Monday, February 28, 2005: Volume #2, Issue #63
The VERB Weekly Email Digest
Edited by Sophy Pich, VERB Project Associate

Note: Documents on this page or in this section may be in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. In order to read them, you require Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is downloadable free from Adobe.

In This Week's Issue

1. Announcements
• Volunteers Need for APIASF Read
• ICAN Annual Fundraising Event
• HND Conference Reminder
• 2005 NAVASA National Conference
• United Hmong Association, Inc.
• Grant Writing Courses
• Camp Wellstone in Southern California
2. Promising Practices
• Preparing for Negotiation
3. News
• Hmong Protest Police Shooting
• Report Belies Stereotypes About Asians
• Touching the Soul of Cambodia
• Vietnamese Clash Over Art
• Reception to Welcome New Hmong Immigrants
• Vietnamese Celebrate Culture During Lunar New Year Event
• Fear Follows Refugee
• State's Lone Hmong Dnr Officer Is a Calming Force
• New Program Aims to Break Language Barrier
• Multilingual Staff Can Drive Up Auto Sales
• Tb Screenings to Restart Stalled Hmong Resettlement
• Children's Museum Exhibit Focuses on Hmong Culture, Immigration
• Young and Insatiable: Vietnamese Diaspora Films Making Wave
• a New Constituency
• Immigrant Sex Offenders Targeted
• Workers Took Advantage of Hmong Resettlement's Temporary Halt
• in Bid for Openness, Minnesota Hmong Groups Plan Hot Line
• Cambodian Parade Falls on a Grievous Date
• Milwaukee's Melting Pot Is Bubbling Along Quite Nicely
• Cambodian Community Builds Pride
4. Funding Opportunities
• GTECH (CA, DC, WI)
• The International Paper Company Foundation (NC, VA, WI)
• Southern Poverty Law Center & the Study Circles Resource Center
• The Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation
• The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
• The William T. Grant Foundation
• The Dominion Foundation (NC & VA)
• The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
5. Resources
• 2005 Grant Opportunities Notebook

I. Announcements

Dear Friends:

I am helping to organizing a group of volunteers to read scholarship applications for the Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund in Washington, DC, on Saturday and Sunday, March 12 and 13, and I'm sending you this message to ask if you would be willing to help.

Please let me know if you might be interested.

Thanks!

Max Niedzwiecki, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
1628 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009-3099
Tel: 202/667-4690
Fax: 202/667-6449
<max@searac.org>
http://www.searac.org

****

Dear friends,

ICAN proudly presents its third annual fund raising concert "Hat Cho Tuoi Tho TM 3" with the theme "Con Tuoi Nao Cho Em" featuring timeless love songs performed by celebrated voices of Khanh Ly, Tran Thu Ha, Quang Tuan, Bang Kieu, directed by Conductor Thomas Ngo and MC Vinh Lac.

Time: Sunday March 6, 2005 at 2pm and 7pm
Place: Santa Clara Convention Center
Ticket price: VIP $100, $75, $55, $45. Sponsorship is welcomed.

Bring your friends and families. Come join us in a special evening reminiscing romantic memories while helping to brighten the future of underprivileged Vietnamese children and orphans. Proceeds from the concert will go to support ICAN programs to help children in Vietnam, the Bay area, and South Asia. For more information or to lend a helping hand, please call ICAN at (408) 509-8788.

If you love our previous two concerts, then you cannot afford to miss this one. Buy your tickets today, the concert is only 3 weeks away!!! Thank you for your support. We look forward to seeing you at the concert. Please forward this email to your friends and family to help us promote this event.

Regards

Quyen Vuong

***

Dear HND supporters,

This is just a reminder that the early registration deadline for the 10th Hmong National Conference is this MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28th, 2005!!! Please register early to avoid late fees! You may email your registration to helly@hndlink.org, or fax it to 202-463-2118 before February 28th, and note that a payment will be in the mail to receive the early registration rate.

Don't forget to make your flight and hotel reservations as soon as possible to take part in the discounts!

