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Nonprofits Can Advocate - A List of Do's & Don'ts
There's a common misconception among 501(c)3s that they aren't allowed to advocate to their state and federal legislators. Here's an article from Shelterforce that provides some context and do's and don'ts.
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OCDCA Releases 2016 Annual Report
Ohio CDC Association has just released its
2016 Annual Report. Special thanks to our members, partners, sponsors, and funders for supporting us through 2016. We had a great year, and are looking forward to an even better 2017!
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Impact Investing Executive Education Program Scholarships Available
This cutting-edge three day course, led by the Tony R. Wells Foundation, enables nonprofit, foundation and social enterprise leaders to leverage the power of social enterprise and social impact investing together to increase impact, improve stability, and grow the sustainability of their organizations. OCDCA will be providing nine scholarships to members, three of which must go to staff from rural members through USDA RCDI, for the April 18-20, 2017 training. Scholarship recipients will only pay $300 towards the $2,100 course. More details here.
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Brand New Rural Technical Assistance Opportunity
The National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in San Antonio, TX who recently received a HUD grant to deliver project-based and organizational technical assistance (TA) and capacity building services, and loans to affordable housing and community development projects, in rural communities in 12 states.
Government, tribal, and non-profit affordable housing providers, and community and economic development entities in rural areas of Ohio are eligible for this TA.
More information here.
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OCDCA Members! Give Us Your Thoughts
As our membership grows and changes each year, we like to ask you, our member, what you are doing and how we can better serve your organization.
Members, would you please take just 10 minutes to complete this brief survey? As a thank you for taking a moment out of your day, you will be entered into a drawing to win a free conference registration to OCDCA's 33rd Annual Conference in Toledo on October 5-6, 2017.
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Save the Date! #cdcOhio17 is in Toledo October 5-6, 2017!
Toledo has a lot of exciting news and collaborations in the community development world! Join us this October at the brand new Renaissance Downtown Toledo Hotel as we explore all of the work going on in the Glass City. Read more
here. Follow the excitement on Twitter with
#cdcohio17.
Thank you to our early sponsors:
- Fifth Third Bank
- Finance Fund
- Regionomics LLC
- Boenning & Scattergood
If you are interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at the conference, please contact Nate Coffman or Lisa Much.
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Realtors' donation helps charity rehab homes
"This donation is allowing South Side Renaissance to go to another level of scale," said John Edgar, executive director of Community Development for All People, who welcomed a string of politicians and others to the announcement. Read more in the Columbus Dispatch.
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Walnut Hills reimagines future of food security in wake of Kroger departure
The Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation is managing much of the neighborhood's current economic growth. In an effort to tackle the Kroger issue head on, the WHRF is putting short-term solutions into place, while formulating a collaborative plan for long-term residential food security. Read more in Soapbox Cincinnati.
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Need a seed, take a seed Henderson Memorial Public Library starting seed catalog
"Seed saving is the cornerstone of food security - the other piece is community gardens," she said Monday. "If you have healthy food, you have healthy people and healthy communities." Special shout out to OCDCA AmeriCorps VISTA member at Ashtabula County Community Action Agency, Julie Wayman! Read the whole story in the Star Beacon.
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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
, we can put it on our blog and in this newsletter.
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Greater Ohio Policy Center Build Akron Report
Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) recently released a report. The
Build in Akron report, produced with the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, finds that many of Akron's neighborhoods can already support additional market-rate housing and many more could attract new development through strategic interventions that have been employed successfully in other cities in Ohio.
Read more here.
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AmeriCorps VISTA Spotlight
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Ohio CDC Association VISTAs continue to show that community development organizations are needed and valued. VISTAs Shei Sanchez with Live Happy Appalachia and Allison Hall with Community Food Initiatives developed over $6,100 in cash and over $500 in in-kind resources towards food security. Cait Bothwell with Yellow Springs Home, Inc. completed the OHFA HDGF grant and was awarded $500,000 towards housing for Forest Village Homes, an affordable, sustainable rental project designed for seniors and those with disabilities. Lastly, ECDI VISTA Nicole Liatos secured $3,375 for asset development. Great job VISTAs!
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CNU-Midwest 2017 Summit: The New Neighborhood Brewery
Check out the CUN-Midwest 2017 Summit at the Woodward Theater on March 3rd from 1:00-6:00 pm to explore how the craft beer craze is affecting urban spaces. Event cost is $25.
More information here.
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Tomorrow is the Final Day to Register for GOPC's 2017 Summit
Join our partners at the Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) for their 2017 Summit,
Investing in Ohio's Future: Maximizing Growth in our Cities and Regions.
The Summit will take place on
March 7th and 8th, 2017
at the Westin Hotel in downtown Columbus. This biennial convening will bring together experts, policymakers, and local leaders to explore best practices in financing and accelerating comprehensive and sustainable growth in communities throughout Ohio. The Summit is open to anyone interested in the development and redevelopment of Ohio's neighborhoods and metropolitan areas.
For more information, please check out GOPC's 2017 Summit Website. T
he registration deadline is March 1, 2017. See you in Columbus!
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Tax Credits 101 is Back
Join Enterprise for the return of Tax Credits 101.
Part 1, on March 21, is d
esigned for those with little or no experience using tax credits. This popular short course provides a basic overview of tax credit financing and how the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) works. Participants are guided through a case study that highlights aspects of the decision-making processes involved with, and the utility of, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. In addition to LIHTC, this training sessions also offers an overview of the basics of Renewable Energy tax credits.
Part 2, on March 28, will cover New Market and Historic Tax Credits.
Since 2000, the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) has generated investment in low-income communities across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. According to the U.S. Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, the program has raised more than $31 billion in private capital, leveraging about $8 of private capital for every $1 of NMTC investment in distressed communities.
