Kingston Craft Fair

One Mile Gallery Craft Fair is happening this weekend, December 11 and 12, from 12pm to 5pm. I'm trying to buy local this year, and already planned on sending Christmas cards from Thornwillow Press and peanut butter brittle from Commodore Chocolatier on Broadway. The craft fair is in Kingston, so it won't be a Newburgh-area spending spree, but some items are super cute:


(Photos via One Mile Gallery website.)

Baby news

I was feeling a little sorry for myself this weekend, being 35 weeks pregnant and uncomfortable sitting, standing, and lying on my side...until I read that African elephants are pregnant for 22 MONTHS. Their calves are between 175 and 250 lbs, and nurse for 4 to 5 years, or until the next calf is born.

On the plus side, they don't have a 20% copay on their medical insurance, so they won't be in debt immediately after giving birth.

Grants for Newburgh

I came across three grant opportunities recently that I thought some organization in Newburgh would be interested in. One is for the City of Newburgh - maybe someone in the Planning and Development Office would be interested in applying?

Project Orange Thumb
Sponsored by Fiskars, 10 winners will receive $5,000 in cash and tools to support neighborhood beautification through community gardening, and one winner will receive a complete community garden makeover. The deadline to apply is December 31, 2010.

IBM Smart Cities Challenge
The application for the Smarter Cities Challenge must be signed by an executive officer of a municipality or local government, whose title varies by location – for example, s/he may be the mayor, city manager, chief administrative officer, county manager, county executive, etc. The most successful proposals will:

• Describe 1-3 potential problems or opportunities to address with the grant
  
  
• Provide clear, compelling evidence that the city is well positioned to utilize the resources offered in the Smarter Cities Challenge
  
  
• Outline how a grant of IBM talent and technology has the potential to substantially enhance the city's capacity to act on key issues
  
  
• Highlight recent efforts to develop innovative solutions to public problems, including any initiatives to implement new technologies or open data policies
  
  
• Demonstrate the city is ready to match IBM's investment with its own commitment of time and talent, including access to the city agencies and personnel relevant to the project

The deadline to apply is December 31, 2010.

JPMorgan Chase
The bank supports non-profits in communities where there is a Chase presence, and Newburgh definitely fits. You have to root around on the website a little to get the full scope of what they will support, but briefly, they support green initiatives (green building, green jobs, sustainable development), employment training, affordable housing, education, and arts and culture. I've included wording directly from their website:

Targeting Challenged Neighborhoods

The JPMorgan Chase Foundation directs the majority of its time, attention and investment toward specific neighborhoods in cities where we have major operations. These neighborhoods are typically among the most challenged areas of major urban centers, defined by unacceptably high rates of poverty and historic disinvestment. JPMorgan Chase works to lead a renaissance in the neighborhood, by engaging the most qualified non-profit organizations, neighborhood residents, and other sources of public and private advocacy and funding.

The firm's philanthropic investment in these targeted neighborhoods is predominantly focused in three centers of excellence:

Community Development

Our strategic focus is to work with community-based partners to address issues related to poverty and social exclusion by building economic infrastructure, promoting self-sufficiency, and supporting efforts to narrow social inequities.

What we support:

1. Resident-focused programming that addresses: workforce development; asset building, and financial literacy:
   • Continuing Education Courses
   • Adult Literacy Outreach
   • Job Training
   • Money Management Basics
   • Credit Repair
   • EITC Workshops
   • Homeownership / Homebuyer Workshops
   • Foreclosure Prevention
2. Community-focused programming that addresses: economic development and affordable housing:
   • Economic Planning
   • Small Business Technical Assistance & Financing
   • Job Creation
   • Affordable Housing Development & Preservation

Education

Our strategic focus is to ensure that all children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, have access to high quality educational opportunities with a particular focus on K-12 public schools that help them acquire the knowledge and skills needed to be productive, engaged students.

What we support:

1. Development of instructional leaders
2. Implementation of innovative curricula
3. Deepen teacher content knowledge
4. Strengthening of instructional strategies
5. Strengthening district capacity to support innovation
6. Extending learning opportunities
7. College access initiatives
8. Dissemination of best practices

Arts & Culture

Our strategic focus is to increase community access to rich cultural resources that foster creativity, promote self-expression, celebrate diversity, and strengthen our environment.

