4city Fed Govt Annual Report

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city

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Tacoma p4

Knoxville p6

Memphis p8

Phoenix p10

ANNUAL REPORT ©2005 Northwest Leadership Foundation

Letter from the Director

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Wilder Evaluation

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Participants Talk Back pp5, 7, 9 Financial Report

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Cute but mischievous, God only knows the trouble Mariano could get into. A sweet and docile kid, he just lacked direction. Yesterday his cousin Julio pushed the kids down the alley in a grocery cart. Mariano pulled his baby brother in a stroller by a rope from his bicycle. Julio’s mother is in jail; his father is nowhere to be found. The boys live with his grandmother. There are three youth-serving non-profits within a block of the boys’ home that could provide a safety net. But one of them recently closed for lack of funding. The two others lack the staff to get out and fulfill their missions. The Compassion Capital Fund is bringing new hope for more effective service to small non-profits like these in Tacoma, Memphis, Knoxville, and Phoenix. A street poster in Memphis cautions pedestrians about panhandlers by saying: “Your change doesn’t change a thing.” The federal government might wonder whether a threeyear grant is making a justifiable change in the nearly 150 organizations that are being served through the Four City Demonstration Project. The encouraging macro-evidence is contained on page 3; and the “Capacity-Building Spotlights” from each city show that substantial change is occurring through management consultations, peer learning, hard work and long-awaited, clear steps to organizational health.

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city

D E M O N S T R AT I O N PROJECT

Relationships the 4CD way

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glimpse into the world of nonprofit management reveals that development takes time! It doesn’t matter whether the focus is leadership development, relational development, or organizational development – time is an element that cannot be ignored. For 16 years the Northwest Leadership Foundation (NLF) has been in the business of developing leaders and grassroots human service providers. During the last two years, NLF has maximized its relational capital by partnering with the Memphis and Knoxville Leadership Foundations, Collaboration for a New Century, and the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation to serve our cities through the Four City Demonstration (4CD) Project. And it’s been a great experience! Each partner brings a unique, local perspective that can only be found within the Leadership Foundations of America whose ethos is caring for the social and spiritual renewal of cities. We try to capture the responsive civic character of each foundation in the feature articles that follow. Additionally, each partner brings expertise in management support, capacity building, and leadership development. The 4CD has served well over 100 grassroots organizations and networks looking to “take it to the next level.” The “next level” for most of these organizations includes: • securing diverse and stable funding • development of a board of directors that understands its responsibilities and is able to implement strategic plans • the ability to evaluate programs • the ability to communicate mission and services to the broader community Many of these visionaries and their volunteers have not had access to a free coach or consultant to assist them in time management techniques, the development of organizational goals, or the implementation of best practices. Having this type of assistance, many surged ahead. Kemberly Michaels’ organization felt like they had been “dragging boulders uphill” as they sought a model to expand their family services, but remarked that they were now “light years ahead” of agencies that lack this support (P.5). The 4CD has assisted many like Michaels’ Families Unlimited Network to garner financial resources and strengthen networks (see evaluation results on the next page). The ingredients to our success include customized training, coached grant writing with a special emphasis on hands-on technical assistance, and collaboration building. “Capacity-building Spotlights” from each city will show that our results were both quantitative and qualitative.

Inside you will read about inspiring leaders serving some of our country’s toughest cities who have benefited from this relational, hands-on approach to capacity building. Those benefits become more real when more families in need are moved to self sufficiency and when a grassroots organization can compete on a level playing field with a large, established nonprofit. The leadership foundations will continue to walk alongside community partners, large and small, to build healthier and safer communities the relational way. Patricia Talton National Project Director Four City Demonstration (4CD) Project

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Wilder Evaluation

4CD Project results exceed expectations

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he following report by the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation evaluates the first year (2003-2004) of operations of the Four City Demonstration Project, which is comprised of partner Leadership Foundations in Tacoma, Phoenix, Knoxville, and Memphis. The four cities together applied for and received a Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) grant that spans from 2003-2006. The purpose of the CCF grant is to build the capacity of faith- and community-based nonprofits in each city through the granting of sub-awards, training, technical assistance, and one-on-one coaching. The five goals and results are summarized below. “We were very pleased with the results,” said 4CD National Director Patricia Talton. “It also gives us clear marching orders and an understanding of where we can improve. But overall, we’re making our target goals thanks to hard work in every city.” In the four cities, the Leadership Foundations invited community and faith-based organizations and networks to apply for sub-awards and technical assistance. Knoxville had 20 participating organizations, Memphis had 22, Phoenix had 31, and Tacoma had 25 for a total of 98. Here were some results.

