On March 5, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced over $9.2 million in competitive grants have been awarded to 24 cities throughout the state under the Governor’s California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention (CalGRIP) initiative.

The City of Richmond, in partnership with the City of San Pablo and RYSE Youth Center, applied for the current round of CalGRIP funding in late 2009, a year in which roughly 60% of the city’s homicides were the result of criminal street gang activity. The award of $382,639 will be used to create a Safe Community Partnership program, based upon a model in place in the cities of Boston, Chicago, and Indianapolis that has resulted in a 25 to 60 percent reduction in homicides in those communities. The project will enhance police response to gang violence and assist local organizations to provide gang intervention and prevention programs and education and employment opportunities for at-risk youth.

Governor Schwarzenegger introduced the CalGRIP initiative in May 2007 to confront the dramatic increase in gangs across the state and their proliferation in suburban and rural areas. Richmond was one of two grant recipients in the East Bay region, the other being the City of Oakland. Since the CalGRIP program was introduced, the City of Richmond has received a total of $1.8 million in funding for a total of five grant applications prepared with the assistance of the Glen Price Group.

With this investment, the California Emerging Technology Fund will coordinate a multifaceted outreach campaign using local partner organizations, trusted ambassadors, and grassroots mobilization, to disseminate information about broadband training and services to 5 million California residents. Among other benefits, this investment will upgrade California’s One-e-App one-stop online screening and enrollment system that helps families apply for a range of health care and social service programs. The project expects to increase adoption of broadband Internet service among key vulnerable populations by more than 130,000 households.

The Glen Price Group was delighted to have supported the California Emerging Technology Fund and its partners with the development of this application. See the full announcement: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/press/2010/02262010_BTOP_CETF.html

An exciting partnership of public and private partners continues to make strides towards opening a Family Justice Center (FJC) in Sonoma County. The FJC will provide “one-stop” services for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and elder abuse.

Convened by the County of Sonoma District Attorney’s office, the FJC collaborative consists of over 20 county, city, and community organizations. Key partners include: the Sheriff’s Office, Department of Health, Human Services Department, City of Santa Rosa Police Department, YWCA Sonoma County, United Against Sexual Assault, Catholic Charities, Legal Aid of Sonoma County, Council on Aging, Inter-Tribal Council of California, and others.

To date, the group has raised over $1.2 million in grants and donations with key contributions coming from the United States Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women ($400,000), California Endowment ($300,000), California Family Justice Initiative ($50,000), and an anonymous donor ($500,000).

A key factor in these successful fund raising efforts has been the demonstration of the tremendous resource leveraging that will occur when partners co-locate at the Family Justice Center.

On February 4^th the Family Justice Center team passed another milestone with the submission of a new major grant proposal to the Office on Violence Against Women to their “Legal Assistance for Victims” program. This proposal seeks support for the provision of civil legal services to victims at the FJC (temporary and permanent restraining orders; custody and visitation; divorce; VAWA and U-Visa petition assistance; and housing, employment related legal services, and guardianship assistance). In established Family Justice Centers around the country these services are among the most requested by victims —they provide the critical assistance victims so often need to end abusive relationships.

Congratulations to the Sonoma County Family Justice Center team for getting this application submitted!

“We have been providing services in West Contra Costa County since 1971”, says Heather Saunders Estes, President/CEO of PPSD.  “We currently see clients at two centers in Richmond, but realized that some East Bay residents still have transportation and other logistical problems getting to a Planned Parenthood center, so we looked for a new site.  The Plaza is an excellent location because of the adjacent BART station, the convenience of free parking, and the opportunity to include grocery or other shopping in the same trip.”

The new center will only be open for 20 hours a week to start, but it will include Saturday and evening hours.  Planned Parenthood will provide basic reproductive and preventive health care including family planning (all forms of birth control), breast and cervical cancer screenings, and testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infection.  Additional services, including prenatal services, may be added later.

Vacaville Police Chief Richard Word and Domestic Violence Survivor Karen Vaillancourt

The Family Justice Center (FJC) model, now established in more than 30 communities nationwide, involves the creation of a one-stop center offering coordinated services for victims of family violence. FJCs seek improvements in victim safety, increased success in offender prosecutions, and reductions in domestic violence homicide.

County Supervisor Barbara Kondylis Addresses Strategic Planning Group

The Strategic Planning process, expected to be completed by March 2010, seeks to ensure that the variety of diverse stakeholders that are committed to the Solano County Family Justice Center work together as effectively as possible towards their common vision.

Vision Image Developed by Participants

The kickoff had a great turnout of over 55 people including representatives of law enforcement, shelters, county agencies, community-based organizations. There was also a strong show of support from the region’s elected officials including: District Attorney Dave Paulson, County Supervisors Barbara Kondylis and Linda Seifert, Assemblymember Mariko Yamada, Vacaville City Councilmember Dilenna Harris as well as staff from the offices of Senator Pat Wiggins’ Office, Senator Lois Wolk’s Office, and Congressman George Millers’ Office.

As promised, here are the items we looked at today in the workshop during my presentation:
• “Program Funding Food Chain ” - a model for institutional funder planning and the “GOALS” logic model planning framework;
• Excerpts from a successful proposal to the United States Department of Justice for the Sonoma County Family Justice Center: abstract, GOALS table, and budget narrative.

Participants October 6 Workshop

On October 6, the Glen Price Group facilitated a workshop entitled Grant Seeking Fundamentals for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Funding Opportunities for County of Sonoma staff and their CBO partners. The 1-day workshop enabled participants to develop a deeper understanding of grants and contracts, learn how to research available funding opportunities, and gain skills to analyze the relevance and impact of grant opportunities in furthering departmental strategic plans. A key focus involved seeking, analyzing, obtaining, and administering federal stimulus (ARRA) funding opportunities.