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Allegany Insider
September 2023
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Happy late summer! We are relieved Hurricane Idalia has left Florida and the east coast. Storm recovery resources are included in this newsletter. You will also find information about our Climate Justice and Care for Creation and Common Good Initiatives, grant programs, operational updates, and events and resources for nonprofits. | |
Climate Justice and Care for Creation | |
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In 2022, Allegany Franciscan Ministries announced a new strategic initiative addressing Climate Justice and Care for Creation. Since then, our Board of Directors and staff have continued a measured discernment process, gaining new knowledge and strategic focus for the initiative. Notable accomplishments have included: connecting with stakeholders and subject matter experts, developing and strengthening strategic partnerships with organizations and consultants, planning calls with potential policy partners, and hosting and participating in convenings with other funders and partners around climate issues.
Listening to People in our Communities
A critical part of Allegany’s approach has always been to listen to the people in our communities. This summer, we engaged a trio of organizations (Health Council of South Florida, Health Council of Southeast Florida, and Health Council of West Central Florida) to co-design and execute Community Listening Sessions throughout Florida, gaining first-hand accounts from Floridians on what they think and know about, and how their lives have been impacted by recent climate and environmental changes in our state. Hundreds of community members were engaged in these conversations, with special attention made to ensure the voices and unique perspectives of BIPOC, indigenous, LGBTQ, and farmworker populations were heard.
This process elevated several common themes across communities, including: the impacts of climate gentrification and what equitable responses to climate gentrification can be; identifying current needs for community-level information, education, and advocacy; and the importance of developing micro solutions for climate resiliency in historically marginalized communities.
Climate Justice & Care for Creation Initiative Evaluation
Currently, Allegany is working with RGS Partners Consulting and Collaborators Consulting Group, to finalize the Climate Justice & Care for Creation Initiative’s strategic priorities and establish baseline metrics related to our commitment to addressing climate justice in Florida. With the help of these consultant groups, our staff and board will develop goals and interventions, and determine how Allegany can best invest in climate solutions.
Allegany is committed to addressing the histories of environmental injustices experienced throughout Florida and developing plans that integrate all community narratives and voices to develop more equitable climate communications, interventions, and policies. We expect to announce more details about the Climate Justice & Care for Creation Initiative in the late fall of 2023.
Recent Grants
Examples of recent grant partners to further our understanding of large and small climate-related projects occurring in our state include:
CLEO Institute, Advancing Climate & Intergenerational Justice in Florida with GenCLEO
The GenCLEO Youth Empowerment Movement Program helps youth advocate for their future through climate action, public speaking, and media & communication training paired with civic leadership & empowerment skills for both college and high school students.
The Direct Action and Research Training (DART) Center, Care for Creation
The DART Center Care for Creation project supports the development of strong congregation-based Justice Ministry Organizations and specifically their work on local climate justice organizing efforts. Funds support ongoing capacity building, recruitment of new leaders, training for leaders and organizers, and coordination among the 14 DART affiliates (9 in Florida) that have identified care for creation as a focus.
Struggle for Miami's Affordable and Sustainable Housing (SMASH), Liberty City goes Solar Powered!
Pilot program that educates residents on the benefits of installing solar panels on SMASH’s Housing and Healing Justice Cooperative (HHJC) in Liberty City, allowing the Cooperative to expand its role as a resilience hub in the Community Emergency Operations Center network.
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The Common Good Initiative | |
Overtown Collaborative Network of Community Leaders
For five years, Urban Health Partnerships (UHP), the Overtown Children and Youth Coalition (OCYC), and Catalyst Miami have been working on the Common Good initiative priority of Community Voices informing policies and decisions. These organizations formed the Overtown Collaborative Network of Community Leaders which prioritized the hiring of Overtown residents as Outreach Staff. Utilizing current residents has become a highly valuable strategy in organizing residents around key local decision-making issues in Overtown. The Overtown Collaborative Network uses the collective power of these resident leaders by introducing them to one another and seeking opportunities to pool and share resources.