GOAL 1 At least 70% of participants’ capacitybuilding objectives will be achieved by the end of year 1 and 85% after year 2

Result 80% of participants received needed assistance with key capacity-building objectives (resource development, marketing, networking, and governance)

To reach the four objectives common to more than two-thirds of participating organizations, more than 80 percent of organizations reported that they had received needed assistance. The objective achievements include fund development (96%), development of communications and marketing strategy (83%), collaboration support (74%), and assistance with board governance (72%).

GOAL 2

GOAL 5

At least 2,500 additional people will be served by participating organizations in year 1, and 5,000 in year 2

Service delivery networks will be strengthened

Result

Result

20% of participants reported that they were now networking with other organizations as a result of participating in the Compassion Capital Fund project

Based on nonprofits reporting, participating organizations served an estimated 2,400 additional people in year 1

The 61 (of 98 participant) organizations able to report the number of people they served have increased their reach to 68,200 people served in the four cities. Additionally, Goal 3: Diversification of funding sources received in year one there was a net gain �� of 18 paid staff in ������������������������ �������������������� �� those organizations, �� ����������������������� totaling 574, and �� ���������� a net gain of 547 �� ������������������� �� volunteers, totaling ������������ � 6,314. ����������������

GOAL 3 Participating organizations will secure at least $800,000 in funding from new sources in year 1 and at least $2 million by the end of year 2

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The additional funding in year 1 from new sources was slightly under $1.6 million

Goal 4: Diversification of funding sources received in year one

The largest new funding sources were private philanthropies or foundations, churches or religious organizations, government agencies, and individual donors.

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GOAL 4 75% of participants will be able to report the volume of their services and the impact of their work by the end of year 1 and all will be able to do so by the end of year 2

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Result 74% were able to count the number of people served and 54% were able to track the amount of service provided in year 1. 35% were able to measure the impact of their work with an outcome measure

Major bonding vs. brain dump! As Stanley Taylor of Knoxville said, “Technical assistance for us is not an event and a packet. It’s an ongoing relationship, and that takes time.” Just how much time? During the first year of operation, a total of 77 organizations reported receiving over 13,000 hours of personalized technical assistance from the Four City Demonstration Project. 3

Families Unlimited Network

Macedonia Project GET

Fab 5

Peace Community Center

Harbor town hub churns out community leaders

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nce a timber town blessed with Puget Sound’s waters, blazing flowers, and tall ships, Tacoma for many years had bragging rights as Washington’s economic mecca and employment capital. But by the second half of the 20th century urbanized Tacoma was viewed as Seattle’s “dumpy sister,” said Dave Hillis, president of the Northwest Leadership Foundation (NLF) who along with Patricia Talton spearheaded the Four City Demonstration (4CD) Project.

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acoma’s social need. “When I arrived here this neighborhood was

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an absolute ghost town,” he said referring to the impoverished Hilltop community, home to NLF. Urban sociologist Ray Bakke said of that period that Tacoma was the only city in the country with more kids on gang rolls than on church rolls. On the corner where 4CD participant Peace Community Center stands, locals say, drug dealers paid gang leaders $1,000 a day to sell crack cocaine there.

