IL State Edition Helping communities find the federal funding they need.
The View from Illinios State Evaluation-Driven Budget Decisions
The month of May will be an important one for the state as legislators push toward a budget agreement for 2012. While the rest of us are waiting on pins-and-needles, lawmakers in the House and Senate are scheduled to return to the Capitol from spring break, at least five days a week, through May to work on their own versions of a spending plan, complete with revenue projections and line-by-line appropriations. Information required by the governor’s budget office, and submitted by state agencies, regarding the impact of cutting 1 percent is supposed to influence decision making on what the Governor calls a lean budget. Understandably, agencies are fearful of service disruptions and staff reductions. However, a metrics-based approach to trimming back government spending and ensuring Illinois’ economic growth and fiscal stability is one to be commended. If it works, keep it. If it isn’t working, revise it or cut it. This approach including continuous improvement based on meeting objectives and priorities seems like an effective process for fixing a broken budget system. After all, it is the same system required by a grant awardee or recipient of government funding.
Potential Cuts to Youth Programs
Governor Pat Quinn’s proposed FY12 Budget has six prioritized budget outcomes. Number four on the list is Human Services: Protection of the Most Vulnerable of our Citizens. Unfortunately, proposed cuts from the Governor’s office for the overall state budget based on this list would significantly affect youth programs in Illinois and could become a larger issue among many communities, families, taxpayers and overall state spending. Governor Quinn’s budget proposal would eliminate the Community Youth Services grant for the rest of 2011 and for FY12, which provides funding to youth programs, prevention services and community-based groups that serve more than 30,000 Illinois teens and adolescents. Couple the funding elimination with already dwindling independent school district budgets, there will be a significant lack of critical prop. ~ The Fundbook - IL | May 2011
gramming jeopardizing the safety, security, wellbeing and future of children and youth throughout the state of Illinois. An abrupt ending to the grants for current awardees has potential to even shut-down the entire operation without contingency planning and alternatives. In order to bridge the gap, there are federal funding opportunities available to local governments for youth and juvenile programs. One of these is the Research Project Grant offered by the National Institutes of Health. The program proposes to enhance the understanding of effective positive youth development programs and the mechanisms responsible for positive health and developmental outcomes. This grant opportunity will support the development, implementation, and evaluation of new or improved positive youth development programs, the evaluation of existing successful programs, or the evaluation of effective, evidence-based, gender-inclusive programs that are adapted, translated or disseminated for new populations of youth or adolescents. Eligible applicants include State, County, City/Township, and Special District governments and independent school districts and public and state controlled institutions of higher education. The deadline for proposals is September 7, 2011. Inquiries concerning this funding opportunity are welcomed from potential applicants. For more information regarding this grant, visit: http://goo.gl/HIGHC The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is administrating the State Juvenile Justice Formula and
Block Grants Training and Technical Assistance Program which will award a cooperative agreement
to an organization that will provide training and technical assistance to state and local juvenile justice formula and block grantees and sub-grantees to assist them in planning, establishing, operating, coordinating, and evaluating delinquency prevention and juvenile justice systems improvement projects. The deadline for this program is May 16, 2011. For additional information, contact the Justice Information Center at 1-877-927-5657, email JIC@telesishq. com, or visit http://goo.gl/mFXLY The Community-Based Violence Prevention
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To get started on your project today or to learn more about how our firm can tailor services to meet your specific needs, please contact Meggie Chapman at: Phone 602-672-3064 Fax 866-422-6024 info@meggiechapmanandassociates.com www.fundbook.org
May 2011 | The Fundbook - IL ~ p.
