforce investment boards and other stakeholders.
*What is the application deadline? September 4, 2009
Where can I find more detailed information? Click HERE to view the full announcement.Pathways Out of Poverty Grants
What is the program? Approximately $150 million in grant funds to be used to provide job training and placement services to help individuals seeking pathways out of poverty and into employment within the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors. The populations targeted by this program include low-income and under-skilled workers, unemployed (adults and youth), high school dropouts and other underserved populations. Priority is given to areas of high poverty.
Who is eligible to apply? There are two separate sets of applicants competing for this program: (1) national community-based and faith-based organizations with local networks; and (2) local partnerships of community-based organizations, business, education and training institutions, and labor organizations.
What is the application deadline? September 29, 2009
Where can I find more detailed information? Click HERE to view the full announcement, and click HERE to view an amendment to the original announcement.State Energy Sector Partnership (SESP) and Training Grants
What is the program? Approximately $190 million in grant funds to be used to support training and job placement activities aligned with workforce sector strategies that target energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors. Some amount of the funds available under this program will be reserved to help communities or regions impacted by the restructuring of the auto industry.
Who is eligible to apply? State workforce investment boards (SWIBs) or regional consortia of SWIBs.
What is the application deadline? October 20, 2009
Where can I find more detailed information? Click HERE to view the full announcement.
To find out more information about any of these grant programs:
View the webinars that were conducted for prospective applicants on Workforce3 One’s website.
Read more about these grants on the U.S. Department of Labor's website or at Grants.gov.
The Workforce Alliance has also created a summary sheet for these five funding opportunities.
The Emerald Cities Collaborative is a consortium of diverse organizations—businesses, unions community organizations, development intermediaries, research & technical assistance providers, and social justice advocates—united around the goal of greening America’s metropolitan areas in “high-road” ways that advance fair opportunity, shared wealth, and democracy within them. Retrofitting of the urban building stock is a major initial priority, aiming at deep efficiency, equity, and cost savings; high labor and contractor standards with expanded access to people of color, women, and low-income residents.
The Community Action Partnership is a national partner; others include the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades, Center for Community Change, Change to Win, the Corps Network, COWS (Wisconsin), Enterprise Community Partners, Green For All, LISC, MIT CoLab,NAACP, NeighborWorks, PolicyLink, YouthBuild USA, and others. Don Mathis serves on the 10 member ECC executive committee.
The ECC has identified its first round of cities that it will reach out to for development of local project collaboration. These cities are: Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Louisville, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Oakland, New York City, Portland (OR), Providence, San Francisco, Seattle, and the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Updates on the progress of the Emerald Cities Collaborative and roles that Community Action Agencies might play will be covered in future issues of e News. A formal launch of ECC is projected for September. For more information, contact Don Mathis at the Partnership office.
Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency Honors Affordable Housing Excellence with Apex Awards
OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency announced the winners of the 2009 Apex Awards at its July 15 Board of Trustees meeting. Three Community Action Agencies and one Community Action Board member were selected for their contributions and commitment to affordable housing in Oklahoma. The Apex Award recipients and their award categories were:
Rural Housing - Little Dixie Community Action Agency
Little Dixie Community Action Agency’s housing efforts impact rural communities in the state. Last year, it developed two U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Section 202 Supportive Housing projects in Clayton and Antlers. It also revitalized the Terry Hill Apartments in Hugo by improving safety, appearance and energy efficiency. Lastly, it expanded its Self-Help Housing program to include Carter, Marshall and Love Counties.
Friend of Affordable Housing - Leeoma Caldwell
Leeoma Caldwell has worked in the real estate business in Hugo for 30 years and has served on the board of directors for Little Dixie Community Action Agency for more than 10 years. She is a strong advocate of Little Dixie’s low-interest home loan programs for low-income and first-time homebuyers.
Rental Housing - Fletcher Northtown ApartmentsThe Fletcher Northtown Apartments located in Fletcher provide much needed housing for the small community. The $3.5 million project developed by the Great Plains Improvement Foundation, Inc. consists of 24 two and three-bedroom apartments designed for families and seniors.
Home Ownership - Deep Fork Community Action Foundation, Inc.