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catalytic moment. In 1996, tensions over the civic neglect of Hilltop flared when a kid named Corey Pittman, on break from college, was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Hillis, and was shot and killed. Ta c o m a policemen attending the funeral predicted a f lurr y of violence, as gang leaders we r e a b o u t to be released from jail. And i n a n i ron ic convergence of events, Boys and Girls Clubs announced that, due to lapsed funding, six after-school programs would

be closed, removing 70 adult staff who served up to 2,000 youth. Hillis rallied pastors from 65 churches that provided nearly 500 volunteers to keep those clubs open, stamping out further violence that summer. This launched the NLF as the convener and developer of community leadership for creative responses to social need. Since that time over 50 faithbased organizations have flourished in the soil of NLF’s capacity-building leadership. “Our mission is to develop, strengthen and sustain leadership for the social and spiritual renewal of the city,” said Hillis. CAPACITY-BUILDING SPOTLIGHT: PROJECT GET A proud former U.S. Marine, Rev. Kenneth Tunch was humbled by a work injury in 1987 that limited his ability to find meaningful employment. Today, to help others, Tunch runs a job placement service in his small Macedonia Baptist Church. In Tunch’s first year he placed dozens of workers designated “hardto-employ” by Washington State case managers. Currently the program Get Employed Today (GET) places 84 percent of its caseload, about 200 clients each year. Nonetheless, when GET re-applied for state funding, barriers arose to continuing the program, said Annie Jones-Barnes, 4CD Project Director in Tacoma, who hired consultant Judy Jones to work with Tunch.

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ccounting help salvages a contract. “Rev. Tunch was a great bookkeeper,” explained Jones. “He used

Families Unlimited Network (FUN) is another community-serving offshoot of a local church, a Presbyterian congregation of 1,800 members. Known for managing a Food Bank that today serves 1,000 individuals each month, the church wanted to develop a ministry that provided a broader spectrum of services to hundreds of families in crisis. But developing the vision for new programming was slow, said Board President Kemberly Michaels.

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QuickBooks and had his payroll automated. But he didn’t understand why he had to keep two set of books, one for the church and the other for the government-funded programs.” “The first year we introduced Rev. Tunch to a whole new paradigm,” continued Jones-Barnes. “He was used to doing things his own way, and he was brought up with a ministry model that was patriarchal and traditional. He had to adjust to receiving technical assistance from three African-American women!” But to his credit, Tunch welcomed any consultant that would improve his organization and came to every workshop, she said. “He was a sponge, absorbing it all and implementing it, including advice regarding his accounting systems,” said Jones-Barnes. Today Tunch has new computers through a CCF grant, a website, and a strategic plan. Most importantly, new accounting practices not only preserved his $100,000 a year state contract, but it prepared the way for a $50,000 Department of Labor grant that Jones helped him write. Summarized Tunch: “The people at NLF have helped us in so many ways. They’re good people. And I’ve met so many other non-profit directors through this program, I don’t feel like we’re operating on an island anymore.”

Tacoma

FAMILIES UNLIMITED NETWORK

need to support that and what it will cost.” Next, NLF facilitated a retreat with FUN board members to develop a strategic plan and div v y out assignments, said Jones-Barnes. “This was a time for them to say, given our mission and vision, what expertise will the board need, what energy and what partnerships.” “We actually had founding board members unselfishly move out of the way to make room for people who have the skills we need,” said Michaels. FUN is still young and in process. But, said Michaels, “We now have people looking ahead two or three years, and NLF coming right behind us

ragging boulders uphill. “Initially it felt like dragging boulders uphill,” Michaels said. “In 2002, two of us were asking, ‘OK, what would this look like? Who are we going to serve?’ We tried to recruit other “Initially starting our organization felt like people to join us, dragging boulders up a hill,” said Michaels. and began looking at other non-profit “But today we’re light years ahead of agencies that don’t have this support. Instead of board models.” “The Four City members that just rubber stamp what the Project was there director says, we have people with skills who at just the right are looking two and three years into our future.” time for us,” said Michaels. “They provided intentional, targeted, strategic saying, ‘OK, lets breathe on that vision help, saying, ‘OK, here is the next step.’” and make sure you can get there.’ It’s It helped that Michaels was tenajust incredible.” cious, said Jones-Barnes. “She was the first one there at every training. She had tons of energy.”

