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November 5, 2008    DOL Home > CFBCI   

Center for Faith-Based & Community Initiatives

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Our Mission

The Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (CFBCI) at the U.S. Department of Labor seeks to empower faith-based and community organizations (FBCO) as these organizations help their neighbors enter, succeed and thrive in the workforce. Read more...

 


Directory of Foundation Workforce Grant Opportunities — A Guide for Faith-Based & Community Organizations

Many faith-based and community organizations (FBCO) involved in workforce or economic development face the challenge of locating funding that fits their mission and services. The Directory of Foundation Workforce Development Grant Opportunities booklet is a resource for these organizations looking for funding opportunities for their workforce development or economic development programs. This directory provides a detailed list of private and corporate foundations that provide grant opportunities to FBCOs in order to give community organizations a clear and concise tool to pursue grants. These lists provide a detailed explanation of each grant and contact information to more easily determine eligibility.


New Publication: Partnering with Faith-Based and Community Organizations: A Guide for State and Local Officials Administering Federal Block and Formula Grant Funds

The US Department of Health and Human Services – Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives has just released Partnering with Faith-Based and Community Organizations: A Guide for State and Local Officials Administering Federal Block and Formula Grant Funds. This new resource is designed to provide practical information for State and local officials, as well as tribes and tribal-serving organizations, on developing and enhancing effective partnerships with faith-based and community organizations (FBCO). It provides a blueprint for effective relationships between FBCOs and local government. See our Publications page for this and other helpful resources.


YouthBuild Grant Competition

Background: The YouthBuild program provides education and training to high risk youth, giving them tools to compete in today’s quickly changing job market. This alternative education program provides a path to higher education in addition to tools for immediate work in high demand fields such as construction. The program aims to provide an education for young people who have been in the juvenile justice system, youth aging out of foster care, high school dropouts and other at-risk populations, and immediately uses the vocational tools learned to expand affordable housing in low income communities. This vocational experience strengthens the leadership and learning skills of participating youth to help in future employment. The program is sponsored by the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Association, working to give at risk youth concrete tools to achieve sustainable employment.

The Department of Labor will award $47 Million to various community organizations under this program.

The Solicitation closes on January 15th 2009 and can be found at http://www.doleta.gov/grants/pdf/SGA-DFA-PY-08-07_YouthBuild.pdf, or www.grants.gov. Details on a future virtual prospective applicant conference will be posted at http://www.doleta.gov/youth_services/youthbuild_competition_2009.cfm.


Young Parents Demonstration Grant Competition

Background: Young Parents Demonstration programs provide training in educational and occupational skills aiming to achieve economic self sufficiency within families. The program targets high risk young mothers and fathers as well as expectant mothers ages 16-24. Projects funded will serve young parents in specific categories, including those who are court-involved, in the child welfare or foster care system, homeless, or victims of child abuse. Young Parents Demonstration programs create innovative ways to serve this population, providing vocational skills but also academic work, personal attention and support services. This highly inclusive method of training provides greater stability for young parents while working towards economic self sufficiency. This program is sponsored by the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, working to provide substantial skills to young families to achieve personal economic sustainability.

Under this solicitation, the Department of Labor will award $5 million to various entities--including non-profit providers of workforce system services. See the solicitation for further details on eligibility.

The solicitation closes on November 17th, 2008 and can be found at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-23319.pdf. A Webinar for prospective applicants will be held for this grant competition in early November. Access information to this Webinar can be found at http://www.workforce3one.org.


New  Prisoner Reentry Initiative Grants Announced: Limited Competition in 19 Cities

Background: The President's Prisoner Re-entry Initiative (PRI) seeks to strengthen urban communities characterized by large numbers of returning prisoners through an employment-centered program that incorporates mentoring, job training, and other comprehensive transitional services. This program is a joint effort of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Labor (DOL) designed to reduce recidivism by helping inmates find work when they return to their communities.

DOJ recently awarded PRI grants to 19 State correctional agencies to provide pre-release services to prisoners returning to one targeted county within the state.


New Publication: Intermediaries and Faith Based and Community Organizations Working Together

This new publication discusses how intermediaries can help faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) more effectively provide services to communities. Workforce intermediaries play an important role in connecting businesses to jobseekers and incumbent workers. Intermediaries are also able to help FBCOs develop deeper connections with area businesses. This report highlights the key characteristics and effective features of intermediary organizations, as well as strategies intermediaries use to connect FBCOs with businesses. The publication gives a broad overview on different types of intermediaries and how they can help, as well as specific examples of successful partnerships with FBCOs.