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ArtsWave Catalyzing Impact Grant Program - SW Ohio
The Catalyzing Impact Grant Program provides funding for one-time or first-time arts or cultural heritage projects that support one of the goals of the Blueprint for Collective Action. A project is defined as a specific, connected set of activities with a beginning and an end and explicit goals and objectives. Projects with multiple components must show that there is a cohesive theme that ties the project together.
Deadline is March 3, 2017.
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Voya Foundation Grants for Financial Resilience
Voya Foundation grants are focused on Financial Resilience. They accomplish this by accepting year-round grant applications from organizations that provide financial education curriculum to grade 9-12 students focused on navigating major financial milestones including student debt, credit, home ownership, financial products and services/financial capability, and family needs. Deadline is March 10.
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Community Connect Grant Program - Dept. of Agriculture - Utilities Program
The Community-Oriented Connectivity Broadband Grant Program (Community Connect Grant Program) is designed to provide financial assistance to provide service at the Broadband Grant Speed in rural, economically-challenged communities where broadband service does not currently exist. Grant funds may be used to: (1) deploy service at the Broadband Grant Speed to critical community facilities, rural residents, and rural businesses, (2) construct, acquire, or expand a community center, and (3) equip a community center that provides free access to service at the Broadband Grant Speed to community residents for at least two years. Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis for entities to serve all premises in eligible rural areas at the Broadband Grant Speed to ensure rural consumers enjoy the same quality and range of broadband services as are available in urban and suburban communities. Deadline is March 13.
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Unitarian Universalist Fund for a Just Society
Grants are made to non-Unitarian Universalist groups in the U.S. and Canada that: use community organizing to bring about systemic change leading to a more just society; mobilize those who have been disenfranchised and excluded from resources, power and the right to self-determination; and have an active focused campaign to create systemic change.
Deadline is March 15, 2017.
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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 21-23, 2017.
Applications must be returned by March 17.
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Ben & Jerry's Grassroots Organizing for Social Change
While their broad goals are to further social and environmental justice and support sustainable and just food systems, they focus on the types of activities and strategies an organization uses for creating social change rather than on the specific issues the organization is addressing. Deadline is March 17.
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CommunityWINS Grants - Must be Nominated by your City/Town
CommunityWINS will be administered by USCM with the goal of awarding $3 million over three years, to support local nonprofits in promoting long-term economic prosperity and quality of life for their community. Deadline is March 17.
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Enterprise Climate and Cultural Resiliency Program
Climate and Cultural Resilience Grants will support five organizations to use arts and culture and community-engagement in a climate resilience project at the building or neighborhood scale. Deadline is March 31.
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Save the Date - JPMorgan Chase Fourth PRO Neighborhoods Competition
Thriving neighborhoods are critical to the long-term economic success of individuals, communities, and cities. At a time when economic growth is often directed toward reviving commercial corridors and downtowns, many neighborhoods, families and small business owners are being left behind. Every city faces its own set of challenges and needs its own comprehensive strategy for economic growth that ensures opportunities to prosper are extended to distressed neighborhoods and the families that live there.
We know that many neighborhood quality issues are among the biggest drivers of racial and gender income and wealth inequality, and leaving these issues unaddressed is a missed economic opportunity for the entire region. That's why in 2017 PRO Neighborhoods will continue to support innovative strategies by local community development finance institutions that combine balance sheets, talent and technology to advance economic opportunity in distressed neighborhoods.
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Ohio Housing Trust Fund Update
Thanks to everyone who signed a Home Matters to Ohio statement of support for expanding the Ohio Housing Trust Fund in the next state budget. We are encouraged by the 377 organizations who have already expressed their support for the campaign to bolster the Trust Fund, Ohio's most significant source of funding for homeless and affordable housing services.
Although the executive budget that was recently introduced to the legislature did not include an additional appropriation for the Trust Fund, the Home Matters to Ohio campaign will continue to make our case as the bill moves through the Ohio House and Senate. The state budget process typically continues through the end of June. The feedback we've received from key legislators has been promising.
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We've also gotten some positive media attention about our campaign and the Ohio Housing Trust Fund, like
this Cleveland.com story. And the Akron Beacon Journal recently published
this editorial calling for an expansion of the Housing Trust Fund to solve other public policy problems. The Ohio Housing Finance Agency also recently issued a fantastic
Economic Impact Study that shows the Trust Fund generates $589 million in overall economic activity for Ohio each year.
We are going to build on this momentum as the budget process continues. We encourage you to continue outreach efforts by recruiting other groups to sign
the statement of support for the Home Matters to Ohio campaign. Here's a link to
the online brochure with more information. In the meantime, we will continue to be in touch with you on our progress as we move through the legislative process.
Thank you for your support!
The Home Matters to Ohio team
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Governor Proposes to Use Medicaid Funds for Lead Abatement
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QAP Amendment Approved by OHFA Board
On February 15, 2017, the OHFA Board approved an amendment to the 2017 Qualified Allocation Plan that enables 2016 HTC recipients to request additional tax credits to bridge gaps caused by disruptions in the equity market. Read the full amendment, including adjusted program calendar, online here.
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Community Development Programs Threatened
Contact Congress today and tell them to
protect the federal spending needed to ensure families and communities can thrive. And
sign your organization onto a letter by advocates calling on Congress to protect vital programs.
Severe budget cuts will largely fall on critical safety net and other essential programs that help develop a healthy and civil society. Programs that are already facing devastating cuts in the upcoming budget year because of the very low spending caps required by law.
America's Military is Not Underfunded
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Please note that five of the seven countries are U.S. allies.
Domestic Spending Already at Historic Lows
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