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eing light years ahead. Michaels raved about their progress. “In two years we’re light years ahead of agencies that don’t have this support,” said Michaels, who formerly served dozens of non-profits with United Way. “We have decided not only that we would like to make a long-term impact in a family’s life and how we would like to do it, but the infrastructure we

Dave Hillis, President Annie Jones-Barnes Northwest Leadership 4CD Project Director Foundation

What helped your organization the most? • • • • •

Learning how to network and collaborate with other organizations (19%) Contact with other organizations in our cohort expanded our knowledge (17%) Improved our fundraising practices and strategies (16%) Learned to develop methods for program evaluation (13%) Board development, building a stronger board (12%)

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Hand Up for Women

Teen Challenge

Joshua Resource Center

Lost Sheep Ministries

Knoxville partnerships transform old solo mentality

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ear the outskirts of the beautiful Smoky Mountains is a Tennessee city born and bred in the heat of war. Named after America’s first secretary of war, Henry Knox, and in the region of the WWII laboratory for the creation of the atomic bomb, Knoxville has worked hard to shake its legacy as “an embattled and divided city,” said Stanley Taylor, Director of Leadership Development at the Knoxville Leadership Foundation (KLF). “We’re heavily influenced by independent-minded Scots-Irish Appalachians,” adds Brook Dickerson, Tennessee’s Project Director for the Four City Demonstration (4CD) Project. But the cit y is also heavily inf luence d by the collabor at ive

spirit of KLF and 100 civic and faithbased organizations that are transforming the community one leadership initiative at a time.

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LF’s communit y- building work. Since 1994 KLF and its partners have: • Mobilized more than 9,000 volunteers to serve over 5,500 Knoxville neighbors. • Provided affordable housing by building and repairing 360 homes. • Rallied nearly 5,000 teenagers from 200 churches to pledge sexual abstinence until marriage. • Built a network of mentors for children whose parents are in prison. Building on this success, KLF has thrived as a trusted intermediary, delivering

technical assistance to dozens of community service organizations through 4CD’s Compassion Capital Fund grant.

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CD selection/administration process. Hoping to use the 4CD Project to stimulate greater cooperation among Knoxville nonprofits, Dickerson sent out an RFP to find Compassion Capital participants who had “a strong desire to learn more about joint service delivery to meet community needs.” “We saw this as an opportunity to expand the area of our service,” said KLF President Chris Martin, “so we chose to work with organizations from five surrounding counties.” KLF staff said that the resulting collaboration of 22 groups this year has yielded unprecedented results and created a new head-turning paradigm for partnership in and around Knoxville. Dickerson and Taylor provide leadership consultations together. The key, they say, is “the way” they provide their training.

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elationships, not seminars. “The traditional model of a two-hour seminar with experts and a packet of information didn’t work with these directors,” said Taylor. “If it had, they wouldn’t be at our table today.” Traditionally technical assistance has been about doing things “for people,” said Taylor. “We do things ‘with people.’” Most directors have experienced technical assistance as an “event.” With KLF they get an “ongoing relationship.” “People need time to get to know each other, to feel trusted and to be encouraged. That may take 20 hours rather than two.”

Knoxville

CAPACITY-BUILDING SPOTLIGHT: A NEWFOUND PARTNERSHIP Drawing together more than 20 non-profit leaders has created important new partnerships in Knoxville. A natural alliance forming between three ministries serving women is a prime example. Director of Teen Challenge Barbara Mitchell admits that initially she was skeptical whether the demands that came along with CCF funding would be worth the time investment. As a national organization Teen Challenge has carefully scrutinized and weighed the cost versus benefits of government funding. Since Teen Challenge has succeeded with recovering addicts using private funding, it is tempted to be content with just “praying for God’s provision,” said Mitchell. “It used to be that you could just trust the Lord to send ministry supporters. Now they require a business plan,” she said. Paperwork and strategic planning can seem “unspiritual” in some Christian traditions, said Martin, and older non-profits can be entrenched in a cultural milieu that is hard to change. Using a metaphor for 4CD’s technical assistance work, he said, “Sometimes it’s harder to rehab a house that’s been around awhile than it is to build from scratch.” Yet Dickerson’s work has left no stone unturned with Mitchell. Funding has produced computers and a grant writer, outcome measures are being implemented, and work plans have graduated the ministry from living “month-to-month,” Mitchell said. The board and staff are now implementing their one-year plan and will soon establish a five-year strategic plan. “They see more clearly what their responsibilities are,” said Mitchell. Mitchell is learning the benefit of good management through practice. Reporting for the first time that her small branch had 1,500 calls for counseling and 700 counseling sessions in 2004, she cracked a smile of satisfaction. Yet one development holds even more exciting potential for Mitchell.

