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Save the Date! #cdcohio16 is in Athens October 13-14!
In 32 years, we've never held the conference in Athens, but with a growing number of members, innovative strategies in local and healthy foods, impressive impact towards bolstering low-to-moderate income entrepreneurs, and focus on zero waste, it is clearly time to showcase the revitalization occurring throughout the region. Read more
here. Follow the excitement on Twitter with
#cdcohio16.
Thank you to our early sponsors! If you are interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at the conference, please contact Nate Coffman at
[email protected].
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OCDCA AmeriCorps VISTA Project Announces its 2016-2017 Sub-Sites
This year's AmeriCorps VISTA application process was highly competitive. The ideas and work coming from our members is astounding! OCDCA is pleased to announce the following members who received year-long AmeriCorps VISTA positions. Together, we can put an end to poverty.
ACEnet
Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions
Ashtabula County Community Action Agency
Campus District Inc.
Community Food Initiatives
Community Matters
Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization
East Akron Neighborhood Development Corporation
ECDI
Famicos Foundation
Homes on the Hill
Housing Services Alliance
Live Healthy Appalachia
MCBI
New Hope Foundation
New Path
Neighborhood Housing Partnership Springfield
Neighborhood Housing Service of Greater Cleveland
North End Community Improvement Collaborative
Pathway
People Working Cooperatively
ReUse Industries
Rural Action
Slavic Village Development
St Clair Superior Development Corporation
St. Mary Development Corporation
Supports to Encourage Low-Income Families
Tremont West Development Corporation
United North
Western Reserve CDC
Working in Neighborhoods
WSOS Community Action Commission
Yellow Springs Home, Inc.
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Social Enterprise Coming Up in Ohio
Social enterprise is a huge thing both nationally and in Ohio.
Freshwater Cleveland recently ran an article detailing the work happening in that city, including a reference to OCDCA member, St Clair Superior Development Corporation.
Last week, some OCDCA members attended a training on social enterprise through
The Tony Wells Foundation. These members received a scholarship for this three day training. The selected members were
Community Matters
Downtown Mansfield
East Akron Neighborhood Development Corporation
ESOP
Fairfair Renaissance Development Corporation
Greater Linden Development Corp
Intergrated Community Enterprises
Rural Action
Western Reserve Community Development Corporation
One of the attendees sent us a lovely note stating, "Little did I know that the experience would be one of the best I have had in my career...I feel honored to have been part of such a rich experience, and will use what I learned to further pursue my vision of developing social enterprises."
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Upcoming Trainings
Due to a partnership between the Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations (OANO) and the Ohio CDC Association, OCDCA members will now a receive 25% discount on an OANO membership. This discount will be applied starting March 1, 2016.
Are you making the most of your OANO membership? Were you aware that OANO offers countless services and resources for nonprofits all over Ohio?
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Registration |
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OANO Membership Benefits Review
March 16, 2016
10:00 - 11:00 AM
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Webinar
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Save the Date!
Microbusiness Summit: Best Practices, April 13, 2016 |
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Welcome New Member!
New Hope Foundation in Columbus joins OCDCA as our newest 2016 member. Welcome! |
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Share Your Stories
We love hearing about the awesome work you do throughout Ohio. If your organization is mentioned in the news, please share it with us. We love photos too! If you send it to Lisa Much at
[email protected]
, we can put it on our blog and in this newsletter. Some samples from the past two months:
YNDC Volunteers Board Up Vacant Homes, regarding volunteer work through Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
TNP Razes 108 Houses in 2015, Rehabs 44 Others, regarding all of the work done by Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership
A Walk Through North Collinwood, a Belt Magazine article about the effects of the work by Northeast Shores Development Corporation |
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Housing Ohio 2016
Registration for COHHIO's annual conference, Housing Ohio 2016, is now open! The conference is April 11-13 at the Sheraton Columbus Hotel at Capital Square. Check out the conference brochure. You can register by check or by credit card. This year's annual Housing Ohio conference features 30 timely and engaging workshops on a variety of topics dealing with homelessness and affordable housing. This year's keynote speakers are two nationally acclaimed authors who have explored the intersection of poverty and homelessness. Come hear what Matthew Desmond -- author of Evicted -- and Luke Shaefer -- author of $2.00 A Day -- have to teach us about confronting the systems that keep people trapped in poverty.
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Lavea Brachman to Serve as Resident Fellow at The University of Chicago
Lavea Brachman of the Greater Ohio Policy Center was recently announced as a Resident Fellow at The University of Chicago's Institute of Politics (IOP). The IOP Fellows Program provides opportunities for students to learn from practitioners about civic engagement, public service, and public policy issues. Fellows, which include journalists, former elected officials, campaign strategists, and other experts in their field, "lead non-credit seminars on timely and relevant issues of national import." Lavea will teach a seminar that will focus on the challenges and future of older industrial cities.
