The Ford Foundation has announced a five-year, $80 million initiative to ensure Americans get the support they need to stabilize incomes, cope with unemployment and keep the jobs they have. The initiative will focus on two related areas that will strengthen programs and policies that improve job quality for U.S. workers, especially low-wage employees and help states modernize the delivery of existing public programs to ensure working Americans are able to meet basic needs when their wages are too low to support a family.

Ford Foundation to Improve Economic Stability for Workers

For more information about other grant funding opportunities please click on Grant Resources.

Why Non-profits Need To “Twitter”…

Wowwwww!!!… that is all I could say when I read about a non-profit group called Epic Change. This group is trying to provide education to the non-profit world about marketing and fund-raising concepts utilizing internet tools like Twitter, a free social communication networking service. When you sign up at Twitter you are asked – “What are you doing?”… No Really, that’s it – they have data that says a lot of family, work, partying “peeps”…want to know what their social circles are doing…and Twitter will send them updates – they are called “tweets”. Epic Change made their point about Twitter with a 48 hour fund-raising campaign that happened during Thanksgiving which raised $11,131.00 for a school in Tanzania. Epic Change does give credit for the fund-raising idea to use Twitter to the guys at the Future Now Market Better Group-which raised funds for three non-profits during Halloween in their “Trick or Tweet” project.
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Planning for College should start with a “Reality Check”…

Texas Workforce Commission has a free website program called “Reality Check” which is the coolest tool to add to career classes and summer job training programs – the data is based on Texas occupations and wages but the lesson on budgeting is universal. If the student is going to invest time in additional training after high school they should know what to expect in future income – this tool – Reality Check will help guide them though a financial literacy lesson. It is a great way for students to explore careers based on projected income from different occupations.

Connected to the Reality Check software is “ Socrates“- which gives a lot of information about the occupations – general job descriptions, method of entry, nature of the work, working conditions, employment outlooks in Texas and the Nation, knowledge and skills needed, work activities and training.

Another career planning website is the Department of Education’s College.gov, a new, student-focused web site designed to motivate students to pursue higher education. The site has three main sections: Why go to college, what to do to get there, and how to pay for it.

Attention Non-Profit Shoppers….
Before you buy that software – check out TechSoup. This organization gives great discounts on technology products to non-profits. TechSoup’s on-line store distributes donated and deeply discounted technology products to eligible nonprofits and public libraries. The fees are typically 4 to 20 percent of retail prices. In order to be qualified to receive any donated products, organizations must be able to demonstrate their status as 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, registered Canadian charities, or U.S. or Canadian public libraries.

One of the best website for job listings is Craigslist. This website has all types of job categories listed by city. In addition, Craigslist has categories in housing, stuff for sale, free stuff, services and forums. Craigslist has daily updates and is a great source of information for non-profits and individuals.

The Department of Labor put out a resource book that lists private and corporate foundations that provide funds for workforce and economic development programs. This resource listing can be downloaded very easily.

Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy is another place that has a wealth of information for non-profits that may want to learn more about programs and curriculum enrichment strategies that “ensure that basic personal financial management skills are attained during the K-12 educational experience”. This group has been working to address the many young people “who have failed in the management of their first consumer credit experience due to bad financial management habits”.

Show Me the Money….

For some reason, this time, the same story I had heard numerous times, got to me. The person had paid a lot of money to someone to write a grant for them and all that they got was a CD and a book with instructions. We got connected because of an ad in craigslist.com, this person was going to pay again to hire another grant writer. I spent the amount of time necessary answering questions and ’splaining so this individual could understand that unfortunately, there are not many grants available for individuals. Government funded projects are awarded to non-profit, education and public organizations, who then disburse them in ways that will benefit individuals. Foundations can only fund non-profits (501(c)3), education and public organizations.

If you are one of those individuals looking for grants to start a for-profit business you need to look at the Department of Commerce’s Small Business Administration, which gives you the real facts about grants for business start-ups. There are great pointers and templates for business plans in this website. The SBA provides guarantees on loans and works through banks to assist individuals with funds for business start-ups and expansions.

The complete listing of government benefits with a explanation of programs can be helpful to understand where some of the federal grant money goes. An example of grants that benefit individuals and are administered by governmental entities and non-profits is the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) American Dream Downpayment Initiative. The program helps eligible individuals with down payment, closing cost and rehabilitation assistance that increases home ownership rates. ADDI locations throughout the United States can be found here.
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“What do you mean I am a Technology Immigrant?” I asked my son, “Yeah Mom,” he responded, “my generation was born with the computer – I have always worked with a computer – that makes me a Technology Native”…My son encouraged me to start this “blog” and after reading all I could on this technology trend, I became interested enough to start “findmegrants”. I am using Word Press, a free software for blogs that has templates you can choose from and “how to” instruction throughout the software.I had to learn a little html language to be able to set up the links, but Word Press “how to” pages gave me the code and indicated where to place it. It was a lot harder for me to grasp the concept, than I am making it sound – I had to read the “how to info” several times and bug my son for jargon translations before I got that ahaaaa moment.In order to put pictures in the site, they need a “URL” number and I used “flickr”, the free picture website. When I wanted to make changes to the picture, I was sent to another free website – “picnik” to crop, adjust, add color…just so you know, I took many credit hours in college to learn how to do this in the dark room…amazing – now it is done in a matter of seconds.Now why blog? – There is some money to be made – I think… After I read Steve Pavilian’s article,“How to Make Money From Your Blog” very carefully taking the time to go to the highlighted links I really began to understand how Google Adsense works. He also gives great advice on personal development, which is perceptive. Successful blogs, according to Steve are based on blogging about information that gives “value”. “If my writing doesn’t change people’s thinking, actions, or awareness, then my value isn’t being transferred well enough,” says Pavilian. Read the rest of this entry »