Announcement from TCSA:

Tennessee Community Services Agency (TNCSA) was recently awarded a $975,000 contract from the Department of Finance and Administration Bureau of TennCare to provide the statewide operation of a call/contact center that supports telephone Advocacy and Outreach services for TennCare members and applicants.

The call center will receive approximately 800 calls per week regarding TennCare eligibility and covered services. The center is designed to assist enrollees as well as persons or agencies that call on behalf of TennCare applicants and members. The center will also assist with the redetermination process for targeted TennCare groups.

The center will employ approximately 25 individuals that will provide advocacy and outreach services. Bi-lingual advocates will assist Spanish speaking clients while Arabic, Bosnian, Kurdish, Somali and Vietnamese speaking clients will be assisted through third party interpreters. Specialized advocates will assist TennCare members with mental health and substance abuse covered services calls.

Continue reading ‘Tennessee Community Services Agency receives TennCare Advocacy Grant’

The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee announces its fourth round of disaster grants from its Metro Nashville Disaster Response Fund and Tennessee Emergency Response Fund totaling $726,000 to nine local organizations providing flood relief and restoration services. To date, *$2.1 million in flood relief grants have been awarded to more than 60 organizations from The Community Foundation’s two disaster funds.

On July 12, The Community Foundation awarded the following flood relief grants from its disaster funds:

* Centerville Church of Christ has received a $20,000 Tennessee Emergency Response Fund grant to continue providing aid to residents of Hickman County affected by the flood. Approximately 25-30 victims per week are receiving services including clothing, building supplies, and appliances.

* Hands On Nashville has received two grants, one from each fund, totaling $250,000 to assist in the rebuilding of approximately 75 flood damaged homes with volunteer labor by November 2010. In coordination with Rebuilding Together, Hands On Nashville will work with homeowners through the We Are Home program, and then assess homes, determining the scope of work, requisite supplies and volunteer duties, providing volunteer leaders, general volunteers, and building supplies. Rebuilding Together will provide skilled project management and coordinate skilled labor and building supplies needed.

* The Housing Fund has received two grants, one from each fund, totaling $300,000 to provide up to three months of rental assistance to 250 households who do not have sufficient resources to carry the burden of mortgage and rent payments after insurance and FEMA.

* Hull-York Lakeland Resource Conservation and Development has received grants totaling $15,000 from the Tennessee Emergency Response Fund to support the local cost sharing required by the federal government to assist in clean-up of debris and repair work for damaged roads and infrastructure, in coordination with the USDA, for 85 different sites in Clay, Jackson and Macon counties.

* Legal Aid Society has received two grants, one from each fund, totaling $75,000 to provide direct legal assistance and counseling to Middle Tennessee victims dealing with civil legal issues in the aftermath of the flood through walk-in legal clinics and direct representation to low-income and elderly victims.

* Mission Discovery has received a $36,000 Tennessee Emergency Response Fund grant to provide materials for home repair assistance for approximately 40 families in Davidson and Sumner counties. Home repair assistance will be provided to the elderly and families who have do not have flood insurance and have not received FEMA aid.

* North Nashville Flood Relief Group received a $10,000 Metro Nashville Disaster Response Fund grant to continue its work to help flood victims in North Nashville.

* Southeast Nashville Flood Relief Team received a $10,000 Metro Nashville Disaster Response Fund grant to continue its work to help flood victims in Southeast Nashville.

* West Nashville Flood Recovery Network received a $10,000 Metro Nashville Disaster Response Fund grant to continue its work to help flood victims in West Nashville.

Click here to get more information on flood relief grants  distributed from The Community Foundation’s two disaster funds.

Middle Tennessee organizations can apply for Community Foundation flood relief grants on a rolling basis at http://www.cfmt.org/floodrelief/nonprofit/.