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Cleveland Property Survey Results Released
Western Reserve Land Conservancy, in collaboration with the City of Cleveland, surveyed all of the more than 158,000 residential, commercial and industrial parcels in Cleveland - and the buildings associated with them - to provide an updated snapshot of the condition of those properties. The survey results indicate that without the aggressive effort of the city and its partners to reduce blight in Cleveland neighborhoods, the number of vacant and distressed properties would be much higher.
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Focusing on the Racial Wealth Divide
A recent editorial by NACEDA member Bernie Mazyck, President and CEO of the South Carolina Association for Community Economic Development and Jeremie Greer, Vice President for Policy & Research at the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) talks about how the next president can address the staggering and growing racial wealth divide in America. |
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AmeriCorps VISTA Spotlight
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In December, our AmeriCorps VISTA Members completed the sixth month of their service year and helped commemorate the holiday season in their communities in wonderful ways!
These efforts include those of Sarah Galbreath, serving at Homes on the Hill CDC in Columbus, who received funding for and organized a Westside holiday party that brought out over 700 attendees and distributed over 400 presents to local children. Sarah mobilized volunteers from the Work Experience Program (WEP), Homes on the Hill's Landlord Engagement Action Network (LEAN) program, Mt. Caramel West Hospital, and the broader community to help make this event a success. Avery Ozimek, serving at Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization in Cleveland, who helped organize the annual Holidays in Gordon Square Event, which was a very successful event that brought together local merchants in the Gordon Square Arts District to support local business.
In addition to organizing holiday events, our AmeriCorps VISTA Members continued to support their sites through capacity building activities. Allison Pieratt, who serves at Home is the Foundation, in Eaton, helped secure $5,555 in donations to support their affordable housing initiatives. Kevin Tucker, a second-year AmeriCorps VISTA Member at St. Mary Development Corporation in Dayton, obtained a $5,000 grant to support their housing service coordination program.
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Messaging the Movement: Putting the Scorecard into Action in Your State
Released annually, this year's Assets & Opportunities Scorecard examines 130 policy and outcome measures of financial security. Interested in using the Scorecard in your state? Meet the creators of the 2016 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard on Wednesday,
March 2 from 3-4 pm ET to learn how to use the Scorecard in your local efforts.
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Ohio Fair Lending Brown Bag
Millions of New dollars have been allocated to the State of Ohio. Demolition, Foreclosure Prevention, Tax Foreclosure Relief? How will your community benefit? Find out
March 9.
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Appalachian Conference on Social Enterprise
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SBA and Rural Development Programs
If you are interested in more information on USDA Rural Development loan programs and Small Business Administration programs, please come join them for any of these free events.
All events open 10:00 to 11:30 am.
March 21, 2016: Butler Co. Hamilton Mill, 20 High Street, Hamilton, OH 45011
May 23, 2016: Highland Co. Chamber of Commerce 338 W. Main Street, Hillsboro, OH 45133
August 22, 2016: Clinton Co. Municipal Building, 69 N. South Street, Wilmington, OH 45177
If you would like more information on the free events that are offered, please contact Nicole at 513-684-2814 ext. 207 or she can be reached by email at [email protected].
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Ohio Nonprofit Conference and Excellence Awards on May 3
This conference through OANO is the place to network, engage around the latest issues facing the nonprofit sector, find resources to benefit your organization, and learn from first-rate speakers about hot topics. More details about the conference are here.
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The Dayton Foundation's Greenlight Grants Program
Organizations operating in The Dayton Foundation service area can apply for greenlight grants, which are from $500-$7,500 for special projects, capital improvements, or capacity building. The first cycle applications are due
March 1.
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Wells Fargo NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance (for CDFIs)
The Wells Fargo NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance in partnership with Prudential, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and The Kresge Foundation have celebrated innovation by the nation's most promising CDFIs by awarding more than $70 million through a competitive awards process over the last nine years (2007-2015). Applications are accepted until March 2.
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Cincy Good Food Funds
The GCRFPC is pleased to announce the Cincy Good Food Fund, a program designed to financially support innovative and promising projects that can make a significant, positive impact on their food system. The Cincy Good Food Fund will help strengthen the Greater Cincinnati regional food system by supporting healthy food-related initiatives that improve the quality of life in our region. Deadline is March 3.
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ServeOhio Global Youth Service Day Small Grants
ServeOhio, in conjunction with its corporate Stewards of Service, Honda of America and AEP Ohio, announces the availability of grants to support community service projects organized for Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) on April 15-17, 2016. Applications must be returned by March 8.
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Unitarian Universalist Funding Program
Grants of up to $15,000 are awarded to non-Unitarian Universalist groups that, among other things, use community organizing to bring about systemic change leading to a more just society.
Deadline is March 15.
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CommunityWINS Grant Program in Partnership with your Mayor
Wells Fargo Bank and the Wells Fargo Foundation are teaming up with the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) to offer the CommunityWINSSM (Working/Investing in Neighborhood Stabilization) Grant Program. Cities may nominate up to three nonprofit organizations who do work in neighborhood stabilization, economic development, and job creation. Applications are due by March 18.
