The Mayor's Office of Partnerships and Grants Development (OPGD) graduated the third class of its Strengthening Partners Initiative (SPI) on Wednesday, October 19, 2005.

Twenty-two executive directors of local nonprofits successfully completed the year-long SPI program. The year included six months of bi-weekly capacity building instruction on core topics such as fundraising, financial management and board development. It also provided several months of individual coaching with professionals from local nonprofits, businesses and government. Ultimately, the participants presented projects demonstrating how they plan to use the tools learned from the program to improve their organizations.

Topics for some of the final projects included board development, budgeting, capacity building, an employee manual, financial management, mergers, organizational growth, operating procedures, and web site development/marketing.

The graduating class includes the following local nonprofit organizations:

African American Women's Resource Center
Anacostia Bible Church Christian School
Angel Youth Outreach Ministry, Inc.
Beyond Talent
The Bishop Alfred A. Owens, Jr. Family Life Community Center
Coalition for Economic Empowerment (CEE)
Church of the First Born
The Council of Churches of Greater Washington
The Elisha Project, Inc.
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