Empowering New Partnerships In Your Community

Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in the Workforce System

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"The indispensable and transforming work of faith-based and other charitable service groups must be encouraged. Government cannot be replaced by charities, but it can and should welcome them as partners. We must heed the growing consensus across America that successful government social programs work in fruitful partnership with community-serving and faith-based organizations — whether run by Methodists, Muslims, Mormons, or good people of no faith at all."

— President George W. Bush

"In this booklet, you will find concrete examples of how Workforce Boards and One-Stop Career Centers can conduct outreach and initiate new partnerships with faith-based and community organizations. The booklet also contains a CD-ROM that contains educational material for faith-based and community leaders who wish to learn more about partnering with the workforce system.

To support you in your efforts, the Department of Labor's Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives has designed new programs that will help level the playing field and create opportunities for faith-based and community organizations. We started with a project to create new partnerships between the Job Corps and faith- and community-based mentor programs. Following a competitive grant process, DOL awarded the first federal government grants for the purposes of building links between small faith-based and community groups and the national premier job training and employment institution, the One-Stop Career Centers system. Our Center, along with the Employment and Training Administration, the Department of Justice and Pubic/Private Ventures based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has launched Ready4Work, a Business-Faith-Community-Criminal Justice partnership program to assist men and women returning from prison in finding and keeping jobs. The Center has also worked with the Veterans Employment and Training Administration to strengthen services for the homeless, the Office of Disability Employment Policy to encourage faith and community-based mentoring of disabled youth, and the International Labor Affairs Bureau to work with faith-based and community groups in Thailand to reduce human trafficking and fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in East Africa. And, believe it or not, we are just getting started!

We are very proud of the work that the Department of Labor and its Center has done to empower faith-based and community organizations. I congratulate you on your interest in learning more about the exciting partnership opportunities that exist between Workforce Boards and faith-based and community organizations. With your compassion and commitment, we can make a real difference for America."

— Secretary Elaine L. Chao

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Introduction

Shortly after his inauguration, President Bush established the White House Office on Faith Based and Community Initiatives and a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (CFBCI) at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), as well as four other cabinet-level departments. These offices help the federal government partner with faith-based and community organizations and help eliminate barriers which prevent effective partnerships.

The context for these offices is the President’s philosophy that the "paramount goal must be compassionate results, not compassionate intentions. We must be outcome-based, insisting on success and steering resources to the effective and to the inspired." An important strategy for obtaining "compassionate results" is to empower those grassroots faith-based and community leaders who are already making a difference in the lives of their neighbors.

This strategy can represent a paradigm shift for government at local, state, and federal levels. While government entities are often aware of national or large non-profits, government often has not been aware of the many small faith-based and community-based organizations that exist in every community nor has the government always seen these groups as potential or valuable partners.

At the Department of Labor, we are working to encourage new partnerships throughout the country between faith-based and community organizations and One-Stop Career Centers and Workforce Investment Boards. In April 2002, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) issued a Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL 17-01) encouraging states to conduct outreach to faith based and community organizations. The TEGL also requested that states encourage local boards to appoint new representatives who are familiar with grassroots faith-based organizations onto their workforce boards to work alongside representatives familiar with other community service providers.

In 2002 and 2003, ETA awarded demonstration grants targeted specifically towards grassroots faith-based and community organizations. ETA has also awarded pilot grants to intermediary organizations and state government to help them initiate new relationships between faith-based and community organizations and the One-Stop system. These grantees have already created new models of how faith-based and community organizations can partner with the One-Stop Career Centers to help people prepare for and find work.

In addition, through CFBCI’s project, Touching Lives and Communities: Memphis and Milwaukee, CFBCI is developing a more intensive model for how workforce boards can integrate new faith-based and community organizations into the service delivery and strategic planning processes. These models will form the basis of an academy curriculum for workforce administrators, local One-Stop system operators, and local elected officials.

This document, Empowering New Partnerships in Your Community: Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in the Workforce System, includes practical advice which is based upon the experience of the 2002-2003 state, intermediary and grassroots grantees. Empowering New Partnerships provides concrete examples for how Workforce Boards and One-Stops can conduct outreach and initiate new partnerships with faith-based and community organizations (FBOs/CBOs). In addition, Empowering New Partnerships includes the Faith-Based and Community Organization Outreach Coordinator Guide CD-ROM. This guide includes a 30-minute public presentation and a 3-hour One-Stop briefing session designed to educate FBO/CBO leaders about the workforce system and the different partnership opportunities. The CD-ROM also includes outreach materials used to educate faith-based and community organizations about partnering with the One-Stop Career Center System. More information about the CD-ROM contents is available in the Appendix.