WSMV reports on the local nonprofit’s need for school supplies after losing all of their inventory in the flood:

There’s one place thousands of Metro school teachers can go every school year to get educational tools for students who couldn’t otherwise afford them. But for the first time since the LP Pencil Box opened, the shelves are bare and the nonprofit needs help itself helping some of the neediest children in Metro.

“It really hurts our heart because usually this room is full of school supplies,” said Ulli Heregger, who runs the Nashville donation site. “It’s colorful, and it’s fun.”

Heregger was heartbroken when the store had to throw away $35,000 worth of its donated items after they were contaminated during the flood. The nonprofit runs solely on donations, and now that wish lists have replaced real supplies, she fears students will suffer.

“A lot of these kids got affected in the flood already in their homes; they lost their belongings, and now we can’t even help them in their schools through their teachers because we don’t have enough supplies to give out,” said Heregger.

The floodwater entered the store, rushing through part of the hallway and going through every room. The Pencil Box had new floors put in.

“This year, we really need everything: basic school supplies, basic office supplies, anything teachers can use in their classroom for their students,” said Heregger.

The LP Pencil Box gives teachers the donated supplies so they don’t have to dip into their own paychecks.

Now many hope the same flood that washed away donations won’t wipe out the beginning of a new school year for students.

The LP Pencil Box organization is having a grand opening and appreciation day Aug. 2.for all the volunteers who have helped post-flood.

Click here to find out how you can help!

On Friday, June 11, the Nashville Business Journal ran a story about the conclusion of a recent study by Charity Navigator entitled “Nashville nonprofits get low marks for efficiency.”

CNM President Lewis Lavine issued a retort which ran on page 33 of the June 18th edition of the Nashville Business Journal:

Last month, more than 250 nonprofit leaders attended a conference sponsored by the Center for Nonprofit Management. The keynote address was delivered by the author Dan Pallotta, who connected intellectually with his audience by stating that nonprofits should be evaluated by their outcomes rather than by a set of contrived financial indicators.

After hearing his arguments, I was discouraged to read a local headline last week “Nashville Nonprofits Get Low Marks for Efficiency.” The accompanying article was quoting a new study by Charity Navigator, a New Jersey-based evaluator of nonprofits.

Charity Navigator selected only 30 large Nashville nonprofits for its study. From these 30, it concluded that Nashville’s charitable community ranks 26th among the thirty selected cities nationally. A key indicator in the study was that this Nashville group spent 12 cents to raise $1 in contributions, while the national median was 10 cents. Another indicator was the level of the salaries earned by these charities’ CEOs.

Nowhere in the statistics used by Charity Navigator is any measurement of the results or outcomes of the labors of our nonprofits. What these nonprofits accomplished in our community is not relevant to these evaluators.

Pallotta, in his Nashville speech, told a tale of two soup kitchens. The first was dirty, poorly run, served barely edible food, and catered to a small group of needy souls. Its CEO was poorly compensated, and it had very little expense in its fundraising program. The second was a clean, modern facility, efficiently run, with excellent programs and nutritious food, and a large number of clients whose lives were changed through its outreach. The CEO received a fairly high salary and performance compensation. It spent money on its fundraising campaigns, but was successful in its efforts.

According to evaluators like Charity Navigator, the first soup kitchen would receive a higher rating.

We have just witnessed the largest flood in our history. Our nonprofit community has gone above and beyond its means in caring for those in need. An example is the Community Resource Center that was itself destroyed in the flood. It continued to provide goods to those whose homes were destroyed. Another is Hands on Nashville that made 15,000 placements of volunteers within days after the disaster. Neither was included in the Charity Navigator study.

So let’s evaluate the performance of our charitable and nonprofit organizations. But let’s do so using indicators that matter – let’s example what they accomplish every day in our community.

redpepper is kicking off their CreateAthon Contest again this year:

From now until June 30th, redpepper is accepting applications from Nashville non-profits for our annual CreateAthon event. During CreateAthon, redpepper spends 24 hours (with no sleep, but lots of coffee and Red Bull) dedicating our talents to provide marketing services to non-profits.