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has broadened the network of new three-way collaboration. churches that can both refer In a conversation between three women and receive women into ministry directors at a monthly CCF supportive communities, fulfilltraining, it dawned upon them that ing organizational goals for both together they could provide a conPierce and Mitchell. tinuum of care to homeless women, a Meanwhile, Dickerson and demographic that often reaches crisis Taylor are working with the enproportions in Knoxville. tire network, helping to generate Lost Sheep Ministries reaches as more examples of how Knoxville many as 100 homeless women every non-profits are stronger working Wednesday night with van loads of together than working apart. food, clothes and care packages beneath “One of the most satisfying a bridge in an abandoned industrial things for me about the Four shipping yard in Knoxville. City Project,” said Taylor, “has been “In many cases these women medicate their pain with life-controlling sub- “One of the few times people come together for a stances, a fa- common purpose in Knoxville is during University miliar service of Tennessee football games. Our hope is that, area for us,” through our work, people from our city will join said Mitchell. W o m e n together to volunteer or financially support the who “dry out” dozens of non-profits that are making an amazing and are serious difference in our community.” about making -Brook Dickerson, a change then 4CD Project Director seek jobs to ga i n a foothold. That ’s watching program directors come where a third ministry, directed by out of isolation. They now know that Eva Pierce, comes in. they are not alone, and their vision has The Knox County Christian Womexpanded.” en’s Job Corp provides the empathetic encouragement, work wardrobe, hard and soft-skills workshops, computer training, and job search skills that a woman needs. “We’ve already created a reference book to eliminate duplications in what each of us provide, and KLF has helped us submit grants to acquire an assistant to coordinate work within our collaboration,” said Mitchell. Moreover, the partnership between Chris Martin, President Brook Dickerson Knoxville Leadership 4CD Project Director three faith-based service providers Foundation

If I could do it over again… Participants were asked, if they could repeat the project, would they do anything differently. One-third said, “No.” Of those who said yes, the two common themes were to make sure their organization was more involved (including staff and board participation) and to better take advantage of the capacity-building assistance.

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Emmanuel Episcopal Center

For the Kingdom Camp

City Builders

MAYPS

Memphis youth worker web reaches over 50 sites

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he nation knows Memphis as the home of multi-millionaire Elvis Presley, but the demographic reference is misleading — most of Memphis is neither white nor wealthy. In fact two-thirds of the center city is African-American and one-half of the black population in the entire metro area lives in poverty, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Moreover, beneath the Hollywood radar, far from fame and fortune, a

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story greater than the rock-and-roll king’s is being told.

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youth crisis. It starts in 1993 when the Memphis Leadership Foundation (MLF) and area church leaders faced the unconscionable fact that 14,000 Memphis young people were being arrested each year and 35 percent were dropping out of school. Radical intervention was needed. So they held a youth outreach event at the Pyramid Arena that drew an unprecedented 25,000 kids for pop music, adventure sports demos, and a straightforward message that God’s love could help kids reach their highest potential. The event exceeded expectations. Over 3,0 0 0 k ids “made commitments” to stra ig hten out their lives, many of them at-risk inner-city youth, recalls Foundation President Howard Eddings. But ironically there was no delivery system in Memphis to help these youth make lasting life changes, said Eddings. “Even most of the 70 churches that co-sponsored the event had no trained youth leaders to empower these kids.”