Questions and comments should be directed to the Department of Labor’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. You may contact CFBCI at 202-693-6450 or by e-mailing contact-cfbci@dol.gov.

“It is our privilege to empower those faith-based and community organizations who are already helping their neighbors succeed.” — Brent R. Orrell, Director, Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives

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Table of Contents

The Basic Paradigm

• What Qualities are We Looking for in Faith-Based and Community Organizations?
• Empowering New Partnerships in Action
• Common Myths about Government Partnerships with Faith-Based Organizations
• Common Concerns about Partnering with Faith-Based and Community Organizations

From the Inside Out: Practical Guidance for Conducting Outreach and Initiating Partnerships

• Outreach Dos and Don'ts
• Relationship Mapping: Who Do the People You Know, Know?
• Turning Partnerships Inside Out: Using Partners to Conduct Outreach
• Issue Targeted Outreach

Leveling the Local Playing Field

• Simplify Grant/Contract Applications
• Tips for Simplicity's Sake
• Diversify Your Review Panels
• Identify and Remove Requirements that Unfairly Favor Organizations That Have Already Received Contracts/Grants
• Offer Smaller Grant/Contract Sizes
• In Larger or Contract Proposals, Require/Reward Working with Grassroots Organizations Who are Not Currently in Financial Partnership with The Workforce Board or One-Stop
• Provide Opportunities for New Organizations to Learn Grant-Writing
• Identify and Remove Unnecessary Requirements That Do Not Allow Faith-Based Organizations to Apply

Appendices

• A: Faith-Based and Community Organization Outreach Coordinator Guide
• B: North Dakota's Project Share Partnership Agreement

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What Qualities are We Looking for in Faith-Based and Community Organizations?

Meeting Business Needs
Businesses value those faith-based and community organizations that can:

• Support job retention by teaching "soft skills," or life skills such as courtesy, punctuality, a strong work ethic, self discipline, and self-confidence;
• Help new employees stay in the job through mentor support and through addressing barriers such as transportation and childcare;
• Support job advancement by helping workers see and develop their own potential to do complex work;
• Bridge cultural gaps and identify immigrants or refugees with higher skill levels and a strong work ethic.

Maximizing Resources
We look to partner with new organizations that:

• Are interested in sharing resources and collaborating in the community;
• Leverage financial investments with volunteer hours, donated resources and fundraising;
• Increase the number of clients served by One-Stop Career Centers through free marketing of services via bulletins, newsletters and informal referrals and networking;
• Fundraise from the community and are not dependent on the government.

Providing Effective Services
We also look to partner with organizations that:

• Are trusted institutions within disadvantaged neighborhoods;
• Focus on self-sufficiency and serving the whole person, asking their clients not just what they can do for a living, but what would fulfill their potential;
• Recruit volunteers that can provide personalized, long-term attention for customers and advocate for them as they move toward self-sufficiency;
• Provide services outside normal working hours;
• Expand the kinds of services available to customers at the One-Stop by providing "niche" or "support" services, such as clothing for interviews, transportation, and childcare.

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Empowering New Partnerships In Action

New Access Points
In order to help disadvantaged populations, consider making One-Stop services, such as computer resources and service eligibility information, available inside the walls of trusted faith-based and community organizations.

The Department of Labor’s 2002-2003 grant solicitations for faith-based and community organizations, intermediaries and states, emphasized creating partnerships that leverage resources and provide universal access to government services. One of the Department of Labor’s intermediary grantees, the United Way of Brevard (UWB), provided 20 organizations with hardware, software, and Internet access, as well as resource materials to establish mini-One-Stop Career Centers. UWB also is providing $10,800 to each organization to provide career coaching and job search services. The sub-grantees included both community-based and faith-based grassroots organizations. UWB leveraged the community connections of each organization it funded by requiring that each sub-grantee secure a commitment from at least one partner organization to refer customers, attend trainings and otherwise support the grant outcomes. One sub-grantee, a church, had each member of its congregation make a specific commitment to support the mini-One-Stop, including support with transportation, interviewing, childcare and other assistance.