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Housing counseling grants
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it is making $40 million in grants available to support hundreds of housing counseling organizations across the country that assist families, including those buying their first home, struggling to locate affordable rental housing or seeking to avoid foreclosure. It is estimated HUD's housing counseling grants, and the additional funding they leverage, will reach more than 1.5 million households through a network of approximately 300 national, regional and local organizations. See HUD's new funding announcement.
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Efficiency Crafted Homes Incentives
Efficiency Crafted Homes provides financial incentives for new home construction or gut rehabs in Columbia Gas of Ohio or AEP Ohio territory. For more information about becoming an Efficiency Crafted builder, contact 1-877-771-5506 or [email protected].
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Organizations with employment opportunities in community development may send their notices for free posting to Lisa Much at
[email protected]
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NHTF Allocation and OHFA Plan
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac together will transfer $186.6 million to the Federal Treasury for the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF). The Federal Housing Finance Agency will determine the official figure. Ohio is to receive $4.2 million in 2016.To see estimated allocations per state
click here. Governor Kasich sent a
letter to HUD Secretary Julian Castro notifying him of Ohio's intent to participate in the NHTF program and designating the Ohio Development Services Agency (ODSA) as the administering entity and OHFA as the sub-grantee to allocate program funds and monitor funded projects. Ohio will be tasked with development of an NHTF Allocation Plan that will be linked to the Consolidated Plan. HUD has encouraged states to begin planning and soliciting input from constituents. An NHTF webpage with additional information has been developed for the
OHFA website. OHFA has also created an email address
[email protected] to solicit public comments in advance of and during development of the NHTF Allocation Plan. Interested parties are welcome to submit comments at any time.
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Abandoned Gas Station Cleanup Grant Website Launched
The website for the Abandoned Gas Station Cleanup Grant Program is now available. On the webpage you will find program guidelines and resources to determine your site's eligibility. If you have any questions about the program, please contact April Kasun at (614) 466-4007 or
[email protected]. The
Abandoned Gas Station Cleanup Grant will provide funding to assess and clean up BUSTR Class C sites (underground storage tanks with documented petroleum releases). Eligible activities include up to $100,000 for assessment and up to $500,000 for cleanup.
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ConPlan CHDO Operating Grants
The Ohio Development Services Agency consolidated plan draft is calling to continue the Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) operating grant program for HOME CHDO set-aside recipients. Although the HOME regulations unfortunately diminished the amount of potential recipients, continuation allows for a handful of CHDOs to receive $50,000 operating grants assuming set-aside eligibility.
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Deadline Extended to Sign Letter Supporting THUD Funding
Advocates for transportation, housing, community development, and ending homelessness are working together to urge Congress to provide the highest possible funding for the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittees. The deadline for organizations to sign the letter has been extended to February 29. OCDCA encourages all our member organization to sign on to the letter. For details on the President's budget proposal see Enterprise's comprehensive overview of the President's FY 2017 budget and their updated FY 2017 budget chart.
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For over 20 years, the HOME program has proven to be one of the most effective, locally driven tools to help states and communities address their most pressing housing needs. In recent years, HOME funding has been cut in half, making it more difficult for low-income seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, families with children, and homeless populations to access the housing they need. That's why the HOME Coalition is urging Congress to restore HOME funding to at least $1.2 billion.
The deadline for organizations to sign on is March 1.
Thank you for your advocacy.
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Hardest Hit Fund
Congress approved an additional $2b in new money for Hardest Hit states in December. The Department of the Treasury announced how the funds will be allocated. Ohio will receive over $97 million in phase 1 and is eligible to apply for $250 million in phase 2. OHFA is currently considering the use of the funds for demolition and/or foreclosure mitigation.
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Low Income Programs Short Changed
A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) analyzes how the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations allocated the $33 billion in funds for nondefense discretionary (NDD) programs made available by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. The report concludes that appropriators "allocated the available non-defense funds among the eleven subcommittees with non-defense responsibilities in a way that shortchanged low income and other social programs." Read more of this article here.
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NHC Report Shows How Investments in Housing Can Save on Health Care
A new report from the National Housing Conference (NHC) summarizes and evaluates the latest research on how investments in housing can result in cost savings in health care. According to the paper, a number of recent studies demonstrate that permanent supportive housing to homeless individuals can result in significant savings on public health care expenditures. Read more about the latest research on health and housing.
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HUD Issues Final Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Assessment Tool
Local governments must use the Assessment Tool if they receive funds through Community Development Block Grants, the HOME Investment Partnership Programs, Emergency Solution Grants, and Housing for Persons with AIDS formula funding. The Assessment Tool is a series of questions designed to help local governments identify racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty, patterns of integration and segregation, disparities in access to opportunity, and disproportionate housing needs. The first assessments will be due after October 4, 2016. HUD will issue a separate assessment tool for states, Insular Areas, and public housing authorities. Along with the Assessment Tool, HUD released an AFFH Rule Guidebook and produced a data and mapping tool, fact sheet and webinars.
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