Deep Fork Community Action Foundation, Inc., which serves Hughes, McIntosh, Okfuskee and Okmulgee Counties, created a 27-minute video called “Can You Keep It? The Foreclosure Game Show.” It was designed as an educational tool to help low-income families understand foreclosure. It was produced with $25,000 in Community Service Block Grant Discretionary Funds from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. Deep Fork wrote the script, built the set, hired and directed the actors and co-edited the final product. It then distributed the video for free to all Community Action Agencies in the state.
Each spring, OHFA accepts nominations for the Apex Awards. There is no application fee and all Oklahoma affordable housing entities and professionals are invited to apply. To receive a nomination form for the 2010 Apex Awards, email communications@ohfa.org.
Earlier this year, the Community Action Partnership joined the Climate Equity Alliance. In our role, we signed on to the letter below to the U. S. Senate, advocating responsible climate change policy, especially as it affects low-income communities, individuals, and families.
August 6, 2009
Dear Senator:
Organizations from the research, advocacy, faith-based, labor, human services, and civil rights communities have formed the Climate Equity Alliance to help ensure that the strong policies needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions also protect low- and moderate-income households and expand economic opportunity. Specifically, endorsing organizations of the Climate Equity Alliance believe climate change and clean energy policies should be guided by the following six principles:• Protect people and the planet: Limit carbon emissions at a level and timeline that science dictates.
• Maximize the gain: Build an inclusive green economy providing pathways into prosperity and expanding opportunity for America’s workers and communities.
• Minimize the pain: Assist low- and moderate-income families in meeting their basic needs.
• Shore up resilience to climate impacts: Assure that those who are most vulnerable to the direct effects of climate change are able to prepare and adapt.
• Ease the transition: Address the impacts of economic change for workers and communities.
• Put a price on global warming pollution and invest in solutions: Capture the value of carbon emissions for public purposes and invest this resource in an equitable transition to a clean energy economy.Climate Equity Alliance endorsing organizations commend the House of Representatives for its work on advancing comprehensive climate and clean energy policy in the United States. As the bill moves forward, the Alliance will work to maintain key components while seeking improvements in several important areas.
To protect low- and moderate-income consumers from a loss in purchasing power, the Senate should:1. Ensure that low-income consumers are fully protected from the impact of higher energy prices:
• Maintain the House provisions that use the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) system as the principal vehicle for providing this relief in order to ensure that the relief has broad reach and set the relief at a level that minimizes the number of low-income families that suffer losses;
• Maintain the House provision that provides relief via a refundable tax credit for low-income workers without children, who are much less likely to be reached through the EBT system.2. Provide an appropriate percentage of the allowance value to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to help low-income families facing especially large home energy price increases.
3. Add language to the bill to ensure that relief that is intended to go to residential consumers through utility companies actually does so.
4. When allocating funding provided in the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) for improving resilience to climate change, prioritize the needs of vulnerable communities, including low-income communities and communities of color, that are at risk of substantial adverse impacts and have limited capacity to respond to such impacts.
5. Scale back the portions of the bill that would result in windfalls to corporations and businesses - particularly relief for commercial and industrial customers of local distribution companies (LDCs) - with the proceeds used to strengthen low-income relief, extend direct consumer relief to moderate-income households, help communities in the U.S. and abroad adapt to the impacts of climate change, and make cost-effective investments as described below.
To maximize the opportunities for America’s workers and communities during the transition to a green economy, the Senate should:1. Put a price on global warming pollution and invest in solutions.
• Cap and trade legislation should come as close as possible to a 100% auction of emissions permits. Whatever auction percentage prevails in the current political dynamic, there should be sufficient resources (whether from auction revenue or free allowance allocation) to protect low- and moderate-income consumers and maximize cost-effective investments in clean energy solutions that create good jobs in the U.S.
2. Use auction revenues to maximize job creation potential and economic opportunity for low-and moderate-income Americans.
• Maintain and fund the programs to support building energy efficiency retrofits outlined in the American Clean Energy Leadership Act reported out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, including the Weatherization Assistance Program, which is targeted to achieve energy efficiency in low income communities.
• Direct gas and electric local distribution companies and home heating fuel distributors to dedicate a percentage of their allowance revenue to energy efficiency improvements in homes and businesses in order to create jobs and ensure long-term energy savings, after scaling back LDC relief for commercial and industrial customers (see #5 above).