Everyone at redpepper has been touched by the stories of our CreateAthon clients. They inspire us to use our creativity to touch others in ways that will, hopefully, move them to take a small step to use their talent and resources to help a good cause. Sometimes we look at the overwhelming needs of our community and wonder how our small contribution even makes a difference. Yet, every penny adds up. And, every hand joined with another hand helps. That’s why CreateAthon is so important to redpepper.

If you know of a non-profit that could use a little help with marketing ideas and materials, please encourage them to apply. And, if you or your company would like to get involved and help us to help our CreateAthon clients – and those they serve – then please visit www.redpepperland.com/CreateAthon to learn more about opportunities to give back. At redpepper, we believe that everyone is uniquely creative. That means that everyone has at least a little something to give. We can’t do it alone, but together we can help others make their dreams a reality.

Thanks to redpepper for supporting nonprofits!

This article ran in the Tennessean on Saturday, June 5th. Click here to access a directory of nonprofit agencies that are providing services for victims of the May flood.

Nonprofits work quietly in flood rebuild efforts

June 5, 2010, Tennessee Voices

By Corinne Ciocia

Non­profit orga­ni­za­tions in the Mid­dle Ten­nessee area have had a dif­fi­cult cou­ple of years.

As a result of the eco­nomic down­turn, many have been forced to cut staff and ser­vices, find inno­v­a­tive ways to col­lab­o­rate, sus­pend cap­i­tal cam­paigns and look for new fund­ing sources. In spite of these chal­lenges, non­prof­its have risen to meet the increased demand for ser­vices.

The May flood brought yet another “once in a life­time” chal­lenge for our non­profit community.

Agen­cies like LP PENCIL Box, Dis­mas House and the Sal­va­tion Army sus­tained sig­nif­i­cant dam­age to their facil­i­ties. The demand for ser­vices was now a full-blown emer­gency, and non­prof­its like Hands On Nashville, Fam­ily and Children’s Ser­vices, Sec­ond Har­vest Food Bank and the Com­mu­nity Resource Cen­ter responded rapidly and efficiently.

Now, as the clean-up con­tin­ues, it’s impor­tant to real­ize that many of these agen­cies are qui­etly work­ing behind the scenes to do the heavy lift­ing that comes with rebuild­ing both the exte­rior dam­age and the less vis­i­ble signs of trauma left by the flood.

Orga­ni­za­tions like Alive Hos­pice, The Pas­toral Coun­sel­ing Cen­ters of Ten­nessee and The Refuge Cen­ter for Coun­sel­ing, are offer­ing free coun­sel­ing services.

Non­prof­its like New Level Com­mu­nity Devel­op­ment Corp., Renewal House and Ten­nessee Alliance for Legal Ser­vices are donat­ing guid­ance to help flood vic­tims make the process of apply­ing for fed­eral assis­tance more manageable.

Most non­prof­its are not set up to be “disaster-relief” orga­ni­za­tions. Rather, they are designed to pro­vide ser­vices to indi­vid­u­als in need. Those num­bers have increased, and non­profit agen­cies are answer­ing the call.

In addi­tion, orga­ni­za­tions are bend­ing their mis­sions to help those in any way they know how.

In need of pet food? Through a dona­tion from Pedi­gree, A New Leash on Life is offer­ing 40-pound bags of pet food to assist pet own­ers affected by the flood.

In need of children’s cloth­ing? Nurses for New­borns is assist­ing fam­i­lies impacted by the flood by pro­vid­ing children’s cloth­ing, age 12 months to 5T.

Sum­mer camps not affected

Chil­dren in Mid­dle Ten­nessee that have suf­fered as a result of the flood can have a bright spot in their sum­mer thanks to the YMCA.