Salem Family Ministry (SFM) is a grassroots outreach program supported by the Salem United Methodist Church, located in a rural area outside Lancaster, Pennsylvania. SFM provides a clothing bank, food assistance, transportation services, English-as-a-second-language classes, a nutrition program, counseling and case management services to people in northern Lancaster County.

As part of Team Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board’s state grant, the Lancaster Workforce Investment Board dedicated a community access point for the Lancaster County CareerLink (One-Stop) at SFM. SFM provides volunteers to help customers develop their resumes, use CareerLink computer services and obtain information about other community services. In this rural community, providing an access point outside of the city of Lancaster is very valuable because many people reluctant to travel to the city are comfortable at SFM. Volunteers work with customers for hours at a time, and are available as needed. Lancaster Workforce Board will soon be providing funding to help SFM develop their computer learning center.

Connections to Success is a nonprofit organization in St. Charles, Missouri that provides services and programs designed to break the cycle of poverty, one family at a time. It works closely with local One-Stop Career Centers, particularly the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment (SLATE). A relatively small organization, Connections to Success has only 9 employees and works with around 200 volunteers. Its numerous programs provide women and families support with soft skills, clothing, transportation, and mentoring.

Through a collaboration with US DOL and the DOL Women’s Bureau, Connections to Success' mobile unit, Wheels of Hope, provides an additional point of access to the One-Stop Career Center system. Wheels of Hope is outfitted with a clothing boutique and a training/ interview room. It addresses challenges faced by many disadvantaged women who do not have access to transportation or social services, particularly in rural parts of Missouri. In 2002, Wheels of Hope served approximately 500 youth and 300 adults seeking career assistance and other services. Many of these have gone on to SLATE or other area One-Stops for skills assessment and training based on Connections to Success’ referral. Connections to Success also recently established an office within the SLATE center, further facilitating the referrals and collaboration.

Movin' In
Bringing new faith-based and community organizations onto the One-Stop site can be advantageous.

Bridge to Hope (BTH)
Bridge to Hope is a DOL grassroots grantee in Bend, Oregon that provides mentoring and supportive services to female ex-offenders and is currently working with 45 women. Following receipt of the grant, BTH developed a strong relationship with the One-Stop and has been allowed to co-locate its services on-site and use One-Stop classrooms. Clients are referred directly from One-Stop agencies to BTH. BTH volunteers and staff can walk clients directly to each service they need. Through its connection to women in transition, BTH has been able to refer many clients to the One-Stop, including referrals to the Apprenticeship Bureau and Job Corps. Representatives from BTH also participate in One-Stop meetings to share information and strategies on the needs of One-Stop clients. The partnership between BTH and the One-Stop has been invaluable in supporting women making a difficult transition and helping them identify educational and employment opportunities.

All Congregations Together (ACT)
Through a creative nonfinancial partnership, All Congregations Together (ACT), a coalition of congregations from San Diego’s low and moderate income congregations, and the San Diego Department of Human Services, volunteers are helping to provide hope to clients utilizing the services at One-Stop career Centers. In this partnership, ACT recruits and trains volunteers from the faith community to serve as staff at help desks located in the lobbies of various One-Stop career centers in the city. These volunteers provide One-Stop customers with a wide-range of helpful support. For example, volunteers might assist a single mom with her four kids as she completes various job applications, help her navigate the different services at the One Stops, and then let her know about other community resources to help meet her other needs, such as assistance with transportation.

Mutual Referrals
The most basic level of partnership, mutual referrals, can begin as soon as workforce officials learn about community resources outside the One-Stop and educate new organizations about One-Stop resources.

Often faith-based and community organizations provide niche services which address barriers to employment, such as clothing, transportation, life skills training or childcare, which complement the services available through the One-Stop System. It is clearly advantageous for One-Stop case managers to become familiar with the broad range of services available from these organizations so that they can refer their clients as appropriate. At the same time, faith-based and community organizations can benefit from referring their community members or clients to the One-Stop to receive help with skills assessment, career counseling or hard-skills training.

Examples of One-Stop tools to support referrals include:

• Written resource guides;
• CDROM with community services;
• Internet site containing an inventory of community services;
• Creating small referral cards for FBOs/CBOs to hand out with One-Stop information;
• Creating referral cards for case managers to hand out to customers;
• Using 211 — a local phone number available in some areas which offers guidance on available community resources.

