Washington, DC— DC Department of Human Services (DHS) Director Yvonne Gilchrist announced today that DHS has developed a “Community-based Partnership Initiative” to harness the resources of community and faith-based organizations to provide immediate and direct intervention assistance to needy, low-income families and at-risk youth in designated “hot spot” areas and in Wards 7 and 8. DHS released a Request for Proposals at the beginning of April 1, 2005 and will fund the initiative with $1 million that will be awarded in the form of grants to organizations with budgets of $100,000 or less.

“Public-private partnerships are essential in helping to provide District families and young people with targeted, effective assistance – government can’t do everything alone,” said Mayor Anthony A. Williams. “This initiative is important because of the partnerships it will help to establish that will assist city officials in reaching out to troubled families and young people in hot spot neighborhoods and in Wards 7 and 8. Officials at the Department of Human Services will work hand-in-hand with organizations that have a direct line to residents who are most in need of our help.”

“DHS doesn’t want any low-income family or child in crisis to fall through the cracks,” said Gilchrist. “We want to help support those organizations who have strong ties in hot spot neighborhoods and in Wards 7 and 8 so they can reach out to at-risk families and youths hopefully before serious problems have caused great harm and hardship for them and others. Community-based organizations and churches can often make the strongest impact in the lives of residents most in need of assistance.”

Similar to President Bush's Faith-Based and Community Initiative, the DHS initiative breaks new ground in providing support to a variety of community organizations, including those that are faith-based. The Initiative is designed to target low income or families eligible for the DHS Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and/or at-risk youth ages 10-21 who live within 10 city blocks from the community-based organization. Representatives of nearly 100 community and faith-based organizations attended the DHS Community–based Partnership Initiative pre-application conference.

The Partnership Initiative will provide approximately 10 organizations up to $100,000 in grant funding for those who provide/coordinate:

Mentoring for youth and parents; Tutoring for children and adults engaged in achieving literacy goals; Life-skills building workshops; Outreach to at-risk youth, which focuses on after-school enrichment programs and violence/crime prevention; Recreational programs for youth and families; Activities that help clients re-engage in positive lifestyle choices and refrain from violence-related activities; and Resources to families in need of emergency intervention.

Community-based organizations eligible to apply for funding are those located in Wards 7 and 8 (or areas designated by District Government as “hot-spot,” violence-plagued neighborhoods), or who collaborate with a community-based organization located in a “hot-spot” neighborhood.

“This partnership will help improve District Government’s ability to reach all of our families and youths who need these services,” said Neil Albert, Deputy Mayor for Youth, Families and Children. “It will make more services available for residents in settings that may be more convenient and comfortable for them.”

The deadline for Community-based Partnership Initiative proposals is May 6, 2005. For more information, community and faith-based organizations should call the DHS Office of Grants Management at (202) 671-4407.

“We’re looking forward to working in partnership with community and faith-based organizations to be competitively selected to provide services,” Gilchrist added. “This initiative allows us to reach out to our customers in a way that is more personal.”