Monday Mailing
Year 20 • Issue 21 10 February 2014 1. Financial Planning for Disasters Webinar and Workbook Available for Download 2. Farm Program Atlas 3. National Good Food Network Webinars 4. New Microbusiness Publications Explore Innovations in Practice, Policy Opportunities 5. This Vending Machine Sells Fresh Salads Instead Of Junk Food 6. Some New Web Resources 7. Door to New TGM Grants to Swing Open Soon 8. Kitzhaber: CRC Will Die Without Action by March 9. Work in Eastern Oregon is Tied to The Land: Guest Opinion 10. Planning a Food Project? Where to Get The Money 11. Funding Opportunities
Quote of the Week: "There is more to life than increasing its speed." ~Mahatma Gandhi
Oregon Fast Fact #33:
The Nike "swoosh" logo was designed by University of Oregon student Carolyn Davidson in 1964 -- four years after business undergrad Phil Knight and track coach Bill Bowerman founded the company they originally called Blue Ribbon Sports. Ms. Davidson was paid $35 dollars for her design.
1. Financial Planning for Disasters Webinar and Workbook Available for Download On July 19, 2013 the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) and the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) Research Foundation hosted a webinar that focused on how regions and communities can prepare their public sectors to be more financially resilient to future disasters. Regions across the United States are faced with preparing for and responding to an increasing number of natural, man-made, and technological disasters. Given recent natural disasters, localities are taking steps to become more physically resilient; however, many are unprepared for how these financial costs will impact long-run sustainability and quality of life. In particular, this webinar helped participants consider their local governments’ financial vulnerability as well as their capacity to respond to future natural disasters based on research and lessons learned responding to tropical natural disasters along the Gulf Coast of the United States. Further, joint financial vulnerabilities between local governments in a region were identified and strategies provided for how individual local governments can increase financial capacity that improves financial resiliency for the overall region. In December 2013, a follow-up publication, “Financial Planning for Disasters: A Workbook for Local Governments and Regions” was released. This workbook is designed to help local governments and regions understand their financial vulnerabilities to natural disasters, evaluate their financial capacity to cover the costs of those disasters, identify strategies to close the gap between financial vulnerability and capacity, and identify and address the spillover effects of neighboring local governments’ financial vulnerabilities to disasters. To access “Financial Planning for Disasters” webinar and workbook, click here.
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2. Farm Program Atlas The Farm Program Atlas is an online interactive mapping tool that displays payment and participation data by county for seven key Federal farm programs. The tool enables users to view maps, see how data vary across counties, and download the data. To access the Atlas, click here 3. National Good Food Network Webinars The National Good Food Network offers free monthly interactive webinars that give you the opportunity to learn and connect with on-the-ground practitioners and experts. Their website also offers archives of past webinars available for viewing, and information and registration for upcoming webinars. Please note: NGFN webinars take place the third Thursday of each month, 3:30-4:45 ET (unless otherwise noted). To access National Good Food Network Webinars, click here. 4. New Microbusiness Publications Explore Innovations in Practice, Policy Opportunities CFED is excited to share two new publications on microbusiness. These resources can help practitioners and advocates in the microbusiness and assets fields identify new opportunities to support entrepreneurial clients, learn about innovative emerging microbusiness development practices, and advocate for policies that can help low- and moderate-income (LMI) microbusiness owners, including the self-employed, build wealth through their businesses. Each publication examines the potential for microbusiness ownership to contribute to families’ financial security, a major theme of our recent and upcoming entrepreneurship work. “Innovations in Microbusiness: Enhancing the Financial Security of Low-Income Entrepreneurs” details what we learned from a year of partnership with Capital One and some of the microbusiness field's most innovative organizations. The report documents what they're doing to help clients achieve financial security and explores strategies for these new approaches could grow to scale. Our partners included Accion Texas, the California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity CAMEO) ECDC Enterprise Development Group (VA), and the Washington, DC, Women's Business Center. “Enhancing Support for Lower Income Entrepreneurs through Major Public Systems” takes a deep dive into the ways that policy systems support LMI entrepreneurs and identifies opportunities to expand and improve those services. Funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the report provides a critical assessment of the ways in which the tax, postsecondary education and workforce development systems currently support entrepreneurs and highlights promising examples of innovative system reform strategies from across the country. The report also offers specific policy reform ideas for each of the three systems that would allow them to better support and serve LMI entrepreneurs to start and run businesses that contribute meaningfully to their families’ financial security. 5. This Vending Machine Sells Fresh Salads Instead Of Junk Food At the Garvey Food Court in downtown Chicago--a somewhat bleak place that Yelp reviewers call “sketchy” and even “scary”--there’s plenty of typical fast food fare. Dunkin Donuts, Popeyes, McDonalds, and other chains ring the hallway. But in the center of the food court, things are a little different: Last fall, an entrepreneur named Luke Saunders opened Farmer’s Fridge, a vending machine that sells fresh kale and strawberries instead of candy. Page 2 of 7