Demonstration Program , also administrated by the and operational standards. This annual competition U.S. Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), is providing funding for states and units of local government to support federal, state, and local partnerships to replicate proven multi-disciplinary, community-based strategies to reduce violence. The program’s goal is to replicate programs, such as the Chicago CeaseFire model, to reduce violence in targeted communities. Applicants must target their proposed intervention on the high-risk activities and behaviors of a small number of carefully selected members of the community who are likely to be involved in violent activities, specifically gun violence, in the immediate future. The application deadline for this program is May 23, 2011. For additional information, contact the Justice Information Center at 1(877)927-5657, email JIC@telesishq.com, or visit http://goo.gl/tGucO
Supplementing Public Safety
With budget cuts looming over local government agencies, public safety agencies are no exception, now is the time to think about those federal and private funding opportunities that can strengthen and supplement FY12 allocations and help keep staff. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program competition will be open May 2, 2011. The turn-around is quick with a May 25, 2011 deadline. However, in recent years, with Illinois cities’ crime rates doubling that of the national index, the possibly $200 million available for the hiring and rehiring of additional career law enforcement officers, the payoff of potentially hiring up to 50 officers is worth the work to pump out the application by deadline. To find out more about this grant that provides 100 percent funding for approved entrylevel salaries and benefits for 3 years, please visit http://goo.gl/zdAKG or contact the COPS Office Response Center at 1-800-421-6770. Similarly, for local fire departments, feeling the staffing pinch, the
Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants (SAFER) provides funds for fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations to hire qualified firefighters. Funding is specifically dedicated to enabling departments to hire trained front line firefighters to improve response time p. ~ The Fundbook - IL | May 2011
is forecasted and is yet to be announced for FY11. For more information on SAFER grants, please visit http://goo.gl/gIAjB or call program staff at 1-866274-0960.
Illinois Transportation Funding Protected
An agreement has been reached that protects nearly $400 million in federal funding for eight transportation projects in Illinois that were targeted for rescission in the House Republican’s FY11 budget plan. The projects no longer in jeopardy include: the Chicago to Quad Cities Amtrak route, Englewood Flyover Create project, Wadsworth Bridge Replacement, Chicago Transit Authority purchase of all-electric buses, Peoria Warehouse District Project, Moline Multimodal Facility, Barrington EJ&E Grade Separation at US 14, and the Hybrid Paratransit Bus purchase for Grundy County. Clearly, this is a relief for these communities that have planned and secured millions in private investment in anticipation of this funding. For other transportation projects still on the chopping block, there are some funding opportunities currently available through the U.S. Department of Transportation. The FY11 Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks Program funds capital and planning expenses for alternative transportation systems such as buses and trams in federally-managed parks and public lands. State, tribal and local governments acting with the consent of a Federal Land Management Agency are eligible to apply. The application deadline is May 9, 2011. For further information, contact Program Manager, Adam Schildge, Office of Transit Programs, at 202-366-0778 or adam.schildge@dot. gov, or visit http://goo.gl/sJyWm The Transit Track Worker Safety Protection Demonstration Project seeks to improve the safety of transit workers, specifically right-of-way safety for all transit workers through innovative use of new or advanced technologies to reduce the hazards associated with working on or around the right-ofway. Eligible applicants include state and local government agencies, public and private transit agencies, operators of public transportation services, and universities. The application deadline has been extended to May 30, 2011. For more information, contact the Program Manager, Roy Chen, at (202) 366-
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0462 or via email at royweishun.chen@dot.gov, or visit http://goo.gl/1Z21y
Claim Your Credit
Businesses have until June 30, 2011 to hire employees in order to claim the $2,500 Illinois Small Business Job Creation Tax Credit, created by Governor Quinn. H.B. 4599 also expands the credit to include former worker-trainees from the Put Illinois to Work program, hired by employers, as long as the employees receive no less than $10 hourly, with a minimum $18,200 annually. In order to be compliant, the position must be sustained for at least one year (not necessarily held by the same individual for the year). Employers wishing to utilize the credit designed to jumpstart job creation should register new positions online at JobsTaxCredit.illinois.gov. Employers hiring a former participant in the Put Illinois to Work program can claim half of the tax credit six months after the date of hire and the last half of the tax credit 12 months after the date of hire. For more information, businesses should call 1-800252-2923 ยง This article was contributed by Meggie Chapman of Meggie Chapman & Associates. Meggie Chapman is very knowledgable of the grants and funding territory in IL and works with local governments and non-profits on grants-related services there.
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