Moved by this irony, generous donors helped launch the Urban Youth Initiative (UYI), housed at the MLF.

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LF incubates leaders. For over 12 years UYI has recruited, funded, and trained 170 interns, investing over $13 million in staff who work with over 10,000 urban youth annually in the most underserved communities in Memphis. Over 123 UYI youth leaders are currently working at over 50 Memphis sites and beyond. UYI is just one of 20 programs that MLF has helped develop since 1986, including 52 staff workers, many of whom partner with Memphis schools, businesses, courts and government officials, said Eddings. “By design, building the capacity of leaders and urban ministries is what we have always been about. The Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) work is just an extension of that.”

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CD administration process. Memphis Four City Demonstration (4CD) Project Director Terri Gordon began her CCF work by placing an ad in the Memphis city newspaper inviting non-profits that served at-risk youth and needed technical assistance to apply for sub-grant awards. Over a two-year period 60 have applied and 33 have received assistance. Drawing from 15 years as a manager with IBM, Gordon personally consults with each non-profit leader monthly. In addition she conducts or coordinates monthly training workshops on the seven greatest capacity-building needs selected by the group. “The top needs have been strategic planning, staff de-

CAPACITY-BUILDING SPOTLIGHT: CITY BUILDERS The families of Executive Director Victoria Noblett and James Moore, an indigenous leader being trained to take her job, are two of 10 families who have relocated from the Memphis suburbs to join the mission of City Builders Youth Organization to rebuild Highland Heights “one youth at a time.” “Gangs, drugs and the crime and violence that go with them are prevalent in our neighborhood,” said Noblett, who received training in urban youth work through UYI at the Memphis Leadership Foundation. Noblett, who has been working with youth in the juvenile courts, schools and at City Builders since 1977, is serious and good at what she does – relationally, that is. Yet as an organization, City Builders has hobbled along since 1994.

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irst long-term plan. “All of us, we’re ministers, teachers, and social workers,” explains Noblett. “The first thing we think about is, ‘Let’s take the kids to this activity or let’s go to this camp.’ That’s what we do. That’s who we are. “But now we see that until we plan strategically and look long term at what’s going to help us the most, we’re not going to grow or attract new sponsors.”

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etaining, developing staff. City Builders has an uncanny ability to raise up youth not to escape, but to stay and help rebuild their community. Yet City Builders, which has only two full-time workers, lacks the financial capacity to hire and retain more leaders. Thus, by default, City Builders has generated at least 25 indigenous leaders for other social service agencies in the area, said Noblett. “I look at a gifted college graduate and I want to hire him, but I know he’ll end up at the Boys and Girls Club because we don’t have the money.”

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ew financial credibility. Noblett has the foresight to see

Memphis

velopment, and outcome evaluations,” said Gordon.

what will get her to her goal. “When we tion has laid a safety net over the build financial credibility and better city of Memphis,” said Noblett. business practices, it will bring in the Some may say about governmoney.” That would also make her orment grants for at-risk commuganization more attractive to talented nities what a local government board members, she admits. poster on the famous blues strip In the first year Noblett asked for Beale Street says about giving and received a 4CD grant to purchase money to pan handlers: “Your Non-profits Office Books. “This softchange doesn’t change a thing.” But most Memphis non-profware has allowed us to streamline our its receiving management help bookkeeping and provide professional, deta i led repor ts to f unders a nd ”We’re ministers, teachers, and social prospective board workers. The first thing we think about members.” They have added is, ‘Let’s take the kids to activities or camp.’ a new board mem- That’s what we do. That’s who we are. But now ber and now more we see that until we plan strategically, we’re quickly gather information to apply not going to grow or attract new sponsors.” - Victoria Noblett, for more grants. “We are able to foExecutive Director of CityBuilders cus on donor management issues,” said Noblett. from MLF through the 4CD Project The second year of 4CD funding has said that organizationally, it is enabled City Builders to hire a bookpositively changing almost everything. keeper to better use the software and bring their financial management processes up to speed. “More funds equals reaching more children,” said Noblett. “We are already open for more hours a week.”

