$2.6 Million in Grants Expected to Leverage $5.2 Million in Non-Federal Funds

WASHINGTON, D.C - The Corporation for National and Community Service announced today that it will award a total of $2.6 million in “Challenge Grants” to six state, regional, and national nonprofit organizations to expand programs that engage volunteers in meeting community needs. The grants require that each Federal dollar awarded be “matched” by $2 in private funding.

The six organizations are: City Cares of America, a national organization based in Atlanta, Ga., that recently changed its name to the Hands On Network; Jumpstart, a national organization based in Boston, Mass.; United Way of America (for a project in Michigan); Plus Time New Hampshire; The Potter’s House of Dallas, Tex.; and Youth Friends of Kansas City, Mo. (for projects in Kansas, Missouri, and Michigan). The grants will support such activities as organizing and managing community volunteers; providing children with preschool training and after-school tutoring; working with ex-prisoners to facilitate their re-entry into society; and involving more minority women and girls in philanthropic and volunteer efforts.

“These grantees are some of the very best at both service innovation and financial sustainability,” said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. "We are excited about the work they do and look forward to working with them to develop new sources of funding and to build effective and sustainable service and volunteer programs."

Each of the six organizations will receive a grant of between $400,000 and $500,000. All told, the grants are expected to support the efforts of more than 100,000 community volunteers, and “leverage” an additional $5.2 million in non-Federal funds.

The Corporation received 31 Challenge Grant applications, requesting nearly $18 million. The six organizations that will receive grants had requested slightly more than $4 million. A summary of the specific projects to be funded, and the amounts awarded, is attached.

The Corporation for National and Community Service provides opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve their communities and country, primarily through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs. Together with the USA Freedom Corps, the Corporation is working to build a culture of citizenship, service, and responsibility in America. For more information, visit www.nationalservice.org.

Corporation for National and Community Service
Fiscal Year 2004 Challenge Grants

City Cares of America
($450,000) National
CityCares of America, an alliance of volunteer management and mobilization organizations that recently changed its name to the Hands On Network, will use the Challenge Grant funds to expand into 12 new cities across the country, creating 48,000 service opportunities in 450 community-based nonprofit partner agencies. CityCares affiliates increase the capacity of nonprofit organizations by organizing and leading meaningful volunteer projects.

Jumpstart for Young Children, Inc.
($400,000) National
Jumpstart will use the funds to expand into new areas of the country and mobilize a large number of corporate volunteers. Expansion will initially focus on the Southwest, with the establishment of a new regional office in Houston to oversee the development of new sites in surrounding states. The expansion plans also include increasing the scope of the existing program in Boston to reach a greater number of at-risk children. Jumpstart plans to mobilize 60,000 corporate volunteers through enhancing an existing partnership with Starbucks.

Plus Time New Hampshire
($450,000) NH
Plus Time New Hampshire is able to help communities identify the needs of youth and mobilize local resources to develop and sustain appropriate afterschool programs by providing direct support, training, information, and funding assistance. The New Hampshire Governor's “3 to 6 Challenge” is a statewide initiative to provide 29 afterschool programs with funding and volunteers. Funds from the Corporation will be used to provide funding for seven demonstration sites in the initiative.

The Potter's House of Dallas, Inc.
($400,000) TX
The Potter's House will increase public health and safety in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin, by mobilizing volunteers - especially from faith-based communities - to work with ex-prisoners to facilitate their re-entry into society and to reduce ex-prisoner relapse and recidivism. The Potter’s House will accomplish this by working with or developing Texas Reentry Offender Partnerships in the target cities to improve access to health and social services in addition to implementing reconciliation and restorative justice projects.

United Way of America
($400,000) MI
Women and Girls in Service to Children and Youth in Michigan recruits, prepares, and involves more women and girls in philanthropic and volunteer efforts in Michigan. The program operates through local United Ways and their Women's Initiative program. New volunteers, with an emphasis on women of color, will be engaged to help local Michigan communities meet the Five Promises to Youth, as identified through America's Promise.

YouthFriends
($500,000) KS, MI, MO
YouthFriends, along with the Volunteer Center of Johnson County (KS), will provide and support a software program to build volunteer management skills and the organizational capacity of new organizations, including school districts and community and faith-based organizations, in Kansas, Missouri and Michigan. The centerpiece of the project is YouthFriends Volunteer Information-Management and Analysis, a secure, Internet-based software program currently utilized by 100 school districts in the three-state area.

###