U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released an effective tool-kit for sustainability ideas and practices for faith-based and community organizations. This kit is very practical and will help organizations aggressively plan for the long-term to keep doing great work in their communities. It covers topics like financial planning, fund devlopment and raising, evaluations and marketing strategies. Also in the kit are templates to help with planning your organization's future.

This is a resource worth reviewing by all. Organizations that may want a brief review or wish to seek out potentially undiscovered strategies could benefit from this tool-kit. Hard copies are not presently availabe but PDF versions are available at the SAMHSA website below.

SAMHSA is an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services, created by an act of Congress in 1992. It serves to improve the lives of those with mental and substance abuse disorders.


Access New Equal Treatment Online Training Course

Transforming Partnerships: How to Apply the U.S. Department of Labor's Equal Treatment and Religion-Related Regulations to Public-Private Partnerships is an online training course that provides in-depth training on the equal treatment and religion-related regulations at the U.S. Department of Labor. This course is designed as a training tool primarily for administrators and staff who work in the Workforce Investment System or at faith-based and community organizations.


Renewing Communities, Restoring Hope, and Transforming Lives

Renewing Communities, Restoring Hope, and Transforming Lives publication cover

The work of the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the U.S. Department of Labor stems from a simple conviction: Americans can do better for our neighbors in need when we draw upon the unique strengths of every willing partner.

Renewing Communities, Restoring Hope, and Transforming Lives tells the story of how the Faith-Based and Community Initiative at the U.S. Department of Labor has made a real difference in the lives of more than 150,000 jobseekers, workers, families, vulnerable youth, and communities. As part of DOL’s mission to foster a prepared, competitive, safe, and secure workforce, the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives works with DOL agencies to tap into the unique abilities of faith-based and community organizations in order to help more individuals overcome barriers to employment, find jobs, and stay employed. These collaborative efforts have produced innovative public-private partnerships that decrease unemployment and recidivism among ex-prisoners, increase access to publicly funded employment resources in low-income communities, help homeless veterans find housing and jobs, withdraw and prevent children from entering exploitive child labor around the world, increase workplace safety outreach to Spanish-speaking workers, and much more. Renewing Communities, Restoring Hope, and Transforming Lives covers three main topics: Creating Access to New Opportunities Through Public-Private Partnerships, Faith-Based and Community Organizations: Utilizing Strengths and Building Capacity, and Transforming Lives Through Government Partnerships with Faith-Based and Community Organizations.


The White House National Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Conference: Innovations in Effective Compassion

On Thursday, June 26th and Friday, June 27th, the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives hosted the National Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Conference, which covered various topics of outreach and social services relating to Faith-Based and Community Organizations (FBCOs). The audience heard from speakers such as President George W. Bush, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and various other honorable guests. If you would like to see the video of the President's speech (written and audio only versions are available also), please visit this webpage: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/06/20080626-20.html.

Attendees of the conference received a booklet titled “The President's Faith-Based and Community Initiative in 50 States.” This document is available through the direct link here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/fbci/fbci-states-0608.pdf, or by following the links on the page here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/fbci/reports.html.

For a quick fact sheet on the Faith-Based and Community Initiative, see here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/06/20080626-3.html


This Month's Champion of Compassion

Father's and Families Center (FFC)

Father's and Families Center (FFC)

Father's and Families Center (FFC) is a non-profit organization, based in Indianapolis, IN, that is dedicated to serving low income, unemployed, underemployed, and undereducated young fathers and expectant fathers in the Indianapolis area. FFC's services include employment preparation training, GED preparation studies, employment referrals, as well as pre- and post-job placement counseling. Additionally, FFC partners with One-Stop Career Centers and other organizations in an effort to introduce potential competitors into the labor market and increase job retention.

FFC won competitively-awarded Small Grassroots Grants from the Labor Department in 2006 and 2007. These grants are part of the Department of Labor's efforts to partner existing programs at faith-based and community organizations in order to provide better service to needy people and families.

Father's and Families Center works with many community partners to provide services such as life skills training, employment preparation, on-line job search, entrepreneurship training, and job placement and retention assistance. Through the first two years of services under the grants, FFC has enrolled 519 new participants. FFC has referred 222 clients to the One-Stop Career Center. Fifty-two participants have been placed in post-secondary education or advanced training. 258 participants have been placed in jobs and 167 have kept their jobs for three months, while 124 have maintained employment for six months. The average hourly wage at the time of time placement is $9.13.

Father's and Families Center has been named a "Champion of Compassion" by the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

You can visit the Employment and Training Administration's Prisoner Reentry Initiative page for more information on the PRI, including a map of grantee locations and contact information.

 



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