Strengthening Communities Fund for West Philadelphia Organizations

Posted by on May 10, 2010

ANNOUNCEMENT

Purpose:
The Mayor’s Office of Faith Based Initiatives (MOFI) has been selected to administer a Strengthening Communities Fund grant in the amount of $249,333, awarded to the City of Philadelphia, Mayor’s Executive Office by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services. This funding originates with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, and is designated to strengthen the capacity of small nonprofit organizations that specifically address the broad economic recovery issues present in their neighborhoods. As well, grant funds will be used to strengthen the internal capacity of the Mayor’s Office of Faith Based Initiatives to serve all communities of Philadelphia.  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded $12 million to 49 grantees under this new program created through ARRA.

Eligible Organizations:
The Mayor’s Office of Faith Based Initiatives and its partners will work together to strengthen the capacity of 24 faith and community based organizations in West Philadelphia through capacity building training, technical advising and leadership coaching (no cash will be distributed). The target audience for the program consists of nonprofit organizations serving low-income residents in ZIP Codes 19104, 19131, 19139 and 19151, areas that show substantially high unemployment and poverty levels. The participating organizations can be both faith-based and secular (community-based), and must provide or plan to provide at least one substantial secular social service program to low-income West Philadelphia residents toward increasing economic recovery and potential self-sufficiency. The Mayor’s Capacity Building Program will provide free capacity building training, technical advising and leadership coaching (no money will be distributed) for organizations addressing the broad economic recovery issues present in the communities in the target ZIP Code areas. Organizations headquartered in and serving residents living in other contiguous ZIP Codes with similar need demographics (e.g., 19143) will be considered after all applications from organizations situated in and servicing target Zip Code areas (if training slots remain).

Application Process:
Organizations interested in participating in capacity building as outlined above are required to complete an application and attend a Self-Assessment & Information workshop, which forms a required part of the application. Applications will be reviewed by a team of external independent reviewers, and no applicant will be excluded because of the religious nature of the organization or its programs. While encouraged, participating organizations are not required to have a 501(c)(3) tax exemption.

Two mandatory Information Forum & Self-Assessment Workshop sessions are scheduled to be held on May 20, 2010, from 1-4pm and 5-8pm.  At these workshops participating organizations will:

* Receive information about the Mayor’s Capacity Building Program;
* Receive a copy of the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organization’s (PANO) Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector;
* Receive a copy of the Marguerite Casey Foundation Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool;
* Participate in a 90 minute skills session to assess their organization using the Marguerite Casey assessment tool;
* Be encouraged to apply for the free capacity building training, technical advising and leadership coaching.

Following these sessions, interested organizations must submit full and complete applications by June 3, 2010.

Register for this event.
http://www.phila.gov/faithbased/registration.html