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onclusion. Researching urban youth development throughout Memphis, one finds that most roads lead in some way to the Memphis Leadership Foundation and the Urban Youth Initiative. “The Memphis Leadership Founda-

Howard Eddings, Terri Gordon President, Memphis 4CD Project Director Leadership Foundation

4 most fulfilled goals Of 15 technical assistance goals, the following areas scored highest in the percentage of 77 reporting organizations saying they received the needed assistance. Support in collaborating or networking with other organizations (91%) Assistance with fund-raising, resource development or grant writing (90%) Help with board development or governance structure (84%) Develop a communications or marketing strategy (81%)

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Women in New Recovery

Help4Kidz

Extended Hands Food Bank

Helping Hands

Phoenix partners join forces to create lasting change

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ome to the coyote, cactus, and a scathing sun, Phoenix, Arizona is drawing waves of new residents who are glad to endure horribly hot summers for the heavenly remainder of the year. “Some consider our city a place to retire,” said Collaboration for a New Century Executive Director Steve Capobres. “But more are migrating here for jobs and the better cost of living.” In fact, more

people now move to Phoenix monthly than to any other city in America. “We have a special concern for the growing 1.7 million poor and working poor that comprise one-third of our state’s population,” said Capobres.

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ocial services overwhelmed. Phoen i x’s poor have overwhelmed the lower end of its economy and the available social services, said Capobres. The stress on child care services is but one example. “In 1997 the state knew of over 300,000 latchkey kids under the age of 13, yet we could only subsidize child care for 3 5 , 0 0 0 of t hem,” said Capobres, who wrote Arizona’s Poverty Report in 2003. “Improved child care was just one of the gaping holes the C o l l a b o r at i o n sought to address in the fall of 1999,” s a id C apobre s , who joined Col laboration founder Bill Starr and major sponsor Jerry Colangelo in creating a community-wide dialogue.

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ollaboration beginnings. Gathering leaders from gov-

ernment, business, faith, non-profit and philanthropic sectors, the Collaboration addressed the issue of homelessness and affordable housing before going on to health care, child safety, and living wage employment. “This was the defining moment,” said Capobres, “because we knew that homelessness was not going to go away.” As the Arizona state housing director for 10 years, Capobres posed another question that prefaced its current work with the network of Compassion Capital participants. “How do we create lasting change and not just provide services in one area? The person who needs housing may also need child care, an education and bi-lingual assistance. We had to get players in the community working together. The Collaboration is an agent to coordinate that continuum of care within our community.” The Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) grant provides the Collaboration a platform for continuing that work, said Capobres. CAPACITY-BUILDING SPOTLIGHT: HELPING HANDS The Arizona Poverty Report states that without an education, only one in 10 single mothers have the chance to get out of poverty. With a high school education, a single mom averages $26,000 a year. With a two-year associate’s degree, income climbs to $34,000. “It’s obvious that a college education is key,” said Chris Coffman whose $6,000 CCF grant helped him transition out of pastoral work and develop resources for Helping Hands for Single Moms, established in 2002. “But moms also need a community to surround them.”

SPOTLIGHT TWO: HELP4KIDZ Arizona ranks fourth lowest in the nation in children’s overall well-being, seventh lowest in child health insurance coverage, and dead last in high school drop out, according to advocacy group First Things First. Mexican immigration is one of the main subplots to this story. One-third of Phoenix is Latino and 55 percent of the state’s Latinos live in Phoenix. “Low-income families who come to the United States for the promise of a better life find the educational, language and employment barriers insurmountable, and many turn to drug sales, theft and prostitution just to survive,” explains Latino Pastor Eve Nunez, Director of Help4Kidz. Nunez gets 40 calls a day for food boxes and daily calls about child abuse in her community, she said. Help4Kidz is a Latino child rescue outreach that has served over 40,000 people

