Community Foundation Funds Five New Community Collaborations to Tackle Local Poverty Issues

Green Bay, Wis. -- The Greater Green Bay Community Foundation announced today that it will award $563,600 over the next three years to five new collaborative projects through the 2012 Basic Needs Giving Partnership grant cycle aimed at addressing the root causes of poverty in Brown, Kewaunee, and Oconto counties. The five projects involve twenty non-profits and businesses and are being funded by the Basic Needs Giving Partnership, a joint effort of the U.S. Venture Fund for Basic Needs, the J.J. Keller Foundation, and Community Foundation donors, volunteers, and staff. 

In addition to the money above being awarded, the Basic Needs Giving Partnership is currently funding five on-going collaborative projects from previous years’ grant cycles. During the next twelve months, these five projects, which include collaborations by twenty-three non-profits, will receive a total $263,000.

This Basic Needs Giving Partnership offers funding for planning grants and multi-year grants to groups of organizations that collaborate on delivering programs and services addressing the issue of poverty in the greater Green Bay community. Non-profit collaborations can apply for one year planning grants or multi-year implementation grants that address the root causes of poverty. Planning grants provide funding for non-profits to explore and plan for the launch of a collaborative project.

Multi-year funding allows the Community Foundation to ensure that non-profits have a stable funding stream to develop and test initiatives over several years or take organizations and programs to the next level of development. Over the three years (or the amount of years that the grant is awarded), grantees are accountable to keep the programs on target and develop sustainable funding streams so that these programs are available after the granting period has concluded or the issue has been successfully addressed.

The Basic Needs Giving Partnership is a collaboration among donors and the grants program also requires collaboration because it is effective for program delivery in northeastern Wisconsin. Each non-profit and business collaborator can leverage their particular areas of expertise in tandem with their partners’ strengths to provide the most efficient and effective programming, with the goal of helping move people from poverty to self-sufficiency by addressing their needs and issues through a multi-faceted approach.

“With the release of the 2011 Brown County LIFE Study, we were able to target the root causes of poverty in our community with the Basic Needs Giving Partnership to fund programs and services that will provide children, youth, families, and adults with the skills and services needed to help them be self-sufficient and to break the cycle of poverty in their lives and in the lives of their children,” stated Martha Ahrendt, Vice President of Programs. “We will be able to demonstrate results through common measurements of the Leading Indicators of the LIFE Study.”

While the main focus of grant applicants must be on moving people out of poverty, programs and services must specifically impact one or more of the following areas: 1) Helping children, youth and young adults become healthy and ready to succeed in school and become self-sufficient; 2) Strengthening individuals and families to help them learn to meet basic needs and build financial self-sufficiency; 3) Empowering and supporting individuals affected by aging and dementia with low or fixed incomes through services that meet their basic needs and allow them to age with dignity; 4) Helping uninsured and underinsured residents sustain a higher quality of life by preventing and reducing acute and long-term care crises through innovative and culturally appropriate models promoting the control and prevention of disease and chronic illness, such as diabetes and mental health.

Four new programs will receive funding for multi-year projects:  
Backpack Snack Program – Low-income students in Oconto elementary schools will be provided with nutritious, easy-to-prepare food to ensure that they have food available on the weekends. On Fridays during the school year, students enrolled in the Backpack Snack Program will receive a backpack filled with meals and snacks. This program is a collaboration between NEWCAP, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, Oconto School Districts, Rainbow House, Tri-City United Way, and UW-Extension in Oconto County. 
Great Futures Project – Area high school aged teens and young adults from low socioeconomic and minority populations will gain hands-on work experience and skill development opportunities to prepare them for postsecondary education or employment upon high school graduation through this project. This expansion of a current program includes collaborative partners and enhanced programs to help participants strengthen their financial self-sufficiency through a coordinated approach to providing paid entry level work experience, career development, and college and vocational exploration and access. This program is a collaboration between the Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay, Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and the Green Bay Area Public School District.
NWTC Prosperity Center – Low-income students will improve their financial wellness through education and one-on-one counseling, which will improve retention and graduation rates of students. The program promotes smart borrowing and financial planning to utilize loans in a prudent manner thus avoiding the need for additional financial or social support assistance during their school enrollment and into the future, as well as reducing the amount of loans students have to pay back upon graduation. The center is a collaboration between NWTC, FISC/ Goodwill Industries of North Central Wisconsin, and Fox Communities Credit Union.
Oral Health Initiative for Diabetics Program – Several hundred uninsured, low-income diabetics will receive preventive dental care, including cleaning, debridement, scaling, and root planing. Numerous studies have shown that treating periodontal disease in diabetic patients can result in the patients having better control of their disease and less long-term complications. This program is a collaboration between the NEW Community Clinic and NWTC.

One program received funding for a planning grant.
Time Banks – Time Banks promote independence and meeting basic needs through the exchange of services and talents in a non-monetary (time-based) system. This idea was inspired locally by the transportation gaps that exist in our community that create barriers to employment, obstacles in accessing vital services, and increased isolation of people who rely on public transportation. This program is a collaboration between Goodwill Industries of North Central Wisconsin Fund, the Aging & Disability Resource Center of Brown County, the Brown County United Way, Green Bay Neighborhood Leadership Council, NeighborWorks, and the Volunteer Center of Brown County.

About the Basic Needs Giving Partnership
The Basic Needs Giving Partnership is a Field of Interest Fund established in 2007 at the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation to address the root causes of poverty in the region. The partnership brings together charitable resources from the U.S. Venture Open Fund for Basic Needs (formerly U.S. Oil Open Fund for Basic Needs) within the Community Foundation, the J.J. Keller Foundation, and other partner donors.

The U.S. Venture hosts an annual golf open and proceeds fund the Basic Needs Giving Partnership, and the J.J. Keller Foundation matches the resulting grantmaking budget. The Community Foundation, one of three area community foundations to receive the funds, is responsible for determining how the funds will be distributed. A volunteer-led grants team, consisting of community members with a wide range of expertise and perspectives, reviews and evaluates proposals, conducts interviews, and considers outside data over several months in order to make decisions about proposals that receive funding. They make recommendations to the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation’s Board of Directors for final approval.

The Basic Needs Giving Partnership provides assistance to established non-profit organizations that have a proven record of success in maintaining solid, critical programs that address the root causes of poverty and prevent persons in episodic crisis from becoming persons of chronic need.

About the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation
Established in 1991, the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation is a non-profit charitable organization that manages more than 500 funds, and distributes grants to between 400 and 500 non-profits each year. Community Foundation grants provide funding for programs and services that improve the quality of life in Northeast Wisconsin, supporting human services, education, arts and culture, the environment, and more. Our mission is to inspire and encourage charitable giving in Northeast Wisconsin by connecting people who care with solutions that strengthen our community. For more information, please visit our website: www.ggbcf.org.
# # #