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Message from Eileen Coogan, President & CEO
MERRY CHRISTMAS! All of us at Allegany Franciscan Ministries wish you a blessed, joyful Christmas, and a New Year filled with Peace and Love for one another!
Personally, I am deeply grateful for each of you receiving this newsletter ... you are an important partner to us at Allegany Franciscan Ministries, whether you are a volunteer, colleague, community member, funded partner, or family member. Thank you for your support and commitment!
Each time I see a Christmas crèche, I think about St. Francis. He loved Christmas, and his desire to help people understand the feast led him to create a "living manger" scene near the town of Greccio, complete with live animals, people and an infant laying in hay. Here's a photo one of our staff team took on our pilgrimage this year, which included a visit to Greccio and the cave where St. Francis staged the first nativity scene.
Since our first grants were awarded in 1998, we have served in the vision and tradition of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, as a compassionate and transforming healing presence within our communities. In that time, we have awarded more than $80 million in grants to thousands of nonprofit partners and communities!
2016 will bring exciting new opportunities for us, as we continue to serve three regions of Florida and, through our Common Good Initiative, the people of Wimauma, Overtown and Lincoln Park. Stay tuned to our website and Facebook for updates!
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Priorities for Wimauma Identified at Community Dialogue
On November 7, 2015, Allegany Franciscan Ministries held a Common Good Community Dialogue with over 180 residents and stakeholders of Wimauma. The dialogue was the culmination of more than a year of listening to the Wimauma community; its purpose was to identify which of many community priorities are the most important for us to work together on, and to gather ideas about what can be done. To learn more about the meeting and the identified priorities, read the summary report.
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Common Good Initiative Updates
We recently completed the third and final community dialogue to establish the priorities in each of the Common Good communities. Next steps include researching strategies to address priorities and final recruiting and formation of advisory councils. Receptions have been held for nominated council members. Finally, investments continue to be made supporting community, planning or health access efforts. Click on the community name below to learn more about recent investments and read evaluation reports.
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Grant Program Updates
It has been a busy fall with grant deadlines for our ACOR, Major and Tau grant programs. Here's a recap:
ACOR - This fall cycle we received 16 applications. The ACOR Grants Committee made recommendations will be presented to the board in late January for funding decisions.
Major - A total of 71 LOIs from Palm Beach and Tampa Bay regions were received. After an initial review, 16 organizations were invited to complete full applications due in mid-January. The Miami-Dade LOI process is open with a deadline of January 29, 2016. Major Grant awards for all three regions will be announced in May 2016. Finally, new grant committees are being formed in each of our three funding regions and will be finalized in December.
Tau - A total of 102 Tau grant applications were received. Applications are currently being reviewed and decisions will be announced in late January 2016.
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We are currently accepting LOIs for the Miami-Dade Major Grant program. The deadline is January 28th at 12 noon. For more information, visit our website, www.afmfl.org.
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