Safety net update… 50% summer school cut… Needle-exchange redux [News, 7.31]

DC BUDGET
- D.C. Council Raises Taxes, Slashes Spending (WaPo, 7/31) - Looks like all new taxes are regressive… $30M cut for schools, 50% cut in summer school slots … DC safety net updates …WaPo opinion: ”students shouldn’t be paying the price” … “Members also agreed to eliminate earmarks for arts and social service organizations. In addition to saving money, Gray is trying to respond to the controversy over council member Marion Barry’s (D-Ward 8) use of the earmark process to divert money to several organizations in Ward 8.” Grrrr.

HIV/AIDS | D.C. Races to Rescue Needle Funding (WaPo, 7/31) - You already knew this. Hopefully, the Senate will omit this deadly amendment, and then they’ll axe it in conference. ”The amendment’s sponsor is Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.)”  Grrrr. (Background here and here.)

PHILANTHROPY
- Philanthropy outlook upbeat, but not for religious charities (Reuters blog, 7/30) – Religious charity, down 16%… Arts, down 14%… Health/medical, up 58%.
- Opinion: The Great Philanthropy Takeover (WSJ, 7/30)

EDUCATION | Business Is Brisk for Teacher Training Alternatives (WaPo, 7/31) – The salary looks better during a recession.

PROFILES
- D.C. Central Kitchen: 20 years and still evolving (WTOP, 7/31)
- Harlem Children’s Zone Breaks Poverty Pattern (NPR, 7/28)

FEDERAL BUDGET | House Appropriations for Nonprofits in President Obama’s FY2010 Budget (Cohen Report, 7/28)

PEOPLE | County’s regional leaders join Prince George’s Community Foundation Board of Directors (7/27) – Chair: Kerry G. (Kwasi) Holman, President and CEO, The Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation; Vice Chair: Monique Anderson Walker, NAI Michael; Secretary/Treasurer: Howard W. Stone, Jr., Prince George’s County Council Office of Audits and Investigations; Betty Hager Francis is founder and president of Hager Management Group LLC; A. Shuanise Washington is the Founder and Sole Principal of Washington Group, LLC.

Es el fin de semana! Disfruta!
-Nick

New RFP from the Collaborative for Education Organizing

Wanted: an organization that can deliver high quality research and analysis to six education organizing/advocacy nonprofits. [Read the RFP]

2010 census–what grantmakers and nonprofits need to know [News, 7.30.09]

2010 CENSUS | Visit Nonprofits Count (“mobilizing communities for the 2010 Census”) and sign up for their Aug. 4 webinar. Much to see here, including “Why Nonprofits: Key to a Complete Count.”

DC BUDGET
- What the 2010 D.C. Budget Will Probably Look Like (CityDesk, 7/29)
- D.C Council tentatively agreed to increase the sales, gas and cigarette taxes… (WaPo, 7/30)
- Follow the effort to Save Our Safety Net at Bread for the City’s blog.

HIV/AIDS
- Where Congress Will Let D.C. Do Needle Exchange (CityDesk, 7/30) – See the almost entirely yellow map? Needle exchange would not be allowed in the yellow parts.

PHILANTHROPY | The State Of Charity (Atlantic Online, 7/29) – “The younger the age group polled, the more responsibility is felt to share their wealth.”

HUNGER/NUTRITION | Stimulus Law Bolsters Food Bank Offerings (NYTimes, 7/29)

YOUTH | “Byte Back, a nonprofit organization, is holding free summer computer classes for low-income D.C. youths from Monday through Aug. 14.” Must apply by tomorrow. (WaPo, 7/30)

Grantmakers to support theme-based “catalyst schools” in DC [News, 7.29.09]

DC SCHOOLS | 13 Schools In District to Offer Specialty Programs (WaPo, 7/29) – “The first three years of the catalyst project will be funded by $6 million in grants from donors that include the Philip L. Graham Fund, the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation and the CityBridge Foundation… After three years, Rhee said, the schools will be expected to pay for the programs with funds generated by increased enrollment.” 

DC BUDGET
- “D.C. Council is moving forward on a proposal to eliminate all earmarks from the 2010 budget, which would deny city funding to dozens of arts and nonprofit social organizations.” (WaPo’s D.C. Wire, 7/28)
> Washington Area Women’s Foundation: “Helping prevent proposed cuts to D.C.’s safety net will help low-income women.” (7/28)
> D.C. Council eyes deep cuts to education, human services (Examiner, 7/29) – Councilman Jack Evans: “If you’re going to cut $10 million out of the school system you’re going to catch hell, so you might as well cut 50.” Yeehaw, now that thar’s some budgetin’!

