Today, Mayor Karl Dean announced a multifaceted plan to cut the poverty rate in half over the next ten years. The report is the result of an initiative that began with a poverty symposium 18 months ago. Local nonprofit leaders were heavily involved in the action committees that published reports on child care, health care, food, housing and neighborhood and workforce development. The Planning Committee consisted of the Center for Nonprofit Management, Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, among other nonprofit agencies.  You can read the full comprehensive report here.

Mayor Karl Dean is one of seventeen Mayors that founded the Cities of Service Coalition. The mission of the organization that now boasts 80 cities as members,  is to find ways to harness the power of volunteers to solve local challenges. Yesterday, it was announced that Nashville was one of only ten cities selected for a leadership grant from the Rockefeller Foundation:

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, founding members of the Cities of Service coalition, today joined Rockefeller Foundation President Dr. Judith Rodin to announce the winners of the first-ever Cities of Service Leadership Grants.

Ten cities were selected to receive $200,000 two-year grants, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, to hire a Chief Service Officer – a senior city official dedicated to developing and implementing a citywide plan to increase volunteerism and target volunteers to address their city’s greatest needs.

Due to the extraordinary response from cities to the first request for proposals – 50 cities applied to receive one of the ten grants – the mayors and Dr. Rodin announced that there will be a second competition in the coming months to award similar grants to an additional ten cities.

The cities selected to receive leadership grants are Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; Los Angeles, CA; Nashville-Davidson, TN; Newark, NJ; Omaha, NE; Philadelphia, PA; Sacramento, CA; Savannah, GA; Seattle, WA. Each of these cities displayed a strong commitment to service and outlined thoughtful, thorough and creative approaches to expanding local opportunities for volunteers to make an impact.

“I can think of no better way to celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and this national day of service than to invest in the capacity of cities to mobilize their citizens in innovative ways to solve our common problems,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “As we work to help our neighbors and communities through the greatest financial crisis we’ve seen in a long time, we believe citizen service is needed now more than ever. These grants, funded generously by the Rockefeller Foundation, will help us develop new strategies to tap volunteers as a serious strategy to solve local challenges.”

Media Advisory from United Way on Tomorrow’s press conference with Mayor Karl Dean:

Mayor Dean and United Way Announce Education ProgressWHAT/WHY: Press conference to announce critical progress that has been made in getting Nashville’s most at-risk children (those from low-income homes) ready for school this fall through Read to Succeed, a United Way of Metropolitan Nashville initiative.

WHERE: United Way of Metropolitan Nashville
250 Venture Circle (in MetroCenter), Nashville, TN 37228

WHEN: Friday, June 26, 2009, 12:45 p.m.

Press conference is just prior to United Way’s June Day of Action, Stuff the Bus.
At 1 p.m. volunteers will begin loading four metro school buses with school supplies (backpacks, binders, pencils, etc.) and deliver them to 42 United Way partner agencies where they will in turn be distributed to families and children who need them.

SPEAKERS: Nashville Mayor Karl Dean
United Way Board Chair Tony Heard

Click here for more information.

From the Nashville City Paper:

The $625,000 grant will be awarded to the YMCA of Middle Tennessee to operate a YouthBuild program in Nashville. The program assists dropouts in obtaining their degrees while also providing occupational training in the construction industry.

The effort to land YouthBuild locally was led by Mayor Karl Dean and Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors, according to a release from the mayor’s office.

“YouthBuild is exactly the kind of program we wanted to attract through the Alternative High School Initiative – it gives students who have dropped out a second chance,” Dean said. “There are no throwaway people in our society.

“We need to continue to reduce the number of students that dropout of our schools, but we also need to go after those who have already dropped out and get them back on track. It’s the right thing to do from both a moral and economic standpoint.”

Local coverage:
WSMV
Tennessean
Nashville City Paper

Here is the press release from the Mayor’s office:

MAYOR, METRO AGENCIES ANNOUNCE EMERGENCY VOLUNTEER DRIVE
Hands On Nashville To Coordinate Effort

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Mayor Karl Dean, the Metropolitan Public Health Department and the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management joined Hands On Nashville today as it announced its largest emergency recruitment drive ever, for more than 4,000 volunteers.

The plan, announced at a joint news conference, calls for Points of Dispensing, or PODs, to be set up across the city if there is an emergency, allowing the Health Department to quickly administer vaccinations or medications to large numbers of citizens. While the Health Department is responsible for opening these PODs in a public health emergency, it has contracted Hands On Nashville to recruit volunteers to help staff these clinics.

Continue reading ‘Mayor’s Office Collaborates with Hands On Nashville for Emergency Volunteer Needs’

The Center for Nonprofit Management will work with Metro to implement a task force that will examine Metro’s Community Enhancement Fund grant process. The story was published today on Nashville City Paper’s Web site. Issues related to the domestic violence sub-category were raised initially by Councilman Charlie Tygard:

Domestic violence nonprofits were allocated a total of $750,000, with six groups receiving funds.

It was also revealed that a board member for one of the groups receiving grant funds was on the panel that conducted the review process. Although she didn’t vote, YWCA board member Susan Huggins served on the CEF panel.

The YWCA had the lowest score of the 11 programs applying for funds in the domestic violence category, but still received $196,000 in Metro funds. Although the YWCA had the lowest overall score, it ranked higher because it provides shelter and advocacy programs, which were given greater priority during the ranking process.

Even those who have questioned the process insist there was no impropriety on the part of the panel and that Dean’s idea behind the new system was sound.

“I don’t concede everything was done the best,” Riebeling said. “We’re going to ask the Center for Nonprofit Management to put together a task force to look at issues, how they come up with their scores, how we can make it better for next year.”