Examples of activities to support referrals include:

• Ask organizations to put One-Stop information on their bulletin board or in their newsletters
• Train leaders/counselors from FBOs/CBOs about One-Stops
• Invite organization to organize special trips to One-Stops for briefing and orientation.

Example: Job Service of North Dakota created a one-page simple agreement form to track the new relationships they are creating with faith-based and community organizations. (See Appendix B.) The agreement includes a commitment from the organization to refer customers to the One-Stop system for services.

Faith-based and grassroots organizations do not always perform miracles....Together, however, they are a vitally important resource in our communities, reaching out to needy neighbors and neighborhoods in thousands of ways. And when they do so, they often help in ways that government programs cannot, providing love as well as services, guidance and friendship as well as a meal or training. These are precious resources, great gifts of American society.

And yet, all too often, the Federal Government has ignored their efforts and even impeded them. With the best of intentions, but operating under an unnecessarily and improperly restrictive view of the appropriate role faith-based organizations can play in delivering needed social services, Federal policy and programs have often disregarded or hampered faith-based groups as resources for social assistance. Federal, state and local governments have often acted as if the law banishes religious providers and mandates rigid secularism instead of simple volunteerism, evenhandedness, and neutrality. Even when the Federal Government has done no harm, it also has often not done as much as it could to enlist and assist neighborhood healers, both secular and religious, and their important work.

Faith-based and grassroots organizations do not always perform miracles. . . Together, however, they are a vitally important resource in our communities, reaching out to needy neighbors and neighborhoods in thousands of ways. And when they do so, they often help in ways that government programs cannot, providing love as well as services, guidance and friendship as well as a meal or training. These are precious resources, great gifts of American society.

And yet, all too often, the Federal Government has ignored their efforts and even impeded them. With the best of intentions, but operating under an unnecessarily and improperly restrictive view of the appropriate role faith-based organizations can play in delivering needed social services, Federal policy and programs have often disregarded or hampered faithbased groups as resources for social assistance. Federal, state and local governments have often acted as if the law banishes religious providers and mandates rigid secularism instead of simple volunteerism, evenhandedness, and neutrality. Even when the Federal Government has done no harm, it also has often not done as much as it could to enlist and assist neighborhood healers, both secular and religious, and their important work.

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Common Myths about Government Partnerships with Faith-Based Organizations

Myth #1
Faith-based organizations cannot be a government partner, because they will inevitably evangelize.

It is crucial that all organizations — both community and faith-based — understand the requirements that come with government funding. A financial relationship with the government is not right for every organization. But many examples nationally have demonstrated that those faith-based organizations that wish to partner with government can provide government-funded social services without improperly proselytizing or evangelizing. To ensure that both faith-based organizations and community organizations understand the responsibilities that come with receipt of Federal funds, the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives has published a document with guidelines on their web site, www.fbci.gov. The document is entitled Guidance for Faith-Based and Community Organizations on Partnering with the Federal Government.

This document contains basic guidelines about how faith-based organizations can separate “inherently religious activities” from the social services which are directly funded by the government.

Myth #2
Faith-based organizations cannot partner with the government and still identify as “faith-based.” A faith-based organization does not need to change its identity — including its name or chartering documents — in order to qualify for a Federal grant. Nor does it need it to remove privately-funded religious art, icons, scripture, or other religious symbols from its property or its publications.

Guidance for Faith-Based and Community Organizations on Partnering with the Federal Government may be found at www.fbci.gov.

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Common Concerns about Partnering with Faith-Based and Community Organizations

Funding new faith-based and community organizations, FBOs/CBOs, makes the funding pie even smaller. Small organizations shift money from larger, more established groups.

The faith-based and community initiative is rooted in the philosophy that public funds should be used for projects that produce clear, measurable results, and that money should go to those qualified organizations that use funds most effectively.

The very fact that resources are tight is one of the most important reasons to look for ways to share resources with new partners and ensure that services are delivered in the most effective and efficient way possible. Grassroots organizations often stretch program dollars by using networks of volunteers and private investment. Faith-based and community organizations have even been known to provide volunteers to work in One-Stop or welfare offices to help guide clients and provide them with access to private sources of support.

