HAPPY THANKSGIVING Community Action Partnership wishes each and every one of our Community Action friends, family, colleagues, and supporters a safe, peaceful and happy Thanksgiving holiday.
We are thankful for all of you - the work you do, the compassion and love you give to those in your community, and the ideas, good wishes, and wisdom you share with us. We know that you will cherish the time you share with friends and families and enjoy a day of fellowship, enjoyment, and lots of good food! Happy Thanksgiving Community Action!!
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 REGISTER BY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, FOR THE 2016 MANAGEMENT AND
LEADERSHIP TRAINING CONFERENCE AND SAVE!
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Please remember to submit your registration for the January Management and Leadership Conference in New Orleans at the Westin Canal Place.
The "Early-Bird" registration ends on Friday, November 20.
Leading with Resilience - The Community Action Way
Click here to reserve hotel rooms online at Westin Canal Place
or call the Westin at 1-888-627-8180.
Rooms are almost sold out -- reserve now!
Click here for the
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IN MEMORY OF KARL PNAZEK: A COMMUNITY ACTION LEGEND
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Karl S. Pnazek, age 66, of Plover, WI died peacefully at his home Thursday October 29, 2015 with his wife Bonnie at his side, after a courageous battle with brain cancer. The loss brings deep sorrow for Bonnie, their son Brandon, his wife April and their children-Brooklyn, Spencer, Dylan and Alayna.
Karl's reach was wide and deep and as such the loss is felt by literally thousands of people who had the privilege to work with him and those whose lives were made better by the resources and opportunities created under his leadership. Others knew him only through his frequent open letters to the local paper but even they came to understand this man's core was made up of integrity, innovation, insight and initiative. He was often described as the smartest man people ever knew. He mentored many, inspired more and sometimes stepped on people's toes when Karl saw unfairness in them. He was tough too and often said what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. He didn't often back down and that may have been what led to his many successes.
Born and raised in Chicago, Karl served as the President and CEO of CAP Services, Inc. based in Stevens Point from 1976 through 2008, He also served as President of WISCAP, the state association of community action agencies. He consistently tried to build capacity in the network to do more than help low-income people get by- but rather create opportunities for them to be independent. He also fought hard to create a brand of anti-poverty work that encompasses all of the many factors influencing people about to be "economically and emotionally self-sufficient."
Doing that also meant community development work resulting in resources like CAP's Family Crisis Center to serve domestic violence victims, one of the first in the state of Wisconsin. Another, Ministry Dental Center, created to serve Badger Care-eligible patients who often went years without access to dental care. Another of his proud accomplishments was the creation of revolving loan funds for those wishing to start a business or buy a home and not able to secure capital or credit otherwise. Karl was known by many as one of the most creative deal makers and that "art of the deal" making led projects from his mind's eye to fruition.
His highly engaged state and national advocacy and public policy work always focused on how to ensure low-income and rural families had a fair shake at the promise of an American Dream that included a decent job, a safe and decent home, access to health and dental care, opportunities for lifelong learning and the joys found in recreation and leisure.
Karl's legacy will live on in the many projects that he created and the people that he touched, the children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews that saw in Karl's actions how to be a good person and to fight for what is right in the world.
TRIBUTES
Dalitso Sulamoyo - He truly is a legend. He was forward thinking in the area of social entrepreneurship and economic development. He pushed for Community Action to be financially secure and independent and really utilizing CSBG as venture capital for investments that benefit the poor. In his final years I served with him on the Haitian Development Fund, a not for profit committed to serving the Haitian neighborhood of Sarthe with healthcare. Peter Kilde - I greatly admired Karl for his intelligence, breath of knowledge, passion and commitment to Community Action. There will be much sadness in Wisconsin and around the network in the days to come.
Click here to see the obituary. |
IN MEMORY OF RICK COHEN OF NONPROFIT QUARTERLY AND FRIEND OF COMMUNITY ACTION
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Rick Cohen, Rural Philanthropy Advocate and Journalist, Dies
Rick Cohen, who passionately and honestly critiqued the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors with pointed journalism and research, has died. The announcement came midday on Tuesday, November 17, from Nonprofit Quarterly, the publication for which Cohen wrote for the past nine years. The an nouncement did not include a cause of death.