YOUTH | “Self Portrait of Youth in Northern Virginia” summarizes results from youth health risk surveys administered by four Northern Virginia localities. (Voices for Virginia’s Children, July, 2009)

DATA | Flaws decried in data on US children’s well-being (AP, 7/28) – The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2009 KIDS COUNT databook includes a special report on a “data deficit,” and “urges the government to overhaul its formula for measuring poverty, strengthen efforts in the 2010 Census to fully count children and minorities…”

PUBLIC OR PRIVATE? | This entertaining post responds to the California state legislature’s hopes that private foundations will fund all that child health stuff it just cut. (White Courtesy Telephone, 7/29)

ARTS | Partnerships Help Keep Arts Afloat (WAMU, 7/29)

And finally, I kind of wish I’d never linked this story, but what’s done is done… here’s your Marion Barry/nonprofit/ethics investigation update (WTOP, 7/29).

-Nick

Annie E. Casey Foundation releases 2009 KIDS COUNT data [News, 7.28.09]

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT initiative provides state-by-state information on 10 measures of child well-being. The 2009 KIDS COUNT Data Book was released this morning. WaPo: U.S. Children Likely Worse Off Due to Recesssion (7/28) – “Both Virginia and Maryland declined in the 50-state rankings…” D.C. “saw improvements almost across the board; the percentage of children living in poverty, for example, decreased from 30 percent in 2000 to 23 percent in 2007. The decline may be a reflection of poor families being priced out of gentrifying neighborhoods.”

DC Action for Children closes temporarily to reassess business model [News, 7.28.09]

RECESSION | Missed this one several days ago: “DC Action for Children (DC ACT), a 17-year-old nonprofit in D.C., says it is shutting its doors through at least the fall to figure out how it can best stay afloat and successfully aid D.C. youth and families” (WBJ, 7/15). “The group is moving from 1616 P St. NW to its president Diane Bernstein’s family foundation office…” “will take the time it is closed to reassess its business model…” DC Act has received support from several WG members.

SERVICE | Report: Americans Continue to Volunteer Despite Economic Downturn (WaPo, 7/28) – “according to a report (.pdf) released Tuesday by the Corporation for National & Community Service” … “The Washington, D.C. metropolitan area’s volunteer rate ranked ninth. The District of Columbia, where 29 percent of residents volunteer, ranked 25th among the states. Maryland ranked 26th and Virginia ranked 27th.”

GIVING BY TEXT MESSAGE | The Mobile Giving Foundation “acts as a clearinghouse for donations, helping non-profits set up codes and settling the billing between carriers and charities.” (SeattleTimes, 7/27) – Sounds like it’s becoming more feasible for nonprofits with annual operating budgets over $500K.

YOUTH | D.C. Council considers shutting down summer jobs program (Examiner, 7/27)

HEALTH | Michelle Obama cuts ribbon on Va. community health center aided by federal stimulus funds (AP, 7/28)

DC SCHOOLS | New Poll Shows Growing Support for Michelle Rhee in the District (Reuters, 7/27)

PLANNED GIVING | Banks turn away charities from planned giving programs (WSJ, 7/28)

Struggling nonprofits should check out the Meyer Foundation’s Economic Crisis Resource Center. No easy answers, of course, but a good place to begin. Coming up on Aug. 4, the Center for Nonprofit Advancement event: Handling Staffing Changes During a Changing Economy.

Campaign: “Save Our Safety Net” [News, 7.27.09]

Save Our Safety Net – “Fighting for social services that help DC’s poorest residents” – courtesy of Bread for the City and the Coalition for Community Investment. “Our message to the council is… let’s make sure the budget cuts are spread fairly.” The vote is scheduled for Friday. More at http://saveoursafetynet.com.

Related:
- “D.C. Weighs Welfare Cut As Budget Gap Looms” (WaPo, 7/26)
- “D.C. Council hears just how much budget cuts will hurt” (Examiner, 7/24)

Economic crisis: “the worst is yet to come” [News, 7.27.09]

ECONOMIC CRISIS | Foundation and Nonprofit Response (Fdn Center, 7/24) – “According to [Foundation Center President Bradford] Smith, the Foundation Center is projecting that 2009 foundation giving in America will decline by 9 to 13 percent, and that this decline will continue through 2010.”