These groups can often make a big difference with relatively small grants. For example, the Employment and Training Administration recently funded 20 grassroots grants for no more than $25,000 per grantee. Groups like these stretch small amounts of money and share resources to provide comprehensive support for individuals seeking to find and retain jobs.

All organizations, large and small, should be encouraged to see their work as part of the big picture of the community’s goals for workforce and economic development. While Workforce Boards should encourage competition, it is also important to encourage collaboration. Collaboration extends networks and adds resources to the system. Cobb Community Collaborative, an FBCI intermediary grantee, and the CobbWorks! Workforce Investment Board created local grant competitions which encouraged collaboration and thereby helped facilitate new relationships between large and small organizations. These new relationships allowed the smaller organizations to have access to financial resources and also improved outcomes for larger service providers and the individuals they serve.

Small FBOs/CBOs are unsophisticated. They have primitive accounting practices and aren't able to sustain programs.

It takes time for small organizations to build their capacity to manage funding, both public and private, just as it takes time to develop the ability to deliver programs. Organizations receiving government grants must keep accurate records, document their casework, and have reliable accounting systems. But these requirements should not deter new financial and partnerships with organizations that are already offering valuable services and who have credibility in distressed communities.

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Outreach Dos and Don'ts

Dos

• Bring your resources out from behind the walls of the One-Stop.
• Hold meetings at times and locations that are friendly and convenient for the leaders of FBOs and CBOs.
• Reach out broadly — contact diverse grassroots organizations and faith communities.
• Create messages that emphasize the common goals of helping people enter, advance and thrive in good jobs.
• Use conversational, concrete language.
  Example: "Let's help your neighbor get a job" is better than "Let's strengthen the workforce development system."
• Recognize and learn about the leadership structure of the organization/community you are reaching out to.
• Ask organizations what they need and what the people they serve need and relate to their leaders as experts in their communities. Listen carefully to their feedback.
• Recognize and appeal to the values of the community or faith-based organization. For example, organizations might emphasize a particular commitment to family or charity and altruism. Some organizations might be very committed to working within their ethnic or neighborhood community, while others may be committed to going beyond the doors of their community.
• Learn about and be respectful of cultural differences. Do

Don't

• Assume a complete knowledge of all the potential non-profit partners.
• Expect that FBOs/CBOs will come to you.
• Expect that FBOs/CBOs should understand workforce jargon.
• Make assumptions about assets, capacity or networks an FBO or CBO has.
  For example, don't assume that an organization cannot find jobs for its own members.
• Assume a paternalistic role and insist that the government define the terms of the relationship.
• Break promises or over-promise.

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Relationship Mapping: Who Do the People You Know, Know?

When beginning a faith-based and community initiative within your workforce area, it is crucial to start with the obvious.

First, look to see what organizations are in the neighborhood of the One-Stop Centers. Have the easy, natural relationships been created? Do the One-Stops and faith-based and community organizations duplicate each other’s services? Do they cooperate? Remember, new opportunities can only emerge when all parties give up the assumption that all the possible or valuable connections have already been made.

Second, map out the relationships that already exist with your One-Stops and Workforce Boards and FBOs/CBOs. Besides evaluating grantees/sub-grantees/eligible training provider lists, we recommend polling One-Stop case managers and discovering which organizations they already refer customers. Then invite those organizations to tell you about other organizations they work with and to learn about more opportunities for partnership.

Third, invite One-Stop employees and Workforce Board members and staff to educate the organizations they know about One-Stop services and the opportunities to collaborate. Train One-Stop and Workforce Board staff in how to respond to faith-based and community organizations interested in creating partnerships, particularly non-financial partnerships.

Where can we look for grassroots partners?

• Religious congregations located in communities you serve, particularly disadvantaged communities;
• Neighborhood Associations/Community Centers;
• Community Action Centers/ Community Development Associations;
• Local Religious Leaders' Alliances/ Interfaith Councils;
• Locally-based Associations and Community Centers that specifically serve minorities, immigrants, people with disabilities, young people, and the elderly;
• Local organizations providing clothes, food, shelter, drug treatment and long-term assistance. (One creative example: one faith-based food bank started putting information about One-Stops in their food baskets.)

Who can help us identify faith-based and community organizations?

