In Denver, Strengthening Families and Neighborhoods through Small Grants and Community Organizing

	for more information… David Portillo ASSISTANT PROGRAM OFFICER 950 S. Cherry St., Suite 200 Denver, CO 80246 303.300.1790, ext. 123 dportillo@denverfoundation.org www.denverfoundation.org
	Courtesy of The Denver Foundation
	Denver's Family Strengthening Fund provides grants of $100 to $5,000 for projects that strengthen families and community.

In Denver’s Sun Valley neighborhood—one of four neighborhoods targeted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Making Connections-Denver initiative —an integrated approach of small grants and community organizing is nurturing residents’ efforts to strengthen their families, overcome isolation, and better their neighborhood.

With support from the Casey, Denver, Piton and Rose Community foundations and the city of Denver, a coalition of residents and other community stakeholders are receiving leadership training and technical assistance from the Metropolitan Organizations for People (MOP), an affiliate of the Pacific Institute of Community Organizing (PICO).

At the same time, Sun Valley benefits from grants from Making Connections-Denver’s $100,000 small grants pool. The Family Strengthening Fund, administered by The Denver Foundation with funding from the Casey Foundation, provides grants of $100 to $5,000 for projects that strengthen families and community, complementing the overall organizing strategy of empowering local residents.

Family and Neighborhood Strengthening THROUGH Neighborhood Small Grants
The Family Strengthening Fund draws upon The Denver Foundation’s considerable expertise in neighborhood small grants. Along with larger-scale neighborhood investments, the community foundation has worked for several years in targeted neighborhoods, making small, project-related grants of $100 to $5,000 to a variety of neighborhood-based groups, with only a minority going to incorporated neighborhood associations. The foundation’s program is modeled on the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation’s Community Foundations and Neighborhoods Small Grants Program and further influenced by the work of the Asset Based Community Development Institute.

With Casey Foundation support, the community foundation has made grants for community organizing and, on occasion, directly to individuals and families in the four Making Connections neighborhoods. “Our criteria in making grants,” according to Denver Foundation Assistant Program Officer David Portillo,“ is to stay close to the grassroots, to be inclusive but to choose groups with the ability to access power.”

The grant program emphasizes family strengthening, based on the premise that strong families are neighborhood building blocks. Building relationships among neighbors, organizations and coalitions is also a priority. “We are looking for people who are willing to work with all segments of the community,” according to Portillo.

Grant decisions are made by a diverse committee of community residents. The committee receives extensive training from community foundation staff and holds bi-lingual meetings. The first round of grants was awarded in July 2000. One grant that exemplifies the family and neighborhood strengthening strategy funded a series of English classes for native Vietnamese residents of Sun Valley, which culminated with a Vietnamese New Year’s (Tet) Festival for the full community.

The Organizing Dimension
MOP staff work with the grantee groups and others in related leadership development. MOP’s organizing strategy includes one-on-one inter- view training, leadership training, supporting fledgling leaders at local meetings and events, power analysis, and well-orchestrated public actions.

“We know that our role in Sun Valley is to help people identify what they need, not to specifically fulfill their goals,” according to MOP’s Paul Casey. “The issues here have such an impact on families. We help them see that they have to build relationships with each other to get at the power to get things done. The next step in organizing is to prioritize issues, then assist the residents in the kinds of research they do. Although the work is about issues, it is really about people, about how they can grow and increase their capacity.”

The program encourages residents and other neighborhood stakeholders to reach across their differences. “It is premised on the fact that if we are going to help communities build their own agenda for change, we will have to talk with and involve the families who are affected,” explained Cec Ortiz, coordinator of the Casey Foundation’s Making Connections-Denver effort. “Differences could become a bigger issue and that is why we are trying to bring them together now with the grant efforts.”