Rick Cohen's groundbreaking research on private philanthropy found that major foundations gave up to 99% of their grant dollars to projects in metropolitan areas, leaving rural groups struggling to serve community needs. Colleagues say Cohen was a fierce but fair reporter with a strong commitment to equality and social justice.
Cohen called out the nation's largest foundations for what he said was their failure to invest equitably in rural community development. Simultaneously, he challenged the nation's nonprofits - both rural and urban - to do better in their efforts to serve marginalized and underrepresented populations.
Recent articles in NPQ:
* Looking Back at the War on Poverty: A Conversation with Sheldon Danziger
* Travel Writer Finds Poverty in the American Deep South and Hypocrisy in Corporate Philanthropy
* The Strength of Citizen Government: Local Grassroots Advocacy
* Rural Foundations' Ideas for Increasing Rural Philanthropy
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HUD RELEASES 2015 HOMELESSNESS ASSESSMENT REPORT,
SHOWS DECLINE IN VETERAN HOMELESSNESS
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Point in Time count from January 2015 shows 4 percent decrease in
number of homeless veterans
Military Times featured an article last week on the new estimate for homeless veterans, with quotes from NCHV Executive Director Baylee Crone. Read the article here.
WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro today announced HUD's latest national one-night estimate of homelessness, highlighting a continuing decline across the nation. The results are based on HUD's 'point-in-time' estimates, which seek to measure the scope of homelessness on a single night in January each year.
HUD's 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress found that there has been an overall 11 percent decrease and 26 percent drop in the unsheltered homeless population since 2010, when President Obama launched Opening Doors, the nation's first-ever comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness. Between 2010 and January 2015, veteran homelessness declined 36 percent, family homelessness declined 19 percent, and chronic homelessness declined 22 percent. The report shows that certain communities are making significant positive progress, while others are struggling in light of the widespread housing affordability crisis, budget shortages, or slow adoption of best practices.
 In remarks last week at a Veterans Day ceremony in Richmond, Va., Secretary Castro congratulated the Commonwealth for becoming the first state to effectively end veteran homelessness, as well as other communities across the nation from Syracuse, New York to Las Vegas, Nevada. The decline in veteran homelessness is largely attributed to significant investments made by the U.S. Congress and the close collaboration between HUD and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on a joint program called HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH), which provides a rental subsidy along with support services for those veterans who need them. Since 2008, nearly 80,000 rental vouchers have been awarded and more than 101,000 veterans have been served through the program. Last week, HUD and VA announced an additional $12 million to expand the program.
"The Obama Administration has made an historic commitment to effectively end homelessness in this nation. Together with our partners across the federal government and communities from coast to coast, we have made tremendous progress toward our ambitious goals. But our work is far from finished. We have to continue making smart investments in the strategies that work so that everyone has a place to call home," said HUD Secretary Castro.
"While we are seeing strong progress in some communities, we also know that we need to accelerate progress in others," says Matthew Doherty, Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. "While communities work hard to use their current resources as efficiently as they can and to implement Housing First practices, we are working to provide the additional Federal investments, included in the President's FY 2016 budget, that are needed to drive greater progress toward ending homelessness for all Americans."
"While we see progress, we have more work ahead so long as there are Veterans who have served our nation without a home," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert A. McDonald. "VA is serving more Veterans than ever before with wrap-around heath care, education and job training services that provide the Veteran with the tools they need to stay out of homelessness. We will solve this challenge community by community. Already we have seen mayors, governors, business leaders and nonprofit partners step up across this nation and join our effort to prevent Veterans from having to live on our streets. We will continue to rely on our government and non-government partners as we make sure communities have the tools in place to rescue Veterans from homelessness and keep Veterans from sliding back into homelessness."
Since the passage of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act in 1987, HUD has worked with communities to build the capacity of homeless programs across the country. By targeting investments to individuals and families who need assistance most - those on the street the longest, or with the greatest barriers to housing - HUD is ensuring that its limited resources are used as effectively and efficiently as possible. Despite increased requests in the President's Budget each year, HUD homeless assistance funding from Congress has not kept pace with need. This has resulted in only a small decrease in the number of persons experiencing chronic homelessness between 2014 and 2015. In the meantime, HUD continues to incentivize communities to target resources, prioritize assistance, and invest in programs with proven track records.