DC VOTE | D.C. Voting Rights Movement Looks Beyond Beltway (WAMU, 7/26) – “recruiting college students from across the country…”

HIV/AIDS | House Bill Lifts Ban On Needle Exchanges (WaPo, 7/25) BUT: “AIDS Action said no part of the city would be eligible for a needle exchange program if the restrictions are approved” because the legislation “includes a restriction against using the money to assist any program that distributes needles within 1,000 feet of day-care centers, schools, parks, playgrounds, pools and youth centers.”

DC SCHOOLS | Rhee rebuts GAO report on schools (Examiner, 7/24), but allows that “overall these [outside reviews] are helpful.”

ARTS | Museums’ funding sources going bone dry (USAToday, 7/23)

SERVICE | Editorial: “Don’t Shortchange National Service” (NYTimes, 7/25) – “Just a few months ago, Congress overwhelmingly approved the Serve America Act… Now, having taken credit for their good deed, lawmakers cannot seem to come up with the money to back up their votes.” I get it–it’s the Serve America ACT. Acting!

PRO BONO | The Benefit of Pro Bono Partnerships (VPPnews, 7/22) – By Carol Thompson Cole – “[W]e have learned some valuable lessons on how to create partnerships that work for all parties…”

YOUTH | Campaign for Youth Justice points us to a CDC report that compares DC students to students across the U.S. in terms of their risk behavior. Over 2.5 more DC students reported that they “Did not go to school because they felt unsafe at school or on their way to or from school” at least once in last 30 days.

School reform, here, there, and everywhere [News, 7.24.09]

DC SCHOOLS
- GAO Report Critical of D.C. Schools (WAMU, 7/24)
- GAO Sees Progress, Problems After D.C. Schools Takeover (WaPo, 7/24) - Here’s the report. A key area of criticism seems to concern inadequate stakeholder involvement. Reinoso, Rhee and Briggs say the report ”‘falls short of objectively conveying the context” of initiatives underway and ‘adequately capturing all of the progress that has been made to date.’” (Yesterday Rhee spoke to Washington Grantmakers members about a number of topics–more about that next week.)

EDUCATION | “On Friday, Obama will officially announce the “Race to the Top,” a competition for $4.35 billion in grants.” (WaPo, 7/24) …  Ed. Sec. Arne Duncan op-ed: “Education Reform’s Moon Shot” (WaPo, 7/24)

ARTS | An early look at the Rosslyn cultural center (WBJ Blog, 7/22) – “The now-empty space will eventually host a variety of artists and performance groups…”

YOUTH | District youths praised for peace pact (WaTimes, 7/24) - about the DC-based Center for Neighborhood Enterprise

NONPROFIT NEWS NEWS | Seeking DC Metro area nonprofits to profile on the DC Examiner Nonprofit Business website (Examiner, 7/22)

GIVING/TAXES/HEALTH | New Study Challenges Thinking Behind Charitable-Giving Tax Incentives (Chronicle, 7/23) – I was surprised at how fast the nonprofit world came out against President Obama’s proposal to limit some tax breaks for charitable deductions to help fund a health care overhaul. Clearly it’s an issue where reasonable people disagree, but this study might sway some opinions: “Tax incentives had little or no effect on donations to charities in the fields of health, human services, or public and social benefit. But they did influence giving to organizations devoted to animals, arts and culture, education, and the environment, as well as to private foundations.”

And finally, check out http://etherpad.com/. Realtime collaborative text editing. Awesome.

Have a great weekend!
-Nick

Budget crisis: DC’s safety net is in danger [News, 7.23.09]

Budget crisis: DC’s safety net is in danger (BeyondBread, 7/22) – By George Jones, Bread for the City:

“Mayor Fenty’s proposal puts massive amounts of funding for the city’s social safety net on the chopping block: some $54 million worth of funding for programs that provide assistance for families with children, affordable housing, services for the disabled, etc. Proportionally, the proposed cuts to the safety net are dramatically larger than cuts to other government services – according to the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, they are at least three times larger!”

Broad DC Coalition Criticizes Proposed FY10 Budget Cuts, Defends Safety Net (Coalition for Community Investment, 7/20)

HOMELESSNESS | In US, Homelessness Grows as Families Join the Ranks (VOA, 7/22) – “One of the areas with the biggest increase is Washington D.C., the nation’s capital.”

Funding the Safety-Net–Let’s Get Real! (The Community Foundation Blog, 7/22) – By Terri Freeman (first post to the Community Foundation’s new blog):

“A first round of grants totaling $455,000 was distributed by the Neighbors in Need Fund in February. Now in the midst of our second round we’ve learned more about what our nonprofit partners really need in this unsettled funding environment: 1) General operating support is the fuel that keeps the nonprofit engine humming and they all need more of it! …”