Strengthening Partners

 

Capacity Building

The FBCI has expanded and enhanced the impact of faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) through a range of capacity-building programs. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Compassion Capital Fund
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) represents the most extensive of the FBCI’s capacity-building programs. CCF provides grants along with intensive training to build the capacity of FBCOs by increasing their effective­ness, enhancing their ability to provide social services, expanding their orga­nizations, and creating collaborations to better serve those most in need. Since the program began in 2002, approximately $264 million has been awarded to over 5,000 organizations in all 50 States and two territories (the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico) through three different funding mechanisms. 

• CCF Targeted Capacity Building Program
  Under the Targeted Capacity Building Program, competitive grants of up to $50,000 are provided directly to grassroots FBCOs engaged in service to distressed communities.  Organizations with a range of programmatic emphases are eligible to apply, including at-risk youth, homelessness, healthy marriage, and social services for rural communities.  The grants may not be used to fund client services directly, but rather must be applied to grow the service capabilities of the organization via focused development in at least one of five areas:  leadership development, organizational development, program development, revenue development strategies, or community engagement.  From FY 2003 to 2007, nearly 1000 competitive grants were awarded under this program for a total of over $48 million.  A retrospective study of the CCF Targeted Capacity Building Program is underway and scheduled for release in 2008.
  
  
• CCF Demonstration Program
  The CCF Demonstration Program provides grants to “intermediary” organizations that, in turn, make competitive subawards to grassroots FBCOs.  Grantees choose at least one social service priority area of need to address, such as at-risk youth, prisoner reentry, homelessness, or families in transition from welfare to work.   Additionally, along with providing subawards, the intermediary organizations also provide extensive technical assistance and training both to their subawardees and to other FBCOs from the community that want to improve their programs.  At least 50 percent of training provided by an intermediary must be direct and individualized technical assistance to address the identified, priority needs of FBCOs (i.e., one-on-one assistance to the organization’s leadership, key staff and/or board).
  
  From FY 2002 to FY 2007, 112 awards, totaling $154.8 million, have been made to intermediary organization grantees.  These organizations have, in turn, competitively awarded funds to more than 4,100 grassroots subawardees in 47 states and the District of Columbia.
  
  An outcomes evaluation of the CCF Demonstration Program is in progress and scheduled for release in mid-2008.  An impact evaluation is also underway and expected in the spring of 2009.  A retrospective study of the CCF Demonstration Program was completed by Abt Associates in 2007 (see text box).

Subgrantees in CCF Retrospective Study (2007) Reported that CCF Assistance Made a Positive Difference

Survey Response	Percent Affirmative Response
Improved level or quality of services they deliver to the needy	90%
Improved outcomes for the people they serve	88%
Improved financial stability	79%
Increased ability to serve more clients	74%

• Communities Empowering Youth
  Inspired by President Bush’s Helping America’s Youth Initiative—led by First Lady Laura Bush—the third Compassion Capital Fund program is Communities Empowering Youth (CEY).  CEY was created in FY 2006 to strengthen existing coalitions that are working to combat gang activity, youth violence, child abuse and neglect in their communities.  CEY grants are made to “lead organizations” who provide capacity building training and technical assistance to their coalition of FBCO partners.  The lead organizations also provide financial assistance to their partners.  Through these efforts, the coalition is better able to implement and sustain their services to the community.
  
  In FY 2006, $30 million in grants were awarded to 100 projects.  Another 31 grants were awarded in FY 2007 for a total $7.5 million.  Currently, 39 states and Puerto Rico have at least one CEY grantee in operation.  A three-year outcomes study of the CEY program will begin in FY 2008.

The U.S. Department of Justice Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization Pilot Program
While CCF builds the capacity of FBCOs for a wide range of social services, other programs combine funding with technical assistance to combat a single area of need. The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization Pilot, for example, focuses exclusively on violence against women and their children.

DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) funds these efforts to increase the depth and breadth of services available to victims of domestic violence.  Mature domestic violence service providers in rural states serve as intermediaries to make sub-grants and train new grassroots FBCOs in rural America. These intermediary organizations solicit, review, award, train, and manage competitive subawards to FBCOs that provide services to rural domestic violence victims. The intermediaries also provide technical assistance to subawardees to develop their capacities to serve more victims in more ways and to sustain their activities independent of Federal dollars through other public and private funds. The intermediaries are required to pass 80 percent of their awards to sub-grantees. 

The services these rural providers undertake are vital and varied:  transporting community members to emergency medical services; accompanying victims to court; advocating for them to the sheriff; assisting with moving to shelter and applying for crime victims compensation; locating safe, permanent housing; organizing support groups; advancing rent and utility deposits to get the homeless out of shelters; arranging child-care and after-school programs; collecting and distributing food and clothing; and offering emotional support.

OVW funded a $1 million independent evaluation through the DOJ’s National Institute of Justice, which is expected later in 2008.  Interim results appear strong.  For example, OVW’s largest award (almost $3 million) was awarded in April 2006 to the Montana Department of Justice, Office of Victims of Crime, which partnered with Baylor University’s pre-existing Faith and Community Technical Support (FACTS) program.  FACTS solicited subaward proposals nationwide and received 145 applications; of these applications, OVW approved 39 applications, including 11 faith-based organizations, from 21 states, totaling $2.4 million. FACTS has reported that their 39 sub-grantee agencies were serving 2,100 to 2,200 victims per month. FACTS sub-grantees also reported, on average:

• 20 percent increase in the number of victims served per month;
• 105 percent increase in the number of services offered to victims per month;
• 300 percent increase in domestic violence community education programs offered per month;
• 80 percent increase in the number of volunteer workers serving domestic violence victims (from approximately 350 to well over 600); and an
• 87 percent increase in the number of FBCOs that won private grants (from 8 to 15).