Updates on Community Action Partnership's New Website, Community Action Month in the News and More!

May 9, 2017

PARTNERSHIP NEWS

Community Action Partnership Has a New Website. Let Us Know What You Think
Continue to Share Your Stories for Community Action Month
Community Action Month in the News!
Our Annual Convention Early Bird Rate Ends This Month. Register Now!

NEWS YOU CAN USE

Nonprofits Save $1.1 Million in HR Services
Weatherization Advocates Testify in Congressional Hearing
US Fundraising Up and Down at the Same Time
Funding Opportunities

TRAININGS AND WEBINARS

Families USA Healthcare Webinar
UST: How Nonprofits Can Generate Savings and Help Employees
The Keys to Effective, Low-Barrier Emergency Shelters
Upcoming Learning Communities Resource Center Webinars
Health Intersections Two: Housing

PARTNERSHIP NEWS

Community Action Partnership Has a New Website. Let Us Know What You Think

Community Action Partnership has updated our website! Please let us know what you think.

For Community Action Month, Community Action Partnership is pleased to launch our new website. We hope that the new, modern look will help you better find and access the tools and resources that you need to carry out the important work of fighting poverty in communities across the country.

Some of you have reached out to us with problems accessing the new website. We apologize for any difficulties you may be experiencing, and we appreciate your patience as we work out the kinks on the new website and with the links. If you are still having issues, please try clearing the cache in your Internet browser. You can do this by clearing your browsing history. Then type www.communityactionpartnership.com into your browser. You can also try clicking here. If you are still having trouble accessing the new website, please contact Communications Associate Merrill Miller at [email protected].

We want to hear from you, so if you have any feedback about the website, please also contact Merrill Miller at [email protected] with your thoughts, impressions or concerns.

We hope you will find our new website to be a useful and easy-to-navigate resource to meet your needs!

Continue to Share Your Stories for Community Action Month

Thank you for sharing your impact for Community Action Month! Please continue sending pictures, memes and success stories.

Thank you to all of our agencies and partners who have shared pictures, memes, stories and more that demonstrate the impact and success of Community Action!

Please continue to keep us updated about all the activities and events that your agency is promoting to celebrate Community Action Month. Email Communications Associate Merrill Miller at [email protected]. We also encourage you to follow the Partnership on Facebook and Twitter so that we can retweet and share each other's Community Action Month memes on Facebook, using our #BeCommunityAction and #CommuntiyAction hashtags!

If you haven't already, please access our Community Action Month toolkit and social media posts here.

Let's celebrate Community Action Month together all May long!

Community Action Month in the News!

Thank you to all of our agencies who are promoting Community Action Month to their local journalists and reaching out to their elected officials.

Community Action Month is getting attention ! Thanks to your hard work and outreach, local news outlets are covering Community Action Month and elected officials are signing Community Action Month proclamations.

Here is just a sample of the news stories about Community Action Month:

Moberly Monitor-Index (Missouri): "May Proclaimed NECAC Community Action Month "
ChicoER News (California): "Community Action Agency Marks 50-Year Anniversary"
AVC Communications (Ohio): "May Is Community Action Month, Older Americans Month in Noble County"
Gant News (Pennsylvania): "May Is Community Action Month"

If the activities and events that your agency is promoting to celebrate Community Action Month are covered by your local media or receive a Community Month Proclamation from your elected officials, let us know! Email Communications Associate Merrill Miller at [email protected]. Post them on Facebook and Twitter so that we can retweet and share the good news, using our #BeCommunityAction and #CommuntiyAction hashtags!

Our Annual Convention Early Bird Rate Ends This Month. Register Now!

Community Action Partnership's 2017 Annual Convention Early Bird Rate Ends May 26. Register Now!

Register now for our 2017 Annual Convention to take advantage of our early bird rates!

May 26 is the final day to take advantage of our early bird registration rates of $595 for members and $825 for non-members. Don't delay in registering here for our 2017 Annual Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania now.

