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Strengthening Partners |
In addition to programs that primarily focus on building the capabilities of nonprofits, such as the Compassion Capitol Fund, most other FBCI-related Federal programs that fund services to the needy also offer substantive capacity building to grow the long-term capacity of nonprofit organizational partners.
Examples of these FBCO capacity-building components included in programs designed to combat specific human needs are the U.S. Department of Health and Human ServicesMentoring Children of Prisoners Partner Training and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Ready4Work Partner Training and Prisoner Reentry Initiative Partner Training. Similar elements exist in FBCI-related programs ranging from Access to Recovery to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Additional FBCI-related initiatives enhance the ability of FBCOs to work effectively in partnership with local government to address particular needs. These include
Examples of Program-Specific Training
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Mentoring Children of Prisoners Training: An annual conference and at least four to six regional training sessions are held to build the strengths of Mentoring Children of Prisoners grantees. In addition, experienced trainers deliver one-on-one technical assistance to all 320 grantees, building their capabilities in such areas as best practices of effective mentoring programs and outcomes measurement.
U.S. Department of Labor Ready4Work Training: Through its technical assistance provider Public/Private Ventures (P/PV), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) offered extensive training to more than 100 FBCO staff members in all 18 organizations receiving funding for prisoner reentry projects through the Ready4Work pilot program between FY 2003 and FY 2006. Training included regular conference calls, webinars, conferences, and in-person meetings, as well as more than 60 site visits for in-person technical assistance and training. The training topics ranged from data reporting and other compliance issues to programmatic elements like case management and mentoring.
U.S. Department of Labor Prisoner Reentry Initiative: This same approach has carried forward into the President’s Prisoner Re-entry Initiative. From 2005 to 2007, the The Department of Labor (DOL) trained more than 150 staff of FBCOs funded under this initiative at four conferences, in addition to regular conference calls and technical assistance activities. To date, more than 80 in-person site visits have been made to these FBCOs for high-intensity training and technical assistance.
Training to Enhance Partnerships with Local Government
While a significant share of funds for Federally sponsored human services is distributed to local nonprofit organizations via grant competitions, an even higher share of dollars is distributed to State and local governments to administer. Thus, the FBCI launched a series of Federal agency training activities to establish and enhance nonprofit organization partnerships with State and local partners.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Unlocking Doors Initiative Forums: The Unlocking Doors Initiative identifies promising models for government-FBCO partnerships to address affordable housing needs. To date, the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has hosted 21 Unlocking Doors forums in partnership with mayors’ offices across the country. Each event brings together a mayor’s office with community leaders and other FBCO partners to stimulate further collaboration between local government housing efforts and the region’s FBCOs. In addition, from each event HUD draws local examples of promising government-FBCO partnerships and uses these to inform mayors and FBCOs nationwide about effective ways to replicate best practices in their own cities. As part of Unlocking Doors, the CFBCI also provides technical support to cities as they seek to replicate successful models.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Chaplain Open Houses: VA Chaplain Open Houses are training and capacity-building events hosted throughout the nation to partner faith-based and community organizations with local VA efforts to serve veterans. The open house events provide the local community and grassroots organizations with information about the FBCI and existing programs, and about how FBCOs can participate in these programs. The VA has hosted 23 Open Houses from FY 2005 to FY 2007, reaching nearly 700 participants.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Disaster Preparedness Training: By the end of 2008, the FBCI’s newest Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the Department of Homeland Security, established in 2006, will have hosted 11 regional workshops across the country entitled Partnerships in Emergency Preparedness: A Faith-Based & Community Initiatives Workshop. Workshops held to date have drawn between 100 and 175 attendees representing both local government agencies engaged in disaster preparedness and response and FBCOs willing to work in partnership with them. These events are designed to equip FBCOs with the resources, knowledge, and skills critical to effectively engage disaster response and recovery efforts in partnership with local government.
U.S. Department of Labor New Partners Events for Workforce Investment Boards: "Build Your Community Network!": Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) are public agencies charged with guiding their State or region’s workforce development efforts. The U.S. Department of Labor recently established mini-grants of $5,000 to $10,000 to host Build Your Community Network conferences. At these events, WIBs bring together FBCOs from the region that share a commitment to serving individuals with serious employment challenges. The objective is to enable willing FBCOs to work more actively in tandem with the state or local WIBs to help unemployed Americans enter and successfully retain employment. Material covered at the events ranges from how WIBs function to tips on working with clients’ potential employers to details on ways eligible clients can tap into educational funding available through WIBs. Up to 50 Build Your Community Network conferences will be funded in 2008.
U.S. Department of Labor’s the SHARE Network: Through the SHARE Network Initiative, DOL has helped local and State governments replicate two promising practices for building networks of faith-based and community-based partners that help struggling Americans obtain employment. The first promising practice is a Web-based referral network and resource directory that enables referrals between government One-Stop Career Centers and nonprofit organizations that provide extra support for high-need individuals seeking employment. This enables clients of either government or nonprofit services to access the resources of both. Nine states currently have active SHARE Networks. The most active of these, in Missouri, has engaged more than 5,000 nonprofit and government agencies through its network. The second promising practice, known as creating Access Points, enables local government agencies to train FBCOs in targeted, high-poverty communities or neighborhoods to help people look for jobs and prepare for employment using Web-based tools, including job banks. Access Points essentially serve as satellite offices for government services in targeted communities. To date, 24 Workforce Investment Board regions nationwide have opened Access Points through 84 nonprofit organizations and trained them as extensions of local government offices—a number expected to more than double in the coming year.
U.S. Agency for International Development In-Country Training: In 2007, USAID joined with the U.S. Ambassador to Moldova and other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to host the first regional FBCI conference outside the United States in Chisinau, Moldova. The conference provided faith-based and community-based NGOs in Moldova with capacity-building training, information about funding from USAID, and an opportunity to build partnerships among NGOs and government entities. In addition to workshops on relationship building and collaboration among organizations, the conference included programs on anti-trafficking, strategic fundraising, and grant proposals. USAID in-country offices (known as Missions) often host regional training events designed to strengthen NGOs’ abilities to provide community services and meet needs within a local context.
In April 2006, USAID and Mercy Corps held 5-day workshops in Pakistan to train engineers, project managers, and builders from local and international NGOs in earthquake-resistant design so they could, in turn, teach these construction methods to quake-affected communities.
In July 2007, lecturers from the regional USAID Financial Management Center in Budapest organized a financial management tools seminar for local NGO partners with assistance from the USAID Participant Training Program. The seminar provided NGOs with a short accounting overview, and they were trained to use a basic financial management tool. The seminar will be further customized to meet the needs of specific target groups of organizations and will be offered to other USAID partnering organizations in the region, and potentially worldwide.
