New River Housing

Good Morning,

Its been a couple weeks since I've written anything & I want to get a post before taking a few days off.

The biggest happening in the housing specialist office is the HUD SuperNOFA. Funding applications are on the HUD website, along with explanations of the multitude of complexities. Our Continuum of Care (NorthWest CoC) is reparing our application for the 25 May 06 deadline.

Yancey County is working toward some homelessness responses. A couple of fellows have spearheaded efforts & report some success in building support. It will not be long before a Yancey group will be identified and meeting. They will have to remain in our CoC to have much chance for this funding--otherwise only $16,000/year will be available to compete for. $16000 is hardly enough to write the proposal for. Especially when you recognize that the whole thing gets written by a "volunteer".

What else is going on?

Endorsement proceeds to make sure that enough providers are ready to provide services next week. I've been given responsibility for some substance abuse providers' applications. It is a difficult process & can be made more difficult by fighting against it. After writing several grant proposals & recurring applications (2 more due next weeek) I don't think the endorsement process is any more problematic.

Began work on a strategic housing plan--there is the need, guess I need to figure out who the partners are to get projects done. It is my opinion that local support must be present to make any project work. Especially since NRBH is not in the position to own property--only to make resources available.

May be that an endowment managed by the LME is the best way to insure funds for housing in our area.

added 01 March 2006
Google.org featuring the project Google Grants In-kind advertising for non-profit organizations.

In an item lifted from the PHILANTHROPY NEWS DIGEST (a service of the Foundation Center)--an email news clipper I subscribe to--is the following interesting piece about the size and strength of the US nonprofit sector. This sector is often referred to as the "Third Sector" of the economy and has been growing for a number of years.

(2/23/06) The number of nonprofit organizations in the United States grew by 68 percent between 1993 and 2003, a new report from the Washington, D.C.-based National Council of Nonprofit Associations ( http://www.ncna.org/ ) finds. Based on the most current statistics available on America's nonprofit sector, the United States Nonprofit Sector found that, excluding foundations and religious congregations, there were 837,027 nonprofits in the United States in 2003, and that they had combined assets of $1.76 trillion. According to the World Factbook, that asset base makes the U.S. nonprofit economy the sixth largest in the world -- surpassing those of Brazil, Russia, Canada, Mexico, and South Korea. The report also found that expenditures of all nonprofits in 2003 totaled $945 billion; that human services organi- zations, at 34 percent, made up the largest subsector of the nonprofit sector; and that California and New York were home to the largest number of charitable organizations. "The economic size of the nonprofit sector, when matched with the social impact of its work, is evidence that America relies on nonprofits and cannot successfully tackle the problems it faces without the work and presence of this vital force," said NCNA executive director Audrey R. Alvarado. "I can only imagine the possibilities if the nonprofit sector united from its position of strength." To read or download the complete report (9 pages, PDF), visit: http://www.ncna.org/_uploads/documents/live/us_sector_report_2003.pdf "U.S. Nonprofit Sector Is Sixth Largest Economy in the World." National Council of Nonprofit Associations Press Release 2/21/06. http://fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/10001142/story