Phoenix

Helping Hands uses a broad array of community partners to surround welfare mothers with children in a program designed to move them to self-sufficiency in three years. Mothers receive a mentor, child care, a mother’s support group, and spending money while they attend college and get their lives together. Helping Hands community partners provide housing, tutoring, “wealth-building skills,” computers, dental assistance, over-the-counter medicine, and even auto repair and towing services. “We built the model with input from the Collaboration,” Coffman said. “They connected me with board members who embraced the vision of Helping Hands and became the backbone of our organization.” Board members include a social worker, educator, corporate lawyer, retired banker, business leaders and a professor. Coffman has received technical assistance from the Collaboration in strategic planning, fund development, and public relations, he said. “Helping Hands is the one-stop shop mothers in our community need,” said Capobres. “It’s also the perfect vehicle for volunteers with different skill sets to serve people who are less fortunate.”

in 10 years, 86 percent of them Latino. met commissioners in the DeSixty-seven percent of Help4Kidz chilpartments of Labor, Education, dren have a parent who is incarcerated. and Human Services.” “Pastor Eve was an untapped “This ministry has potential to make resource in Phoenix,” said Kuehl. a tremendous difference,” said 4CD “The Compassion Capital Fund is Project Director Martina Kuehl. “Yet it has only 40 volunteers and has been hampered by a lack of both part- Help4Kidz has provided child rescue nership and training.” and emergency services to over 40,000 Nunez recognized people in 10 years, a saving grace in the need to strengthen her operation from the the Latino community. Yet its potential time she was introduced was hampered by a lack of volunteers, to the Collaboration, she partnership and training. Thanks to the said. “I said, ‘This has Collaboration, it has been networked and got to happen,’” said the peppy Nunez. “’I’m go- nearly doubled its resources. ing to get educated and certified in every area.’” allowing us to both find and foster our Nunez has attended Collaboration best community development leaders workshops on organizational manageto reach very needy populations.” ment, resource development, organizational planning, board development and grant writing. Today Nunez has risen from a local Mother Theresa figure, unknown except in her own poor neighborhood, to a Washington D.C. presence, thanks to the Collaboration networking. “Through the contacts they provided, we have almost doubled our resources,” said Nunez, who visits Washington Martina Kuehl Steve Capobres, D.C. at least six times a year. 4CD Project Director Executive Director “Now I am also able to advocate for Collaboration for a the greater Latino community, having New Century

How were most sub-awards used? Across the four cities 57 organizations received sub-awards totaling $300,000 in the first year of the project. The median amount awarded was $5,000. The minimum grant was $1,000 and the maximum grant was $25,000. In the second year 73 organizations received subawards totaling $400,000. In the first year 36 organizations used their grant to expand “program operations;” 7 used it to expand “strategic relationships.”* New or expanded program operations Computers and technology New staff positions Internal operations and management Resource Development Strategic Relationships* *Marketing, website, PR

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4CD 2003-05 Financials

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ince the annual budget varied from the first to the second year, these numbers represent an averaged amount in each category for the two funding years. Income was received from the Compassion Capital Fund, from private funders, as well as from individual donations. Administration $235,630

Averaged Total Budget $1,111,349

Subcontracts/ Partners $525,719

Subawards $350,000

The purpose of the Four City Demonstration Project (4CD) is to increase the program and organizational capabilities of faith and communitybased organizations that serve individuals and families in need in our four cities. The Project was administered by the Northwest Leadership Foundation in Tacoma, Washington. The expenses associated with the 4CD include project administration (contracting, accounting, national staff, travel and other project administration costs); subcontracts with partners (including Memphis and Knoxville Leadership Foundations, the Collaboration for a New Century, and Amherst H. Wilder Founda-

tion); and subawards (the small grants made to 4CD participants through a competitive process).

Macedonia Youth Enrichment Project - Tacoma, Washington Writing, editing, photography and design: Storycraft Communications, Inc., 612.578.2292 The agency photos in the headers of pages 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 were taken as part of a communications capacity-building project, serviced by Storycraft Communications, Inc., that produced fundraising literature for 16 ministries in four cities. (Tacoma Dome photo on page 4 ©2003 Strode McGowan Photography)