• Mayor's community or faith-based relations office
• Grassroots networks associated with national nonprofits and foundations;
• Intermediary organizations and non-profits; that provide technical assistance to small service providers;
• District offices for members of Congress;
• Contacts with local media, in particular religious radio stations and newspaper sections;
• City and county government social service agencies.

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Turning Partnerships Inside Out: Using Partners to Conduct Outreach

Government outreach to FBOs/CBOs can often be effective through working with intermediaries. These intermediary organizations can help identify potential organizations who might want to collaborate with the One-Stop. For example, One-Stop or Workforce Board staff might ask an umbrella organization to:

• Allow someone to speak about the Workforce Board's strategic plan, business needs or One-Stop services at the organization's regular meetings.
• Send information to its contacts through electronic listserves, bulletin boards, and word of mouth
• Host special meetings (breakfasts, brown-bag lunch receptions) on the organization's site to introduce the workforce system to its constituent members/ contacts and use that meeting to survey organizations about what FBO/CBO services are available
• Host meetings to discuss how constituent members/ organizations can work together to address a specific issue in the community related to workforce development (e.g., transportation, clothing, mentoring).

Other creative examples of outreach

• Require your grantees to conduct outreach to small FBOs/CBOs and help these organizations collaborate with the One-Stop
• Establish relationships with individuals inside the community you are targeting, to act as liaisons to that specific community
• Train FBOs/CBOs how to educate peer organizations about using One-Stop services.

What umbrella or intermediary organizations do you know? Try asking them to introduce you to others.

• Local Religious Alliances/Interfaith Councils:
• National non-profit with network of smaller organizations:
• Community Actions Center, Community Development Corporation:
• Other:

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Issue Targeted Outreach

When creating your outreach strategy to new faith-based and community organization, consider targeting your outreach to address a specific issue. Bringing groups together to accomplish specific outcomes in the community is more effective and compelling than speaking abstractly about “partnership” or “workforce development.”

Outreach can be effective when aimed at bringing together groups to address a need of disadvantaged populations within the community. For example, the Work Advantage Board in Tarrant County, Texas (Fort Worth-area) began working to support the needs of fathers, including ex-offenders and young fathers. Though the Board had no money for the project, they decided to call a meeting of interested parties within the community. Work Advantage performed extensive outreach, but because they emphasized repeatedly there was NO grant money attached to this project, some Workforce Board staff thought the meeting would only attract 20-30 people. To the Board’s surprise, more than 200 people attended the meeting from a variety of faith-based and community organizations and government service agencies. Today the Tarrant County Fatherhood Initiative is still continuing after two years. The Fatherhood Initiative has produced many activities to strengthen programming for fathers across different organizations. What made this outreach effective, compelling, and successful was inviting faith-based and community organizations into the planning process to address a specific issue in the community.

Creating Your Strategy

What issues can you target your outreach to address?

1. ____________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________

What actions can you take to invite FBO/CBOs to codesign collaboration?

1. ____________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________

Adding the Voice of New Faith-Based and Community Organizations

In non-financial and even some financial partnerships, it is best when government and faith-based and community organizations work together to design the collaboration. Inviting faith-based and community organizations into the planning process for populations they understand can help pool their knowledge, relationships and resources and increase the effectiveness of the plans created. It can also be useful to use FBO/CBO leaders to provide feedback about the effectiveness of the One-Stop in serving customers and creating solutions to strengthen services.

For instance, the State of Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, a DOL grantee for 2002-2003, is seeking to increase access to One-Stop/WIA services and employment opportunities for limited English proficient populations, as well as increase the number of FBO/CBO partners in the workforce system. Wisconsin began the grant by awarding 10 Workforce Development Areas small planning grants. These grants were used to identify FBOs/CBOs in their Workforce Development Areas that have strong ties to limited English proficiency populations, including immigrants and refugees, and to invite these organizations to participate in planning services for these populations.

As news about the opportunity to be an active part of the planning process spread through word of mouth and other outreach, the number of new potential FBO/CBO partners began to increase for the participating Workforce Boards. Nearly 275 FBOs/CBOs participated in the local planning processes in Workforce Development Areas across the state. New community and faith-based groups had the opportunity to interact with workforce boards and One-Stop employees and enthusiastically listed needs, barriers, resources and possible solutions necessary to accomplish the grant objectives.

