Spring 2010 Board-Approved Grants
The Northwest Area Foundation has awarded eight grants totaling $1.59 million to reduce poverty and build prosperity among people with low incomes. The grants will further goals of improving public policy and building capacity and leadership within communities, two of the outcomes the Foundation has determined are critical to successful long term poverty reduction. The third outcome is building assets and wealth.
The Foundation made the following grants for building capacity and leadership:
Seven grants totaling $841,500 were awarded to community organizations to support grants for Horizons III.
Minnesota Community Foundation - $102,000
Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines - $119,000
*This is a donor-advised fund grant from the Northwest Area Fund
North Dakota Community Foundation - $127,500
South Dakota Community Foundation - $110,500
Montana Community Foundation - $127,500
Idaho Community Foundation -$127,500
Washington State 4-H Foundation - $127,500
The community foundations will direct the money to 99 communities that participated in the Horizons III leadership development program aimed at reducing poverty in communities of 5,000 or fewer. Upon completion of the 18-month program, participating communities are eligible for a $10,000 grant to support their community action plans to move toward prosperity. The money is used to support services that will assist low-income families, such as housing, daycare, transportation, adult education, job training, youth services, local farmers markets, tourism and community beautification. Universities that Northwest Area Foundation works with in each of the seven states coach the communities and assists with their action plans.
Improved Public Policy Solutions:
$750,000 was awarded to The Seattle Community Foundation to support Strategies to Eliminate Poverty (STEP). Through this grant, STEP will provide funding and offer support and assistance to nonprofits working on public policy solutions to reduce poverty across the Foundation’s eight-state region. This grant will strengthen and expand State Fiscal Analysis Initiative (SFAI) affiliates, which work for responsible tax and budget policies for low income people. This award will support efforts to include immigrants, tribes, people of color, and faith-based groups in statewide poverty reduction policy efforts.
Through this award, STEP will distribute more than $636,000 in the form of grants to support efforts of SFAI affiliates within the Foundation’s eight-state region to advocate for public policy goals, disseminate and apply Foundation-supported research, offer policy training, develop a regional network between grantees and funding partners, and create policy briefs. Special efforts will be made to ensure participation of African Americans, Latinos, and immigrant groups in the policy arena, particularly as it relates to people with low incomes. Intensive trainings will be offered to grantees and other partners to increase their understanding of how to effectively make the case for the essential public structures necessary to reduce poverty and build prosperity.