What we support:

1. Arts programs in schools and after school
2. Build capacity of community-based arts institutions
3. Broaden access to artistic excellence and diversity by partnering with major arts and culture groups

Working Weekend

Fall! The scenery is gorgeous right now, and we enjoyed it on a leisurely drive through Cornwall-on-Hudson/Storm King/West Point following Route 218. It was so hard to motivate ourselves to work on the house, but we finally did.

First, we scraped a paint sample from the side of the house, and matched it at Home Depot. Then we set to work covering the graffiti on the three sides of the house.

Before:



After:



The last square:


Then we decided to plant some shrubs in the front yard. We planted two limelight hydrangeas, two asters, and two...shrubs.

Before:


Mid-way:


After:


Admittedly, I didn't do much since gardening is backbreaking work! ...and the whole congenital toxoplasmosis thing. Sometime soon, we'll get a grinder and remove the iron fence. We'd love to save it, but it's too far gone.

And finally, Halloween! We didn't get ANY trick-or-treaters, so the only person Eddie could scare was me.

Community Revitalization Funding Opportunities III

And two last opportunities:

M&T Bank makes community improvement grants through their regional offices.

Local Initiatives Support Corporation and MetLife Foundation give an annual award to recognize, sustain and share the work of innovative partnerships between community groups and police to promote neighborhood safety and revitalization. Through the MetLife Foundation Community-Police Partnership Awards, MetLife Foundation and LISC identify and honor partnerships that exhibit tangible accomplishments in their efforts to advance the process, outcome, and evaluation of potent police-community collaborations.

Eligible applicants must be member organizations of partnerships that include, but need not be limited to, community organizations and police. Awardees receive a monetary grant and their work is promoted via case studies to a wide audience of practitioners, policymakers, and academics. For questions or for those interested in being notified of future funding opportunities, please email us at csi@lisc.org.

The website if very informative and relevant to Newburgh, so I suggest checking it out even if you're not interested in the award opportunity.

Community Revitalization Funding Opportunities II

More Funding Opportunities:

The Dyson Foundation has a Management Assistance Program (MAP) to help nonprofits in the Mid-Hudson Valley strengthen their organizations and find greater efficiencies in administration, operations, resource development and programming. Nonprofits can better focus on their core missions and serve their community when they are well managed and fiscally sound, have engaged boards and good governance, and rely on sound planning for strategic results.

Mid-Hudson Valley-based nonprofits can apply for these grants to improve operations, administration, and management. There are two major funding areas: the Mini-Grant Program and the Strategic Restructuring Initiative.

The Lander Street community center that the Newburgh Heights Association is interested in saving would be a prime candidate!

Community Revitalization Funding Opportunities

I've been coming across a lot of grant opportunities that organizations in Newburgh might be interested in. Since I don't know a lot of people, yet, I'm going to post the links here in the hopes that people will apply to them.

The Norman Foundation support efforts that strengthen the ability of communities to determine their own economic, environmental and social well-being, and that help people control those forces that affect their lives. These efforts may:

• promote economic justice and development through community organizing, coalition building and policy reform efforts;
• work to prevent the disposal of toxics in communities, and to link environmental issues with economic and social justice;
• link community-based economic and environmental justice organizing to national and international reform efforts.

They will consider the following in evaluating grant proposals:

• Does the project arise from the hopes and efforts of those whose survival, well-being and liberation are directly at stake?
• Does it further ethnic, gender and other forms of equity?
• Is it rooted in organized, practical undertakings?
• Is it likely to achieve systemic change?

In pursuing systemic change, they would hope that:

• the proposed action may serve as a model;
• the spread of the model may create institutions that can survive on their own;
• their establishment and success may generate beneficial adaptations by other political, social and economic institutions and structures.

The Foundation provides grants for general support, projects, and collaborative efforts. They also welcome innovative proposals designed to build the capacity of social change organizations working in our areas of interest. Priority is given to organizations with annual budgets of under $1 million.