The participating Workforce Boards reported surprise and enthusiasm at what they have discovered through their outreach. Each discovered a web of FBOs/CBOs providing services of which they had no prior knowledge or contact. Some in particular reported that the communication that has developed is far more than they had anticipated. The Workforce Boards will be using the feedback they have received to set criteria for future grant awards.

Strategies for bringing new partners into strategic planning

• Bring new representatives on workforce board or committees to focus upon addressing a specific issue in the community, or plan services for specific populations;
• Create a local committee specifically designed to create collaboration with diverse faith communities within your area;
• Invite new FBOs/CBOs to public Workforce Board meetings;
• Educate FBOs/CBOs about current strategic plan.

Strategies for gaining FBO/CBO insights

• Schedule meetings between case managers and FBO/CBO leaders to speak about the needs of specific populations;
• Create web sites for FBOs/ CBOs to provide input and feedback about One-Stop services;
• Involve FBOs/CBOs in the training of frontline staff regarding cultural sensitivity; (Example: A DOL intermediary grantee, Institute for Community Inclusion at University of Massachusetts, is working with sub-grantees to sensitize the One-Stop to the needs of particular minority groups through partnerships with community-based organizations).

Leveling the Local Playing Field

In each federal department that houses a Center for Faith- Based and Community Initiatives, officials are working to "level the playing field" and ensure that grant applications, procedures and regulations do not prevent fair competition for faith-based and community organizations. The following guidance is intended to help your Workforce Board or Youth Council support the full participation of faith-based and community organizations in local grant competitions and encourage partnerships with new faith-based and community organizations.

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Simplify grant/contract applications
Complicated requirements for grant or contract applications do not necessarily produce the best services and, in fact, may shut out good organizations that do not have the resources to hire a grant writer. Ideally, a Request For Proposal (RFP) or a Solicitation for Grant Application (SGA) asks for a specific set of results and a defined way of measuring those results and allows the applicant to be creative in developing the strategy. Your agency may wish to develop a template that outlines a simplified RFP or SGA structure and clearly communicates the evaluation criteria. DOL CFBCI has solicitations in a simplified format on our web site.

Common and unnecessary problems with RFPs/SGAs:

• Excessive Length. For example, making the RFP/SGA longer than the page limit for the applicant's proposal or expecting responses to three pages of questions to be answered in a two page executive summary.
• Requesting unnecessary information and then not connecting it with "rating criteria" or explaining how reviewers will evaluate the information.

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Tips for Simplicity

• Keep acronyms to a minimum;
• Ensure there is a glossary of terms — even terms which may seem obvious, such as “outcome measures”;
• Clearly match requested information with how the evaluators will grade and assign points for that information.

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Diversify your review panel
In order to bring a new perspective and create a level playing field, it is important to have a panel of diverse grant reviewers who understand grassroots institutions and business and community needs. Often this means inviting new participants from outside the Workforce Board. Such an approach will limit inappropriate biases in favor of organizations who have previously received funding. Participation on review panels by new faith-based and community leaders also provides them with insights for their organizations should they consider applying for funding in the future.

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Identify and Remove Requirements That Unfairly Favor Organizations That Have Already Received Contracts
For example, it can be a barrier for new faith-based and community organizations when RFPs/SGAs use rating criteria that strongly favor or require that grantees already have experience receiving grants from your workforce board or other government organizations.

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Offer smaller contract/ grant sizes
Many grassroots groups are not equipped to manage large amounts of money. At the same time, many faith-based and community organizations are accustomed to stretching small amounts of dollars and are capable of achieving important outcomes with small amounts of money. To make the resources accessible to new organizations, workforce boards can offer smaller grant or contract opportunities $20,000, $30,000 or $40,000. Reporting requirements should match grant or contract size, and in some cases it may be appropriate to waive certain requirements. It is beneficial to try to capture the benefits provided by smaller organizations by requiring or rewarding larger grantees who sub-award specific services to smaller faith-based and community organizations.

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In larger grant or contract proposals, require/reward working with grassroots organizations who are not currently in financial partnership with the Workforce Board or One-Stop.
It is beneficial to try to capture the benefits provided by smaller organizations by requiring or rewarding larger grantees who sub-award specific services to smaller faith-based and community organizations. This is particularly beneficial when it is not practical for government to issue its own small grants or contracts.