Through a Recover Their Sum­mer cam­paign, the YMCA of Mid­dle Ten­nessee is mak­ing sum­mer camp pro­grams across the area avail­able to chil­dren affected by the floods at lit­tle to no cost to their families.

All of this is made pos­si­ble by the Com­mu­nity Foun­da­tion of Mid­dle Ten­nessee, the United Way of Met­ro­pol­i­tan Nashville and all of the foun­da­tions and other donors that have given money to help non­profit agen­cies lift up those that have lost so much.

Our non­profit com­mu­nity is excep­tional. It has ral­lied to serve our com­mu­nity — and done so as it always does, qui­etly and effectively.

Corinne Cio­cia is direc­tor of com­mu­ni­ca­tions and devel­op­ment at the Cen­ter for Non­profit Man­age­ment. Vic­tims of the May flood can visit the agency’s web­site to view a direc­tory of ser­vice agen­cies offered.

From The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee’s President, Ellen Lehman:

The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee makes grants to nonprofit organizations, not to individuals. There are several reasons:

1.There are great organizations that already have systems and relationships in place to help individuals. Helping them help others is much more efficient and effective than trying to do it ourselves.

2.As of May 23, there were 31,248 people in the 40 counties we serve who had already filed claims with FEMA. If we took the money we have and divided it among them, each would get $103.09. Unfortunately, a gift of that amount would do little to help in a situation like this.

3.Since dividing the money among all who need it would accomplish very little toward rebuilding lives, we’d be forced to try and “grade” people’s anguish. We, at The Community Foundation, do not feel equipped to make those decisions.

So, we make gifts to nonprofits reaching every corner of this community. We trust people on the front lines, serving those in need, to do what they do well.

And, in turn, we hope people will trust us to do what we do well: connect generosity with need. We’ve been at this for 19 years — and have granted out to other nonprofits an amount nearing one-half a billion dollars.

At our very first opportunity, we gave 20 percent of what we had available to organizations — like Second Harvest and Conexion Americas — to help people get the help they need. The looming and monumental issue of housing is likely to be our next priority, both for temporary housing and for long-term solutions.

We are working diligently with community leaders and dedicated volunteers throughout Middle Tennessee to craft solutions and assess needs as they emerge and evolve – and to use the available resources wisely.

Click here to read the complete letter from Ellen Lehman.

Click here for more information on the nonprofit grant application.

From today’s Tennessean:

“Our local officials understood the need for that function years ago and put it in place,” Hands On Nashville Executive Director Brian Williams said. “If they hadn’t signed off on it, we would have (organized) volunteers, but it wouldn’t have had near the impact, because we would have been doing it on our own.”

In the three weeks since the flood, 15,155 people have participated in flood-related volunteer programming coordinated by Hands On Nashville. That’s nearly one-third of the organization’s total volunteer output in 2009. The group has 21,006 new Facebook followers and 3,086 new Twitter followers, which has helped recruit even more volunteers.

Locally, the arrangement with the city has brought new attention to the small organization, which was founded as a grass-roots effort in 1991 but until a month ago was still not a well-known community entity.

A story about the incredible work that Hands On Nashville is doing to coordinate the volunteer efforts in the aftermath of the May flood:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

On May 18th, 2010 CNM hosted the Nonprofit Conference, “Bridge to Excellence.” Over 200 nonprofit CEOs, board members, and senior staff came together at the Curb Event Center at Belmont University. Participants gained the following:

• Valuable insight from recognized leaders on what is necessary to maintain excellence in terms of clients, staff, donors, board members and the larger community.
• Networked with peers.
• Achieved a sense of renewal and refreshment.
• Attended a comprehensive training event without travel and at an affordable price.

Nancy VanReece of Cool People Care was kind enough to serve as our social media volunteer, and in addition to tweeting the conference, also put together this fantastic video with her flip camera:

Special thanks to Nancy and to all of our volunteers that helped out last week!