AG19900904 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

I Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Opportunities for Families Fund BACKGROUND Through the Opportunities for Families Fund (OFF) program, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation is inviting counties to compete for grants to plan and operate demonstration programs to move poor families from dependency to self-sufficiency. The program involves a year-long two-stage grants competition. In the first stage, interested counties will submit proposals for planning grants of up to $20,000 each by October 1, Fifteen counties will be selected. These fifteen connties will undertake community planning processes during the following ten months. At the conclusion of this period, based upon the plans they have developed, the Foundation will select up to five counties which will be eligible for grants of up to $1 millioo each to implement structural reforms and improvements in their comprehensive efforts to address the myriad problems of poor and dependent families. Funds will be granted for periods of three to five years. Counties must serve as grantees. The stated goals of the OFF program are as follows: 1. To stimulate the counties involved in the OFF program to provide the leadership and long-term commitment necessary to measurably increase their communityfs capacity to reduce the number of individuals and families living in poverty. 2. To test the hypothesis that comprehensive planning, new partnerships, and structural changes in the design and delivery of a broad spectrum of community-based human services can make a dramatic difference in breaking the tntergenerational cycle of poverty. 3. To use the successes of these county-initiated OFF programs to influence the design, delivery, and financial support of human services for the poor statewide. The foundation's request for proposal reflects a concern for developing innovative ways of addreasing the problems associated with poverty: illiteracy, infant mortality, teen pregnancy and welfare dependency to name only a few. Promoting community-wide planning; developing partnerships involving public and private service providers, educators, and employers in helping families in a coordinated, holistic way; utilizing volunteers; involving the poor in developimg local programs; and, providing services that build the capacity of families for self-support and self-sufficiency are interests of the Foundation. Importantly, utilizing the OFF program to find ways of heightening the effectiveneas o£ federal welfare reform efforts now being implemented in North Carolina in the form of the JOBS program is an aim of the Foundation. P, ECO~R~iE-~DATIONS The problems of poverty affect many families in Cabarrus County. Some 14 percent of our citizens have incomes below 125I of the poverty level. Media coverage and planning activities o£ such organizations as County agencies, the Concord-Cabarrus Chamber of ~o~erce and the United ~ay Family Issues Task Force have focused attention ia Cabartms County on many of the same problems with which the OFF program is concerned.