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Provide opportunities for new organizations to learn about grant writing
An important part of outreach is letting faith-based and community organizations know about funding opportunities. Training can be attached to a specific RFP/SGA or be general, before RFPs/SGAs are issued. Useful components of education meetings can be:

• Going through sample applications;
• Simple, succinct grant writing advice; DOL offers grant-writing advice in less than 1000 words available on CFBCI's web site, www.dol.gov/cfbci;
• Training in strategic plan development
• Training for measuring progress/evaluation criteria.

Workforce Boards should keep conducting these kinds of educational workshops in conjunction with other public and private funding agencies, such as foundations. These educational workshops are particularly effective when hosted by an organization that has relationships with a network of grassroots organizations that the Workforce Board may not be familiar with yet.

Training for measuring progress/evaluation criteria. Workforce Boards should keep conducting these kinds of educational workshops in conjunction with other public and private funding agencies, such as foundations. These educational workshops are particularly effective when hosted by an organization that has relationships with a network of grassroots organizations that the Workforce Board may not be familiar with yet.

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Identify and remove unnecessary requirements that do not allow faith-based organizations to apply
Neutral, secular criteria that neither favor nor disfavor religion should be employed in the selection of grantees. Faith-based organizations should not be required to change their religious identity — including its name or chartering documents — in order to qualify for a grant.

Understanding the Department of Labor Solicitation for Grant Applications and How to Write an Effective Proposal may be found at www.fbci.gov.

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Appendix A: Faith-Based and Community Organization Outreach Coordinator Guide

In order to help Workforce Boards and One-Stops define their message to faith-based and community organizations, U.S. Department of Labor’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and in conjunction with the Center for Employment Security Education and Research (CESER) produced the Faith-Based and Community Organization Outreach Coordinator Guide (Outreach Coordinator Guide) CD-ROM. This Outreach Coordinator Guide is designed to provide State Workforce Agencies/Workforce Investment Boards/local One-Stop Career Centers with a customizable presentation that educates faith-based and community organizations about the One-Stop Career Center System. The presentation’s text discusses how the Workforce Investment Act affects local areas and how faith-based and community organizations can help meet the employment needs in their community by collaborating with the One-Stop system. The presentation also helps faith-based and community organizations understand how workforce development must respond to the local needs of businesses. The Outreach Coordinator Guide contains both a short Public Speaker’s Presentation Template as well an expanded One-Stop Briefing Session Template.

This presentation guide is designed as a national template. For best results, every opportunity should be taken to customize the information for local audiences. Special customizing hints are included in the guide at appropriate points. The authors of this Outreach Coordinator Guide highly recommend that that users include specific information about local contracting and grant opportunities as well as a basic introduction to requirements to become an Eligible Training Provider. It is also optimal to add local examples of the kinds of partnerships that the guide discusses.

The expanded version of this presentation may also be conducted as a three-hour briefing session held at a local One-Stop Career Center. It may also be combined with a briefing session on the Career One-Stop electronic tools (www.careeronestop.org). When conducted, the Career One-Stop session should also be customized to include information about state and local electronic tools and how they are linked to Career One-Stop.

Finally the Outreach Coordinator Guide CD-ROM contains information booklets designed for faith-based organization, Not Everyone Has a Burning Bush to Tell Them Their Life’s Calling, and community based organizations, Employment Assistance is Just One-Stop Away.

Faith-Based and Community Organization Outreach Coordinator Guide, Not Everyone Has a Burning Bush to Tell Them Their Life’s Calling and Employment Assistance is One-Stop Away may be found at www.fbci.gov.

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Appendix B: North Dakota’s Project Share Partnership Agreement

References to organizations in this pamphlet should not be construed as an endorsement of that entity, its products or services by the U.S. Department of Labor.

U.S. Department of Labor
Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
Brent Orrell, Director
200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20210
(202) 693-6450
E-mail: contact-cfbci@dol.gov
www.dol.gov/cfbci

White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
The White House
Washington, DC 20502
(202) 456-6708
White House main switchboard:
(202) 456-1414
www.fbci.gov

References to organizations in this pamphlet should not be construed as an endorsement of that entity, its products or services by the U.S. Department of Labor.

United States Department of Labor
Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20210
(202) 693-6450
E-mail: contact-cfbci@dol.gov
www.dol.gov/cfbci