The California Department of Social Services’ Office of Child Abuse Prevention is pleased to announce the release of the Strong Communities Program – Expansion of Family Resource Centers Request for Applications (RFA).
Donor Name: California Department of Social Services
State: California
County: All Counties
Type of the Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/13/2022
Size of the Grant: $333,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
The Strong Communities Program grants are supported by a combination of federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) funds and federal Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) funds provided through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
The OCAP will identify up to five applicants to accomplish the following goals:
- Goal 1: Establish Family Resource Centers or expand existing Family Resources Centers or expand existing Family Resources Centers through the establishment of a new regional branch in unserved regions or neighborhoods, to provide family support programs/services. Grantees will increase activities, supports, and services especially for families and communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and other stressors, including Black, brown, indigenous, migrant, and LGBTQ+ children and families, and rural communities.
- Goal 2: Provide core family support services, activities, and opportunities that are strengths-based, integrated, comprehensive, flexible, and responsive to community-identified needs including but not limited to parent education, child development activities, resource and referral services, drop-in availability, peer to peer supports, and/or life skills education and advocacy. Services may be provided using a variety of innovative techniques/methods not necessarily limited to a center-based environment.
- Goal 3: Grantees will engage families and other local stakeholders (public agencies, community-based organizations, and/or private businesses) to actively participate in the expansion and/or development of a Family Resource Center through the lens of the Social Determinants of Health.
- Goal 4: Provide services through a trauma-informed lens. Additionally, all services will identify and address racial disproportionality and disparities in the community served.
- Goal 5: Applicants shall develop a clear sustainability plan including the next steps to maintain the project beyond the scope of this funding cycle, which is limited to three years and will not be renewable.
- Goal 6: Grantees must manage operational and administrative processes and mobilize resources.
- Goal 7: Grantees will develop an evaluation plan and collect and report program-specific participant, aggregate, and outcomes data.
Funding Information
Approximately $5,000,000 of total federal funding will be available, to fund up to five grantees (at a level of approximately $333,000 per year, per grantee) for the expansion of Family Resource Centers with a grant period beginning October 1, 2022, and ending September 30, 2025.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must demonstrate the ability to reach vulnerable populations that may live in underserved and unserved geographic regions or neighborhoods that lack Family Resource Centers or similar community-based non-profit organizations that meet the definition of a family resource center contained in California Welfare and Institutions Code Section 18951(g).
- Applicants must demonstrate the regional/community need for a Family Resource Center in the areas of well-being or basic needs services, classes/activities that build knowledge and skills and create opportunities to build community resources.
- Applicants must be a community-based non-profit organization, Indian Tribe, or Non-Profit Tribal Organization located in California.
- Preference will be given to Indian Tribes or Non-Profit Tribal Organizations in California.
- Applicants must have and/or hire experienced staff, including staff with lived experience, who work from a strengths-based approach and have a wide range of experience in some or all areas of the core functions of Family Resource Center Practice Methods that include wellbeing services, civic engagement, growth and development, and community building.
- Applicants must have a high level of experience with the administration of successful community-based non-profit organizations.
- Applicants are expected to consult with and/or involve local community members to determine the most appropriate services and activities to offer with grant funding provided under this RFA.
- Applicants must have demonstrated the ability to successfully partner with key stakeholders, communities, and/or state, county, and tribal government agencies.
- Applicants must deliver family support services in a flexible manner capable of reaching families without stable housing.
- Applicants must consider how to best provide family support services at hours that are most convenient to local families and populations. Applicants must demonstrate the ability to utilize innovative outreach techniques to partner with and serve the local population beyond center-based services that may include but are not limited to, providing mobile services and/or expanding existing services and activities.
- Applicants must be trauma-informed. In the context of care, the organization realizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery; recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others who may be involved with the child welfare system; and responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices, and seeks to actively resist re-traumatization.
- Applicants are limited to one application per grant opportunity.
- Applicants will be required to develop an in-depth sustainability plan with specific goals to maintain and/or establish funding beyond the duration of this three-year funding cycle.
- Applicants must be willing and able to actively participate in shared twice-yearly learning conversations located in Sacramento or via webinar
- Applicants must be willing and able to collaborate with the OCAP in identifying appropriate evaluation methods and data collection.
- Applicants that are awarded a grant must be available for monthly progress calls with the assigned OCAP grant manager.
For more information, visit Strong Communities Program Grant.