The data being reported by HUD today on youth experiencing homelessness is a work in progress because communities are still learning how to collect this data accurately. Because of this, HUD cautions its partners and stakeholders from drawing conclusions regarding the state of youth homelessness based solely on this data. In order to continue to improve data on youth, HUD revised its data collection requirements, which may result in future increased point-in-time counts as communities improve their methodologies.
HUD is also working with communities to improve collection to better understand the size and scope of homelessness, including efforts like youth engagement and collaboration with schools and other youth-serving systems. In addition, HUD is in the process of improving and updating its year-long data collection on youth, and now also includes data from the U.S. Department of Education and American Housing Survey in its Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress.
Improved data collection informs HUD's strategies for ending homelessness. Across the nation, communities are implementing systems to quickly and effectively house individuals and families experiencing homelessness in a coordinated way. They are working together across agencies, creating unprecedented partnerships toward achieving the national goal of ending homelessness.
Key Findings
On a single night in January 2015, state and local planning agencies reported the following estimates of homelessness:
- Veteran homelessness fell by 36 percent between 2010 and January 2015, including a 47 percent decline in unsheltered veterans. On a single night in January 2015, fewer than 48,000 veterans were homeless, and only 34 percent of those were on the street. HUD expects this trend to continue.
- Overall, homelessness has declined by more than 72,000 people since 2010, an 11 percent reduction since the release of Opening Doors. In January 2015, an estimated 564,708 people were homeless on a given night. Most (69 percent) were staying in residential programs for homeless people, and 31 percent were found in unsheltered locations.
- Chronic homelessness among individuals continued to decline. Since 2010, chronic homelessness has declined 22 percent. More than 83,000 individuals experiencing homelessness in January 2015 were reported as chronically homeless.
- There was a five percent reduction in families experiencing homelessness between the 2014 and January 2015. Between 2010 and January 2015, family homelessness declined by 19 percent.
- In January 2015, the estimated number of unaccompanied homeless youth and children was 36,097.
Read more on homeless data reported on a state and community level |
BANKING WHILE POOR: FROM FIASCOS AND FEES TO
THE FIGHT FOR FINANCIAL INCLUSION
| For the 25 million Americans without a bank account, managing money can be fraught with hazards. Yet the perils aren't constrained to the cards hanging on the j-hook at the grocery store: states increasingly impose costs and conditions on how struggling families can access the public benefits they've qualified for, all while curbing consumer protections and discouraging saving.
Join New America for a discussion about how to build better banking options for low-income families and ensure that all Americans have safe, secure access to their money.
Click here for complete information about this event.
Monday, December 07, 2015 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM 740 15th Street NW, Suite 900 |
END OF YEAR CONTRIBUTIONS TO NATIONAL COMMUNITY
ACTION FOUNDATION (NCAF)
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As we reach the end of the year, the Community Action Partnership wanted to remind everyone to support the National Community Action Foundation (NCAF). NCAF is a critical partner in strengthening the Community Action Network nationwide through its advocacy efforts.
Additionally, as a 501(c)4, NCAF is unable to accept any federal funding. Because of this, NCAF relies solely on voluntary contributions from the Network. By donating to NCAF, you support their work to keep the network intact, funded and effective! Click here to see the map to check how your state is doing in reaching its NCAF fundraising goal! Or click here to see the result in excel.
Click here for information on how to donate.
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THE CENTER FOR LAW AND SOCIAL POLICY OFFERS A MULTITUDE OF RESOURCES AROUND WIOA
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If your agency offers employment and training activities, hopefully you have seen the FAQs from CAPLAW on WIOA released in September. We also wanted to draw attention to the resources being built by the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) that may provide further insights. In addition to policy briefs previously released, CLASP has a page devoted to Opportunities for Action filled with memos that offer opportunities for action around WIOA implementation. Currently there are memos on Career Pathways for local planning as well as state planning, Priority of Service for High-Need Adults, and Transitional Jobs just to name a few. Check back at http://www.clasp.org/issues/postsecondary/wioa-game-plan to see continued updates to resources and briefs.
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LEARNING COMMUNITY NATIONAL WEBINAR DECEMBER 2:
Understanding Trauma and Its Impact on Families in Poverty | |
Understanding Trauma and Its Impact on Families in Poverty
With Subject Matter Expert Elena Cohen
December 2, 2015, 2pm ET
Join Elena Cohen, Subject Matter Expert for the 2016-2017 Learning Community Group, Trauma Informed Approaches to Alleviating Poverty, for the first National Webinar of the new Learning Community.