Each morning, the machine is filled with freshly made salads and snacks packed in recyclable jars. The ingredients, carefully layered to stay crisp throughout the day, are all organic, and locally grown when possible. To access the full story, click here. 6. Some New Web Resources Historical Sea Ice Atlas What does sea ice have to do with disaster planning, you might ask? Plenty. This elegant and accessible Web site allows users to make comparisons of the extent of ice past and present, figure out the lingo of ice experts, and download a wealth of data from various collections. Created by a partnership of Alaskan agencies to help assist decision makers and encourage public participation in coastal planning, this Web site will keep apathy on ice. CDC Prevention Status Reports The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have released the latest batch of Prevention Status Reports—state-specific reports that highlight the current state of public health policy and practice. Simply pick a category such as food safety, healthcare-related infections, or motor vehicle injuries and get an overview of where we are as a nation. Then drill down to see how your state compares. Emergency Relief for Disaster Damaged Roads and Transit Systems: In Brief This report by the Congressional Research Service examines the state of the Federal Highway Administration’s Emergency Relief Program and finds overspending by Congress, lack of a permanent funding source, and too-close relationships between the FHWA and state partners are eroding the program’s effectiveness. Curriculum Recommendations for Disaster Healthcare Professionals: Behavioral Health Those responsible for training or educating healthcare professionals elements of behavioral health factors during disaster will be glad to know that a set of curriculum recommendations exists to make for a handy starting place. The curriculum, created by National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health and the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, is part of a disaster health curriculum series that incorporates core competencies in disaster medicine and public health. Homeowner-Driven Housing Reconstruction and Retrofitting in Haiti After four years of helping Haitians rebuild and retrofit their homes, Build Change has issued a report recounting some of the lessons learned by the nonprofit while there. Topics include information on the homeowner-driven approach, costs, retrofitting, design and construction, and disaster risk reduction training. 7. Door to New TGM Grants to Swing Open Soon March 14 is the deadline for local governments to submit pre-applications for planning grants to the Oregon Transportation and Growth Management Program (TGM). The grants are offered on an annual basis and generally range from $80,000 to $200,000. Grants can support integrated land use and transportation plans as well as pure transportation plans. Projects may include updates of Transportation System Plans (TSPs), area plans for new development and redevelopment, downtown plans, and plans for bicycle and pedestrian networks, transit, multi-modal (complete) streets, parking management, safe routes to school, and travel demand management. Pre-applications are easy to submit: They simply call for a short paragraph describing the local issue and desired outcome. Complete applications won’t be due until June 13, but by submitting a prePage 3 of 7
application in March, a local government gets put in touch with a TGM staff member, who can offer guidance about the application process. There is no deadline for TGM’s community assistance services, which include Quick Response, Code Assistance, Education and Outreach, and TSP Assessment. Through Quick Response, TGM makes multi-disciplinary teams available to local governments to help with urgent transportation planning issues and controversies over imminent development projects. Through Code Assistance, TGM assists communities with the identification and removal of barriers to smart growth in local zoning and development codes. And through Education and Outreach, TGM supports local workshops, public lectures, and other forums on such topics as Main Street revitalization, pedestrian-friendly downtowns and neighborhoods, safe routes to school, active transportation, and community design strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These TGM services are free to local governments. For more information about TGM grants, visit http://www.oregon.gov/LCD/TGM/Pages/grants.aspx or contact Cindy Lesmeister at Cindy.L.LESMEISTER@odot.state.or.us or 503.986.4349. For information about Quick Response, Code Assistance, or Education and Outreach, visit http://www.oregon.gov/LCD/TGM/pages/index.aspx or contact Constance Beaumont at constance.beaumont@state.or.us. TGM is a partnership between ODOT and the Department of Land Conservation and Development. 