(Washington, DC) At the city's Fourth Annual Public-Private Partnership Conference on October 24, Mayor Anthony A. Williams announced two new capacity-building programs initiated by the Office of Partnerships and Grants Development (OPGD). The programs were designed to strengthen the capacity of local nonprofits and establish meaningful partnerships between nonprofits, local government agencies, and multi-sector organizations.

The Strengthening Partnership Initiative (SPI) is a one-year pilot program that will help build relationships between emerging nonprofits and more established nonprofits to teach best practices for enhancing organizational development and leadership skills.

Twenty-five diverse nonprofits from across the District were competitively selected by OPGD. The executive directors of these organizations will attend workshops on financial management, fundraising, board development, information technology, and other technical assistance areas. They will also receive one-on-one mentoring from nonprofit executives from the Washington Council of Agencies' Washington Post for Excellence in Nonprofit Management participants, as well as managers from the private sector. Ultimately, the goal of the Strengthening Partnership Initiative is to enable these nonprofits to access the resources needed to build and sustain their respective program services for residents of the District of Columbia.