Building Community Amidst Diversity Initiative

Funding Guidelines and Application Form

Proposal Due Date: October 31, 2005

Award Date: December 1, 2005

Grant Amount: Up to $20,000

Small grants for efforts to understand and promote the value of diversity in neighborhoods or communities

The Initiative to Build Community Amidst Diversity wasdeveloped to supportideas or processesto promote the value of a neighborhood or community’s racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity. This Initiative will assist communities to build, manage, and strengthenrelationships across race, ethnicity, and culture by building on existing tools and resources and learnings (e.g., promising practices, models, assessments, theories) gained from previous national and local efforts .

The ability of community leaders and residents to make their neighborhood or community healthier and stronger depends on their capacity to be inclusive, to recognize the strengths of the various groups that reside there, and to understand and manage the complex factors and circumstances that facilitate or hinder collaboration across groups.

This Initiative also seeks to encourage and help communities begin to define their legacy—“the long-term outcome or change, when the vision of the community is realized.” It seeks to put in place a preliminary set of capacities (knowledge, skills, relationships, commitment, and resources) in neighborhoods and communities for building community in a racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse context.

These small grants are intended to be a catalyst for longer-lastingcapacity building.

Community and neighborhood groups, nonprofit organizations, local governments, and local foundations, are encouraged to apply.The Initiative cannot fund organizations involved in electoral campaigns; contribute substantially to support lobbying at the federal, state, or local levels; or support private, in contrast to public, interests.

Two or more groups and organizations may apply, provided that1) they must have a history of working together, 2)one of the organizations has to be designated the fiscal agent, and 3) decisions are made jointly.

As fiscal agent, the organization is responsible for receiving the funds and ensuring that expenses related to the project are paid accordingly. The fiscal agent is allowed to charge an administrative fee of up to 3% of the total grant amount. Any other indirect costs need to be listed separately.

Three grants of up $20,000 per grant will be awarded. Qualifying groups or organizations may be located anywhere in the United States. Seventy-five percent of the grant amount will be awarded immediately; the remaining amount will made incrementally in two sums.

The grant period will be for one year from the time the award is made.

Additional resources will also be available in special cases for further support, such as expert facilitation (e.g., an expert in conflict transformation, cross-cultural communication) and knowledge development in critical areas (e.g., cross-racial, -ethnic, and -cultural community organizing, grassroots leadership development). The Initiative will provide these resources directly to the person or organization responsible for delivering the services.

To apply for this grant, applicants should:

  1. Have had some initial discussions or successful activities (e.g., community forums, town hall meetings) about the changing demographics in the community andthe value of their community’s growing diversity;
  2. Have conducted an analysis of the problem or opportunity (e.g., contributing factors, challenges);
  3. Have invested some small amount of resources to address their community’s growing diversity in order for this grant of $20,000 to help take the initial discussion or activities to the next level;
  4. Be open to all information (e.g., promising practices, learnings from other initiatives) that will be made available (this grant cannot be used to supplement an existing large and well-established project or program);
  5. Have initial contact with 1) representatives of major institutions in racial, ethnic, and cultural groups that may be engaged in the project, and 2) representatives from institutions in sector(s) that may be involved (e.g., health, education, law enforcement);
  6. Have obtained a local match, such as in-kind contribution (e.g., office or meeting space, food for meetings, childcare, transportation, links to other resources, memorandum of agreement indicating that staff will donate time within their normal scope of work) or funding;
  7. Agree to participate in a capacity assessment, a process to develop a sustainability strategy, and an evaluation.

Our community partners (i.e., grant recipients) will be expected to attain the goals they set for themselves at the beginning, and to demonstrate the following outcomes after one year:

  • An action plan for how different groups will collaborate on a common issue; the plan should describe how the common issue affects each group of people, types of activities to be implemented, who will be responsible, timeline, and a list of resources (in-kind and/or funds) committed to the effort;
  • Collaborative relationship across race, ethnicity, and culture, including but not limited to a new or improved process for sharing information, facilities, and other resources;
  • A process or established entity (e.g., a formal committee, a task force, or community advisory board) for addressing future issues related to race, ethnicity, and culture;
  • More visible and stronger leadership and messages that promote cross-racial, -ethnic, and -cultural alliances, such as articles in local newspaper or presentations by community leaders;
  • Knowledge of resources, models, and strategies available for strengthening community by building intergroup relations and managing group differences and similarities, including but not limited to infusion of different promising practices or strategies into current and future overall approaches;
  • Better understanding of the problems or opportunitiesby institutional and resident leaders (e.g., a framework that examines how group differences, racial prejudice, and discrimination affect their community members) and a plan for addressing the problems or opportunities.

