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CCF Grantees Progressing Toward Dual Goals: Increasing Outcomes and Building Organizations
Change Capital Fund (CCF) invests in sophisticated community organizations that have developed, and are now executing, poverty-fighting strategies to create communities of opportunity.
The four-year initiative is unusual in its dual focus on increasing economic mobility in high-poverty neighborhoods and increasing grantees’ organizational capacity. Grantees are being held accountable to outcomes in the program areas of employment, education and housing. At the same time, they are using CCF funding and technical assistance to build capacity and become more performance-driven.
By the end of the second year, we expect that grantees will have established cross-program data systems that enable the organizations to better track participants across programs; use program data to refine their strategies; and increase impact. And, increased performance management capacity will enable the organizations to serve more people more effectively and attract public support for effective, data-driven programming.
Here are some highlights of grantee outcomes in the first 18 months of the program:
As one grantee recently reported, “Both our organization and our participants have benefited from the CCF grant. The funding is supporting the realization of a synergy between our strategic vision and the programs and divisions needed to accomplish our goals. We can now afford to have leadership focus on a more intentional collaboration and cooperation among departments to help our participants in ways that far exceed the ability of individual programs.”
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Grantee News
Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC) is Awarded $660,000 by the Kresge Foundation
FAC will use the Kresge grant, to be provided over a three year period, to launch Turning the Tide (T3), a collaboration between FAC, Red Hook Initiative, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation and the New York City Housing Authority. The goal of the effort is to elevate the voices and build the capacity of public housing residents in Red Hook and Gowanus in order to inform and influence the development of climate-related public policy. There is significant overlap with FAC’s CCF-funded work – both initiatives are focused on improving the circumstances and futures of people living in the same public housing developments. Learn more here.
Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation (CHLDC) Breaks Ground on Cypress Senior Housing Residences
 CHLDC’s new five-story building, being constructed on a previously vacant property owned by New York City, will include 53 units of affordable housing for very low-income seniors. To access one of the units, the head of household will need to be at least 62 years of age and earn less than $30,250 a year for an individual, or $38,850 a year for a family of three. This is the last HUD section 202-funded building that will be developed in New York City. Read more about the units in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and here.
St. Nicks Alliance Launches BK Story Voyager
To address children’s lack of access to books in North Brooklyn, St. Nicks Alliance launched the BK Story Voyager, a new bookmobile designed to foster a love for reading among elementary school students. This flagship of St. Nicks Alliance’s Literacy Immersion Initiative features a full-time librarian who creates and delivers a rich reading atmosphere for students and their families. The
bookmobile travels weekly to several sites including PS 18, PS 147, PS 250, Brooklyn Arbor School, and the Williamsburg Community Center. Learn more here.
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Donor News
Enterprise, with Councilman Ritchie Torres, writes in City & State about a plan to save NYCHA.
JPMorgan Chase announces new initiatives to create affordable housing in the south Bronx, including a new construction housing project sponsored by CCF grantee, New Settlement Apartments.
NYC Center for Economic Opportunity releases an update on EITC demonstration project and a report on the SaveUSA Program.
Heron investee Mauricio Lim Miller (Family Independence Initiative) discusses how people are not really “stuck” in poverty.
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Neighborhoods First, CCF Sister Donor Collaborative, Launches
Neighborhoods First is a new, multi-year initiative that will ensure that communities where Mayor de Blasio’s Housing Plan will be implemented have the capacity to fully participate in the planning processes. The initiative is supported by many of the same donors who make up the CCF collaborative. Neighborhood First’s grants will support community organizing, technical assistance, and cross-neighborhood and citywide collaboration among community-based organizations and City agencies. The initiative will enable low- and moderate-income communities to plan proactively and to negotiate better outcomes at the neighborhood level.
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