Families living in poverty often encounter multiple traumas over many years. Factors associated with poverty, among others, low neighborhood safety, daily hassles, domestic violence, substance abuse and racial discrimination have been shown to increase the risk that trauma will negatively impact family functioning. For example, chronic conditions of high stress and exposure to multiple traumas often result in disorganized family lifestyles, inconsistent and/or conflicted relationships, and crisis-oriented coping. In addition, exposure to trauma jeopardizes the ability of families to make effective use of resources and limits the success of interventions that require family support.
The webinar will define acute, chronic and complex (toxic), historical secondary trauma; describe impact of trauma, in the context of poverty, on the family and organizational systems; and encourage participants to build their knowledge and skills to recognize the effects of trauma on children, families and staff to design family centered, trauma-specific interventions that strengthen the family and the organization's ability to adapt, cope and heal.
Elena P. Cohen, ACSW, has been working in the field of children and family services in different capacities for over 35 years. As the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Safe Start Center. Director, she coordinated and provided training and technical assistance, developed resources and publications, and convened national and regional meetings to support State and community-based agencies implementing programs for children exposed to violence and their families. As the Director of the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice, providing training, technical assistance, and consultation to state and tribal child welfare agencies in the United States. Ms. Cohen has provided technical assistance and consultation on trauma-informed care to early childhood education, Head start, home visiting and child care, youth development, teen pregnancy prevention, homelessness, domestic violence, and poverty-alleviation community based agencies.
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DECEMBER TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FROM WIPFLI
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NEW FINANCIAL WELL-BEING BOOK LAUNCHES 12/8:
SIGN UP FOR THE FREE LIVE WEBCAST!
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Join Us December 8 for the Free Live Webcast of the Launch of What It's Worth
New book to focus on opportunities to build financial health and well-being
Tuesday, December 8, 2015 | 10 am-5 pm EST
Join the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, CFED and the Citi Foundation on Tuesday, December 8, for the live webcast of the Financial Well-Being Summit to mark the release of the new book, What It's Worth: Strengthening the Financial Future of Families, Communities and the Nation.
Hear from policymakers, employers and others who will highlight innovations that are breaking down barriers that keep too many families from financial success. Topics to be covered include:
- Education, Jobs, Housing & Health
- Economy, Politics & the Financial System
- Race, Gender, Age & Place
- Insights into Financial Decision-Making
Click here to RSVP! |
AFTERSCHOOL MEALS MATTER, CONFERENCE CALL ON DECEMBER 17
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Providing Quality Programming at your Afterschool Meal Program
December 17, 2015, 1 pm Eastern
Serving meals at your afterschool program can significantly boost enrollment by children, but offering engaging and interesting activities can also be just as critical to maintaining participation. Learn about quality educational programming ideas that you can offer and resources that you can access at little to no cost to support your program.
Click here to register.
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JOIN THE PARTNERSHIP NOW FOR 2016!
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Why Join Community Action Partnership?
 Agencies like yours continue to shape the vision and the future of Community Action. A strong network puts you in touch with many colleagues across the country and gives your agency a strong and unified voice and a vital communications link to federal agencies and other organizations, both public and private, that share or support the mission and the Promise of Community Action.
Community Action Partnership looks forward to working with you in 2016. We hope that you can take a few minutes to invest in your future during this upcoming, critical year for our network.
Please complete the membership application for the Partnership.
If your agency has already submitted the membership dues for 2016 - "Thank You!" We appreciate your involvement and support. We look forward to launching some outstanding opportunities for membership involvement in the coming year! Your energy and involvement have helped to keep Community Action Partnership responsive to your needs and built the strongest community action network ever. Membership gives you more than ever before ... access to training, publications, educational resources, and management tools which help you run a CAA more productively. Community Action Partnership welcomes like-minded organizations, friends, and affiliates as members - organizations and companies that are like-minded and support the work of Community Action. If you would like to consider membership, you can check "affiliate" in the membership categories. If you have any questions, please contact Sranda Watkins, Membership Coordinator at swatkins@communityactionpartnership.com or by phone at (202) 449-9773.
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JOIN THE 2016-2017 LEARNING COMMUNITY!
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ISA is an insurance provider providing property, liability, and risk management services. Click here to learn about the Irwin Siegel Agency alliance with the Partnership or visit their website. |
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