• Some investments in energy efficiency should be targeted specifically towards the nation’s low-income housing developments, in particular public housing and privately-owned multifamily buildings that are federally subsidized.
• Assist manufacturers to produce clean energy technologies by maintaining and funding the Senate equivalent of the IMPACT manufacturing provisions in ACES, which provide federal funding for manufacturers to retrofit and retool facilities to develop, produce, and commercialize clean energy technologies.3. Invest in people and communities to build pathways into prosperity in a clean energy economy.
• Dedicate allowance revenue for long-term funding of the Green Jobs Act.
• Ensure job quality and access from public investments: Senate legislation should include, at a minimum, the Green Construction Careers Demonstration Project contained in ACES, which creates middle class careers in the green economy for low-income Americans.We make these recommendations in the belief that we should approach climate and clean energy policy not only as environmental policy, but also as economic policy that can advance principles of fairness, equal access, opportunity, and broadly shared prosperity.
Respectfully,
Center for American Progress Action Fund
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Green For All
NAACP
National Hispanic Environmental Council
Change to Win
Wider Opportunities for Women
National Women's Law Center
Community Action Partnership
Democracia Ahora
Coalition on Human Needs
National Low Income Housing Coalition
Enterprise Community Partners
ACORN
Institute for Local Self Reliance
Green DMV
Concerned Black Clergy of Metropolitan Atlanta, Inc.
Franciscan Action Network
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Oxfam America
Redefining Progress
A few rooms are still available at the Marriott
The Philadelphia Marriott Downtown has added a few additional rooms to our sold-out block.
If you need a room at the Marriott, please call the local number: (215) 625-2900, ask for reservations and mention “CAP Conference”
If rooms are available, you will still receive the Convention rate. See you in Philadelphia!
The Schedule of Programs for the Annual Convention is now available online!
Click here for a pdf with full descriptions, or here for a Word doc outline.
Community Action Partnership Members:
Please bring your Current Membership Card
Please bring your 2009 Membership Card to the Annual Convention in Philadelphia. If there is any call for a vote during the Annual Membership meeting on Wednesday morning, September 2nd, members will need to display the current membership card. Thank you!
Is this your first time attending a Community Action Partnership Annual Convention?
Are you a new member of the Partnership?
If so, please plan on joining us at the Newcomers Welcome Session on Tuesday, September 1st at 6:00 pm at the Philadelphia Marriott.
Meet some of our national board members and staff. Hear about some of the Partnership’s latest initiatives and learn about what to expect and how to navigate through the very busy week of our Convention. Start the week with a warm welcome, a cold soda, and a map (literally) of the days ahead.
Successful Fundraising and Sustainability
Sustainability and creative funding and resource development are major challenges facing Community Action Agencies now and will become an even greater priority when the federal Recovery Act funds lapse next year. At this year’s Convention, you can hear success stories and proven effective strategies from two of the best practitioners in Community Action. Both Erica Hone, Communications Director at Community Action Services in Provo, Utah and Lisa Brown, Director of Development & Community Relations at Community Action in Hillsboro, Oregon are experienced, results-driven leaders. Check out their impressive bios below and make a note to attend their session in Philadelphia.
Erica Hone
Erica Hone grew up in South Jordan, Utah. She attended Brigham Young University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism with minors in English and Spanish. She worked at Dateline NBC in New York City and then as a weekend news producer at the CBS affiliate in Salt Lake City. In 2008, she decided to pursue a career in Public Relations. Since then, she has worked as the Communications Director at Community Action Services and Food Bank in Provo, Utah. Her favorite part of working at CASFB is seeing how the community works together to help those in need.
Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown joined Community Action as Director of Development and Community Relations in 2007. As a professional in non-profit administration for the past 25 years, Lisa has provided leadership in development, communications, marketing, and community relations for non-profits in Oregon, Washington, Nebraska, Massachusetts and North Carolina. Lisa has also been engaged as a consultant by a number of emerging non-profits in the areas of board development, strategic planning and fundraising. In her current role with Community Action, Lisa serves as a member of the senior management team and is responsible for all aspects of the development and community relations program, managing a broad range of fundraising, communications, and public engagement activities. Lisa holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Tarkio College.