8. Kitzhaber: CRC Will Die Without Action by March Oregon will pull the plug on the Columbia River Crossing in March unless its Legislature recommits to the $2.7 billion project, Gov. John Kitzhaber said in a letter sent to lawmakers on Monday. Kitzhaber, a Democrat, said the Oregon Legislature must act on the proposed Interstate 5 Bridge replacement by March 9, the last scheduled day of its 2014 session. If not, Oregon will close the project and begin archiving materials, Kitzhaber said. “Oregon must either decisively move the project to construction or refocus and reprioritize our resources,” Kitzhaber wrote. “A project in limbo is the worst and most expensive outcome for Oregon, and continuing expenditures to sustain work without progress is a waste of money and resources.” Leaders are now chasing an Oregon-led version of the CRC after Washington’s Legislature pulled out last year. Such a plan would replace the I-5 Bridge and extend light rail into Vancouver, but eliminate most freeway work on the Washington side of the river. The project would be financed mainly by toll revenue and federal money, but must first get a green light from the Oregon Legislature. To access the full story, click here. 9. Work in Eastern Oregon is Tied to The Land: Guest Opinion At the December Leadership Summit, Oregon business leaders placed poverty reduction on par with other economic priorities for the state. The Oregonian editorial board echoed this call, arguing that the time is right to take on this challenge. We agree, and in fact believe the call is long past due. But in many instances the remedies for poverty in rural areas differ dramatically with those required in our population centers. In eastern Oregon, solving this problem will depend largely upon our ability to put people back to work in a natural resource-based economy.
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Youth flight and an aging workforce, education levels below the state average, and high unemployment are leading factors that saddle the region with the highest poverty rates in the state. One out of every 20 Oregonians lives in eastern Oregon – seven persons per square mile, as compared to 1,700 in Multnomah County. Sixteen percent of eastern Oregonians are collegeeducated, compared to a statewide average of 29 percent. Unemployment averages 8.3 percent across the region, compared to an average of 6.6 percent along the I-5 corridor. While these numbers highlight trends the state must overcome to reduce the region’s poverty rates, land use is perhaps the most important issue that will help shape how eastern Oregon meets the challenge of poverty. Nearly 70 percent of eastern Oregon is owned by the federal government, a “neighbor” whose home and focus are 3,000 miles away. Oregon’s beautiful eastern landscape and rugged vistas are too distant from population centers, interstate highways and seaports to make manufacturing a pathway out of poverty. A sustainable future for eastern Oregon depends upon sustainable and innovative use of natural resources: forestry, farming, ranching, energy and tourism. But, as Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, acknowledged during the Leadership Summit, the social license to utilize these natural resources is controlled by people living in our west-side population centers, not with east-side citizens engaged every day in efforts to make these landscapes work for communities and nature. To access the full story, click here. 10. Planning a Food Project? Where to Get The Money There's public money out there for projects that bring healthy food to low-income neighborhoods, but you have to know how to find it. These funds are often scattered across local, state, and federal agencies, and most were designed to support economic development broadly, not healthy food access in particular. Public Health Law and Policy’s new guide, "Green for Greens," takes a close look at public financing programs that have been (or could be) used for healthy food retail projects like farmers' markets, grocery stores, and corner store initiatives. Filled with real-world examples, this new guide offers detailed guidance on how to identify and tap the best matches for your community's proposal. For one-on-one support moving your healthy food project forward, contact us. 11. Funding Opportunities Taproot Foundation Offers Pro Bono Professional Services to Nonprofit Organizations<http://e.foundationcenter.org/a/hBS7BGbB8ixfdB84Bk5AACSSkZc/rfpb25> DEADLINE: QUARTERLY Pro bono marketing, human resources, information technology, and strategy management consulting services valued at $45,000 or more will be awarded to qualified nonprofit organizations.... THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION is offering grants to Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) and nonprofits collaborating with an IHE through the College Assistance Migrant Program Grant. Deadline: 2/19/2014. Click here<http://rurallisc.createsend1.com/t/r-l-pjkkijt-jrdkjkiilu-k/> to read the NOFA for details. THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE is offering grants to encourage governments and courts to treat sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking as serious violations of criminal law requiring the coordinated involvement of the entire criminal justice system as well as communitybased victim service organizations. The application deadline is 2/19/2014. Click here<http://rurallisc.createsend1.com/t/r-l-pjkkijt-jrdkjkiilu-u/> to review the application guidelines.