As part of the Initiative’s evaluation, our community partners will be expected to:

  • Participate in an initial capacity assessment, which will be used as “baseline” to demonstrate progress over time;
  • Document their progress and results in one semi-annual report and one annual report;
  • Determine with the Initiative staff the indicators of successful performance;
  • Make themselves available for telephone or in-person interviews with the Initiative’s evaluator to share their learnings about the implementation process and accomplishments; and
  • (OPTIONAL) Make themselves available for a joint presentation or paper with the Initiative staff to share their learnings with a wider audience at a professional association meeting or conference.

The Initiative recognizes the importance of a plan right from outsetto support the effort and institutionalize the outcomes for the long term. For example, involvingan organization that has the capacity to become the “home” for the effort in the future, to provideadditional funding support, or to influence policies or practices for longer-lasting effects.

The Initiative staff will work with the community partners to develop such a plan early on andto consider which parts of their effort will likely be institutionalized.

To apply, please complete the Proposal Form. Please utilize the section headings presented in bold type to organize requested information. The narrative portion of the application should not exceed 10 pages. In your cover letter please include the name of the fiscal agent for your project and provide the name and phone number of the main contact person for this proposal.

A copy of the proposal has to be received by October 31, 2005, 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The proposal can be faxed, sent, or emailed to:

Building Community Amidst Diversity Initiative

c/o Association for the Study and Development of Community

312 South Frederick Avenue

Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Should you want help with your ideas or with completing the application, feel free to call Kien Lee at (301) 519-0722, ext. 108 or send your questions to and someone will respond within one working day.

This is an interactive form. Please type in the grey spaces and then hit the “submit” button at the end of this document. Your responses to the questions will be automatically sent to . If you are having technical problems, please send an email message to .

A. Contact Information

Name ofProject:
Name of Applicant Organization:
Name And Title Of Contact Person:
Address:
Telephone:
E-Mail:
Fax:

B. Your Organization

1. What type of organization are you? (please check all that apply by clicking in the box with your mouse or typing an “x” in the box; to uncheck, just click or type “x” again)

Community development organization

Neighborhood or tenant association

Racial/ethnic group or association

Faith-based institution

School, university, academic, or research institution

Local government agency

Local foundation/funder

Advocacy group

Coalition

Other ()

2. What issue or specific subpopulations is your organization involved with? (please check all that apply)

Race and ethnic relations

Immigration and immigrant needs

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transsexual

Gender

Mental health

Physical and developmental disabilities

Affordable housing

Economic development

Education

Environmental justice

Youth development

Other ()

3. What geographic area(s) does your organization serve?

Single neighborhood

Multiple neighborhoods

City/municipality

County

Region

State

C.The Community

  1. How would you describe the geographic area that the project will include? (e.g., it is an area made up of ten blocks)
  1. Who makes up the area that the project will include? (e.g., 90% White with a growing influx of immigrants, primarily from Mexico)
  1. What are the political, economic, social, or cultural conditions that affect the diversity in your community? (e.g., it is traditionally an African-American neighborhood and the newcomer do not value that history)

D.Understanding of the Opportunity or Issue Related to Diversity

  1. What is the opportunity to value diversity or to address an issue related to diversity in your community? (E.g., what is the issue and why is it important)
  1. What is your organization’s experience working with diverse groups and projects related to valuing diversity? (E.g., how have you tried to value your community’s diversity so far)
  1. What discussions have occurred so far in your organization or community about the issue?
  1. Proposed Idea or Process

1. Please describe, in a short paragraph, the overall idea or process you are proposing.

2. What specific strategies do you think might work for this project? Why?

3. What conditions and resources will support or challenge your proposed project? Why?

4. How will you engage leaders and organizations that represent different racial, ethnic, and cultural groups?

F.History of Collaboration

  1. With what types of organizations in your community do you currently have relationships (please check all that apply)?

Community development corporations or organizations

Neighborhood or tenant organizations

Racial and ethnic groups or associations

Faith-based institutions

Schools, universities, and academic institutions

Corporations and businesses

Local government agencies

Local foundations and funders

Coalitions or collaboratives

Intermediaries

Other ()

Other ()

G.Existing and committed resources that will support the proposed project

1. What local and in-kind resources can be committed to this project, if funded? (please include letter of support from the source)

2. What local funds can be committed to this project, if funded? (please include letter of support from the source)

3. Is there someone in your organization, another organization, or community who has experience with group facilitation and who could assist in the facilitation of the proposed project? If yes, please briefly describe the person’s experience and provide his/her contact information. (You can list more than one person. You don’t need to have a letter of support from this person.)

H.Attachments

Please attach the following items to your proposal:

  1. Letters of Support. Please include a letter of support from your organization’s Board Chair, Executive Director or other top organizational official. Also include letters of support from other organizations or partners that commit to working with you on this effort.
  2. Budget. Please provide a description of how the grant funds will be spent, including labor, expenses, and administrative fee (if applicable).
  3. Other Information. Please include any relevant reports, newspaper clippings, evaluation materials, etc., that will support your proposal.

1

Building Community Amidst Diversity Initiative