In the past year, UHP, OCYC and Catalyst Miami collaborated by hosting monthly meetings to bring residents together, elevating the priorities of all groups, identifying and researching policies and programmatic initiatives to explore, monitoring public meeting opportunities, developing a Community Action Plan and collaborating with local communications partners to distribute a community e-newsletter. This collective of community leaders built partnerships with community groups and other municipal and elected leaders, including the FL Department of Health, City of Miami Parks Department, and a sitting City Commissioner. The collaborative is also working with Miami Law School’s Environmental Justice Clinic to provide significant pro-bono research and environmental testing services. New Common Good Initiative funds recently awarded to these partner organizations in May will help to sustain and grow the Overtown Network of Community Leaders over the next two years. The three facilitating organizations plan not only to continue their work, but also to collaborate to secure additional funding to replicate the model of the Overtown Parks Group and incubate a series of topic-areas specific to Overtown. Potential topics that have been identified by Overtown Community Leaders include housing, culture & history, re-entry and access to resources, and Overtown families and parents.
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Redlands Christian Migrant Association
As a long-standing grant partner through the Wimauma Common Good Initiative, Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA) has been a niche community program with a mission of opening doors to opportunities through quality childcare and education to the children of agricultural workers and other rural families living in poverty. RCMA has focused on making the dreams of children in migrant, farm working and low-income families a reality ensuring that anything that may impact their learning is addressed while offering a helping hand and support to their parents, embracing the family unit as a whole for greater success.
Through RCMA’s model, parents are immediately engaged and connected to the center’s policy committee, a parent-led forum where community issues are identified and discussed. Year after year, immigration is a top issue raised as 80% of the families they work with statewide are agricultural workers. Because of RCMA’s broad reach, longevity, and depth of services provided, the organization is uniquely positioned to work with families to get the help they need with their immigration matters. Families are provided with direct support of an application, asylum, U and T Visas, Naturalization, and DACA, along with other services. Additionally, several parent workshops and clinics have been conducted at their centers for the community to receive free, reputable legal advice, consultations, and guidance on various immigration topics. Over the past two years, more than 250 consultations were completed in the Wimauma community.
Due to the tightening of legal restrictions against these families enacted through harsh immigration policy and enforcement, Allegany Franciscan Ministries partnered with RCMA to support their diverse communities through comprehensive immigration information and assistance. With the support, they’ve secured a local office space in Wimauma, hired two immigration attorneys, and paid for two of their staff to become DOJ Accredited family support workers. Most families are reluctant to work with individuals who don’t understand their background and needs and who don’t represent them so without trusted community partners like RCMA, many of the children and their families would lack access to critical resources and support needed to navigate the complexities of the immigration process and ultimately thrive. Watch this short RCMA video to learn more!
For more information about RCMA’s work, visit https://rcma.org/
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Fellowship for the Common Good
Fellows from our Fellowship for the Common Good program attended their last session in Overtown (Miami, FL). The fellows learned the components of a campaign and strategic efforts to achieve community transformation. Overtown is the cultural name given to a predominantly African-American neighborhood located within the City of Miami. It is the second oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood in Miami, dating back to 1896. Overtown was once a thriving mixed-income community with some 50,000 residents, nicknamed the “Harlem of the South.” The community has many assets, most notably its people and their pride and commitment to the community.
The Fellowship for the Common Good program will celebrate the completion of the program with a graduation ceremony this September in Orlando, FL.
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Capacity Building Programs
This year, we are excited to continue offering capacity-building programs and initiatives aligned with our commitment to support the organizational health and resilience of the nonprofits serving our communities. The following programs will be offered this Fall:
ABFE Racial Equity Leadership Program: This program will support nonprofit leaders in being deliberate in their work to advance racial equity in their communities. Allegany Franciscan Ministries has partnered with ABFE to provide a two-part cohort opportunity geared toward building and strengthening competencies on these issues. Facilitated by ABFE, participating leaders will receive focused racial equity training for equipping them with the shared knowledge, skills, and tools needed to better understand and implement racially equitable practices. Apply here.
Jumpstart Capacity Program: This cohort opportunity provides grant partners with effective fundraising capacity-building support to create transformational change. It is an immersive, year-long program that pairs nonprofits with a personal fundraising coach who meets with organizations (virtually) twice per month to help acquire, retain, and upgrade individual donors, and provides integrated technology needed to engage the community, diversify revenue, and sustain their programs. The application deadline for this program has passed.