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THE NATIVE AMERICAN LIBRARY SERVICES BASIC GRANTS PROGRAM provides support to enhance existing library services or implement new library services. Supplemental Education/Assessment grants are also available for training, workshops, and consultations. Deadline: 3/3/2014. Click here <http://rurallisc.createsend1.com/t/r-l-pjkkijt-jrdkjkiilu-m/> to apply. THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES is offering funds to Indian Tribes to provide tribal and urban Indian communities with tools and resources to plan and design a holistic, community-based, coordinated system of care approach to support mental health and wellness for children, youth, and families. Deadline: 3/7/2014. Click here<http://rurallisc.createsend1.com/t/r-l-pjkkijt-jrdkjkiilu-c/> to review funding guidelines and to apply. METLIFE FOUNDATION COMMUNITY-POLICE PARTNERSHIP AWARDS. The Community-Police Partnership Awards, sponsored by the MetLife Foundation and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), recognize innovative partnerships between community groups and police to promote neighborhood safety and revitalization. Five Neighborhood Revitalization Awards, ranging from $20,000 to $30,000, will celebrate exemplary collaboration between community groups and police that result in crime reduction as well as economic development outcomes such as real estate development, business attraction, and job growth. Five additional awards of $15,000 each will recognize exemplary collaboration between community and police partners who have achieved significant public safety outcomes in eight targeted categories. Deadline to apply: 3/9/2014. For more information, visit the website here<http://rurallisc.createsend1.com/t/r-l-pjkkijt-jrdkjkiilu-q/>. BEN & JERRY'S FOUNDATION is offering grants of up to $20,000 to support nonprofit community-organizing groups in the United States working to further social and environmental justice and support sustainable and just-food systems. Deadline: 3/14/2014. Click here<http://rurallisc.createsend1.com/t/r-l-pjkkijt-jrdkjkiilu-f/> to visit the Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website. THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS is offering grants to nonprofit organizations, consumer cooperatives, and tribally designated housing entities that can provide supportive services to very low-income Veteran families to assist with housing needs. Deadline: 3/14/2014. Click here<http://rurallisc.createsend1.com/t/r-l-pjkkijt-jrdkjkiilu-z/> to read the NOFA. THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE is offering grants to states, local governments and Indian Tribes to increase the post-release employability of offenders in jobs and a variety of career fields, while offering mental health services. Deadline: 3/18/2014. Click here<http://rurallisc.createsend1.com/t/r-l-pjkkijt-jrdkjkiilu-v/> to review the application. THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES is offering grants to community-based coalitions through its Drug Free Communities Support Program to establish and strengthen collaboration to support the efforts of community coalitions working to prevent youth substance use. Deadline: 3/24/2014. Click here<http://rurallisc.createsend1.com/t/r-l-pjkkijtjrdkjkiilu-e/> to review application requirements. MUTUAL OF AMERICA FOUNDATION is accepting applications for 2014 Community Partnership Awards. The annual $25,000 award recognizes outstanding contributions to society made by nonprofit organizations, in partnership with public, private, and other social sector organizations, to society. Deadline: 4/1/2014. Click here<http://rurallisc.createsend1.com/t/r-l-pjkkijt-jrdkjkiilus/> to visit the Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website.
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USDA is offering funds to nonprofit and public agencies to increase the number and diversity of students who will complete a postsecondary degree in the food and agricultural sciences. Deadline: 4/10/2014. Click here<http://rurallisc.createsend1.com/t/r-l-pjkkijt-jrdkjkiilu-g/> to learn more about this funding.
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