You don't want to miss our knowledgeable and inspiring keynote speakers: john a. powell and Maurice Jones. We are also offering informative and educational workshops and pre-convention events that we hope you will learn from and enjoy.

Register today! And remember to also book your hotel room at our special rate here.

NEWS YOU CAN USE

Nonprofits Save $1.1 Million in HR Services

Nonprofits Save $1.1 Million in HR Services

The Unemployment Services Trust (UST) recently announced that more than 2,100 participating nonprofits saved $1,124,210 in HR services through their value-added HR Workplace in 2016. Community Action Partnership members alone utilized $12,550 worth of HR tools and support.

The UST HR Workplace powered by ThinkHR provides nonprofit professionals with the guidance they need to streamline HR procedures, maintain best practices, and ensure compliance with state laws. By providing expert HR advice, thousands of HR templates, hundreds of training courses and an award-winning online library for all workplace concerns, the UST HR Workplace gives nonprofits the knowledge they need to avoid costly risks and liability issues.

Below is a breakdown of the 2016 service usage as well as their determined value:

The UST HR Workplace has been a go-to resource for UST's participating nonprofit employers since its launch in 2014 and is a priceless support system that helps to save time and money-offered at no additional cost to UST members.

Nonprofits can get a free 30-day trial of the UST HR Workplace by visiting: www.chooseust.org/thinkhr .

Weatherization Advocates Testify in Congressional Hearing

Weatherization Advocates Testify in Congressional Hearing

Several advocates testified before the House Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee today in support of fiscal year 2018 funding for various federal energy efficiency programs. In March, the Administration released its budget blueprint which slashed funding to the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), zeroing out both the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and the State Energy Program (SEP). The National Association for State Community Services Programs (NASCSP) was represented at the hearing by its Energy Services Director, Ray Judy.

US Fundraising Up and Down at the Same Time

US Fundraising Up and Down at the Same Time

The nonprofit news website Nonprofit Times has an article about fundraising trends nonprofits should be aware of:

Three out of five (60 percent) American nonprofits saw an increase in receipts in 2016. While constituting a majority, the figure was down from 2015's 65 percent and represented the lowest percentage of organizations since 2010.

More than one- quarter (27 percent) of organizational representatives reported decreases to receipts as compared to 23 percent in 2015. About two-thirds (66 percent) of representatives are optimistic about a better 2017, but concerns remain over economic and political change (46 percent), internal leadership, staffing, and marketing (34 percent), and fundraising capacity such as building major-gifts capacity and utilizing online tools (20 percent).

The data comes from the Nonprofit Research Collaborative's (NRC) Winter 2017 Nonprofit Fundraising Study, based on survey responses from representatives of 941 organizations.

Read the full article here.

Funding Opportunities

Relatives As Parents Program

As the nation continues to grapple with the toll of the opioid abuse epidemic, particularly in rural areas, more grandparents are raising their children. The Brookdale Foundation group has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for its Relatives as Parents Program (RAPP). Brookdale will select up to 15 programs to receive a seed grant of $15,000 and ongoing technical assistance to create or expand support services to grandparents and other relatives raising children. Any not-for-profit organization can apply for the program, including aging service providers, county agencies, and health care providers.

Applications are due June 15, 2017

American Indian and Alaska Native Early Head Start Expansion

Offers funding to new and existing Early Head Start programs for American Indian/Alaska Native populations to promote school readiness for low-income children. Programs must provide family-centered services designed to promote the development of the youngest children, to engage parents in their roles as primary caregivers and teachers of their children, and to help parents move toward self-sufficiency.

Applications due June 17, 2017

Strategic Economic and Community Development

The Strategic and Economic Development Program seeks to advance projects which support long-term community and economic growth strategies that reflect both multi-jurisdictional stakeholder collaboration and capitalize upon the unique strengths of the rural area. Through this provision, USDA Rural Development is empowered to work further with rural communities to align resources with long-range and multi-jurisdictional challenges and needs by leveraging federal, state, local, or private funding. This program is designed to give will applicants to existing Rural Development Programs priority consideration by demonstrating that their efforts support a multi-jurisdictional plan.