Tau Grant Program: Allegany Franciscan Ministries’ FY24 Tau Grants will support unrestricted general operating or organizational capacity-building needs for organizations that provide services to the following marginalized groups: BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), LGBTQ+, and/or persons with disabilities. Access informational webinar here. Contact Brittney Frazier, Grants Officer and Strategic Initiative Manager with any questions about our Capacity Building Programs.
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ACOR Grant Program
We are currently accepting LOI grant applications for the ACOR Grant Program. ACOR Grants focus on improving health, wellness and quality of life in marginalized communities. Eligibility requirements include having a direct affiliation with the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany (not Allegany Franciscan Ministries), Allegany Franciscan Associates, or being a ministry of Trinity Health. The fall ACOR LOI deadline is September 28th. The ACOR Grant Committee will meet in early November to make final recommendations and grants will be announced in mid-November. There will be a second grant cycle in March 2024. We anticipate making up to 28 grants between the two grant cycles with individual grants up to $10,000 being awarded for a one-year term.
Learn more about ACOR here. A recorded informational webinar about ACOR will be available in early September. Contact Erin Baird, Director of Grants with any ACOR questions.
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ACOR Grant Partner:
Mount Carmel Health System Foundation
In May 2022, Mount Carmel Health System Foundation, a member of Trinity Health, received ACOR grant funding to create a community garden at its Healthy Living Center in the Franklinton neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio. Franklinton is a historically underserved community with nearly 62% of residents receiving SNAP benefits. The garden includes four raised beds which have been integrated into the free nutritional education opportunities that teach about access to healthy, affordable food options to Franklinton residents. Healthy Living Center partners with Ohio State University Extension to teach classes. Staff also partner with a nearby community-supported agriculture farm to provide fresh fruits and vegetables and herbs to those in need.
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Over $3M was awarded since April 2023 though our ACOR, Climate Justice & Care for Creation, Nonprofit Capacity/Leadership Support, St. Clare and Tau grants programs. View list of grants.
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Allegany Franciscan Ministries is in full swing in the first quarter of our new fiscal year. The organization continues to recruit a dynamic individual to join the team and serve a key role in daily operations.
Are you looking for a position that connects work with a greater mission? Would you like to be a part of an organization that seeks to be a healing and transforming presence in the community? Do you love providing high level administrative support to a team? If so, Allegany Franciscan Ministries’ Administrative and Grant Services Coordinator may be the right fit for you. The Coordinator has a key role in maintaining Allegany’s operational capacity and manages bookkeeping functions for all grants and operational activities. The Coordinator must have comprehensive knowledge and experience with business office practices; attention to detail, organizational skills, and follow-through are critical to this position’s success. Ideal candidates will connect deeply with Allegany’s mission, vision, and values.
The expected starting pay range for this position is $57,000 to $62,000. While physically based at Allegany’s Palm Harbor, Florida office, the Coordinator may work remotely part of the time. View Candidate Information Packet here.
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Nonprofit Events & Resources | |
Events
Sept. 13 - Oct. 11 Catalyst Candidate Institute - A nonpartisan grassroots campaign training for aspiring elected officials and campaign staff. More information
Sept. 29 - Florida Nonprofit Alliance Nonprofits Count: Impact for Today and Tomorrow event - Nonprofits Count! is FNA’s bi-annual gathering that brings the leaders of our state’s nonprofits together to discuss advocacy and the state of our sector. Join 125 of your nonprofit peers in Orlando for a full day of networking, learning, discussing, sharing, and planning. More information
Oct. 2-8 Florida Climate Week is a free week-long virtual event series hosted by Volo Foundation dedicated to taking action on climate and addressing its impacts and solutions in Florida. More information
Oct. 19 - 20 - Nonprofit Leadership Center of Tampa Bay Leadership Conference - Get ready for two dynamic days of world-class speakers, inspiring breakout sessions, engaging networking and a few surprises — all focused on unleashing the power of “we.” You’ll walk away with ideas, tools and strategies you and your team can immediately implement.
More information
Resources
211 Tampa Bay Cares Storm Recovery Resources
Feeding Tampa Bay Emergency Response Food Distributions
Pinellas County Emergency Information
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Allegany Franciscan Ministries
Phone: (727) 507-9668
www.afmfl.org
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