Applications due June 30, 2017

TRAININGS AND WEBINARS

Families USA's Healthcare Webinar

ACA Defense Webinar on Next Steps: How Nonprofits Can Elevate Advocacy

Wednesday, May 10, 2017, at 2:00pm ET-3:00pm ET

Experts from the Alliance for Justice will help us understand the opportunities for health care defense advocacy that non-profit organizations have under 501(c)(3) rules. Families USA experts will share the latest intel on threats to health care in Washington and how participants can take action.

Learn more and register here.

UST: How Nonprofits Can Generate Savings and Help Employees

How Nonprofits Can Generate Savings and Help Employees

Wednesday, May 17, 2017, at 1:00pm ET-2:00pm ET

If you're a nonprofit facing seasonal employment layoffs or fearing funding cuts, this free, informative webinar is for you.

Join Marilyn Stemper, National Director of CareerArc Outplacment, as she shares best practices in Outplacement and Career Transition Services and how more than 2,200+ nonprofits are already effectively reducing unemployment claims costs and future contribution requirements while helping former employees find work up to 73% faster. CareerArc's award-winning outplacement services are included with UST membership.

Learn how you too can generate great savings and and goodwill!

Learn more and register here.

The Keys to Effective Low-Barrier Emergency Shelters

The Keys to Effective Low-Barrier Emergency Shelters

Wednesday, May 17, 2017, at 2:00pm ET-3:00pm ET

This webinar is part of a series by the National Alliance to End Homelessness on effective emergency shelter. In our first webinar, we discussed the role of emergency shelter in a crisis response system. In this webinar you will learn the five key elements to effective emergency shelter: using a Housing First approach, providing safe and appropriate diversion services, ensuring immediate and easy access, services focused on rapid exits to housing, and using data to measure performance. Cynthia Nagendra, Director of the Alliance's Center for Capacity Building, will provide strategies that shelters can begin to implement right away to adopt the five keys to effective emergency shelter.

Learn more and register here.

Upcoming Learning Communities Resource Center Webinars

Get the Latest Updates on the Learning Communities Resource Center Webinars

Join the Learning Communities Resource Center in May and June for their latest webinars on trauma-informed best practice and approaches as well as on financial empowerment!

Learning with the Learning Community: Financial Empowerment

May 24, 2017 at 2 PM ET

Alleviating the causes and conditions of poverty is the "heart" of what Community Action does. Because the needs of low-income families are ever evolving, Community Action approaches to eradicating poverty must be adaptive, innovative, and impactful. Attend this webinar event for an opportunity to explore emerging anti-poverty approaches as it relates to financial empowerment through our work with members of the Financial Empowerment for Families LCG. Hear from participating agencies about their successes and challenges, and also learn about how you can engage with the Partnership's Learning Community to build capacity to fight poverty more effectively.

Register here.

Learning with the Learning Community: Trauma-Informed Approaches

May 25, 2017 at 2 PM ET

Attend this webinar event for an opportunity to explore emerging anti-poverty approaches as it relates to being a trauma-informed organization through our work with the members of the Trauma Informed Approaches to Alleviate Poverty LCG.

Register here.

Health Intersections Two: Housing

Health Intersections Two: Housing Webinar

When:

Wednesday May 31, 2017

11am ET

Register here.

An estimated 70% of variance in health is associated with the social and physical environment in which a person lives. This illustrates the need to address health disparities, poor health outcomes, and high health costs through innovative solutions that target the social determinants of health, such as housing. Please join Krista Egger from Enterprise Community Partners to learn about the pathways through which housing may affect health; a process for integrating health into affordable housing design and development, the Health Action Plan process; and resources available for you to use to put this work into practice. We will also share the story of one community development corporation who utilized the Health Action Plan process in their work.

Community Action Partnership
1020 19th Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036