Hotel Reservations: 1-800-333-3333, or 559-268-1000, www.radisson.com/fresnoca . Discount rates available until March 17th, 2005, or until rooms are filled.

United Airlines is the official airline of the 10th Hmong National Conference. United offers 5% off the lowest applicable fare, or a 10% discount off midweek coach fares purchased 7 days in advance. An additional 5% discount applies when tickets are purchased 30 days in advance of travel date. Contact United^tm's reservation center at 1-800-521-4041 for further information and mention meeting ID number, 538GM.

Please also keep in mind the pre-conference EducatoraO(TM)s Institute and the Hmong Arts Summit and Exhibition events that will be taking place on Thursday, April 7th, 2005! Additional information about these two events and the conference may be obtained from our website at www.hndlink.org/conference.htm .

I look forward to seeing all of you there!

Helly Lee
Program Coordinator
Hmong National Development, Inc.
1112-16th Street, Northwest
Suite #110
Washington, DC 20036
PH: 202.463.2118
FAX: 202.463.2119
www.hndlink.org

***

SAVE THE DATE

2005 NAVASA National Conference

"Empowering a Community through Giving"
Date: July 15 - 16, 2005
Location: Hilton McLean Tysons Corner
Further information can be found at www.navasa.org

****

VERB Grassroot Partner, United Hmong Association, Inc., has moved its website to www.uhanc.org

***

Learn to write winning proposals!

Next date March 10—register today

Based on our best-selling book, this full-day course has helped more than 25,000 grantseekers build, strengthen, and polish their proposal writing skills. It can help you as well! Coached by professionals who have built their careers on writing successful grant proposals, this course will benefit everyone on your fundraising team.

***

Camp Wellstone in Southern California the weekend of April 1-3, 2005! This is a great opportunity for people to come together, network, and have a good time while learning effective organizing tactics from local and national trainers with years of organizing experience. There is a $75 registration fee per participant ($35 for students), which will go toward helping to defray the cost of food, site and training materials for the weekend.

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II. Promising Practices

Preparing for Negotiation

Excerpt from the Stanford Social Innovation Review

From GuideStar

You prepare for a negotiation by gathering information, both about your own interests, resources, and alternatives, and about your counterpart's. You determine your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA, what you would get if you walked away from the negotiation), set your target, and then attempt to assess your counterpart's target and BATNA. Be sure to research different sources and query outsiders for objective facts. Say you are getting ready to negotiate with prospective summer interns. Before you sit down with any applicants, call other NGOs and ask: "How much do you pay your interns? What kind of perks do they get? Do you give out tickets to baseball games or charity dinners?"

Before you begin, you should prepare a list of potential negotiating points. Begin with critical and obvious issues, and then try to imagine spheres into which the agreement might extend. Establish the value you place on each issue, and the value your opponent is likely to place, looking both for areas where your interests coincide and for potential trade-offs. Be careful not to lock on to a fixed idea of what your counterpart's needs and interests are. You need to remain receptive to new information that becomes available in the course of the discussion.

If you know who your negotiating counterparts will be, it's useful to determine what authority they will have, and to match your authority to your opponent's. For example, if you are negotiating a cause-marketing agreement with a possible sponsor, and your counterpart is authorized to sign off on the deal, be sure that you also have that ability. But, if your counterpart must run any proposal by colleagues before signing, then be certain that you also reserve that option.

Read on: http://www.guidestar.org/news/features/negotiation.jsp

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III. News

Hmong Protest Police Shooting
WDJT
February 18, 2005

***

Report Belies Stereotypes About Asians
Sacramento Bee
February 18, 2005

***

Touching the Soul of Cambodia
Seattle Times
February 18, 2005

***

Vietnamese Clash Over Art
Seattle Times
February 18, 2005

***

Reception to Welcome New Hmong Immigrants
Minneapolis Star Tribune
February 19, 2005

***

Vietnamese Celebrate Culture During Lunar New Year Event
Ann Arbor News
February 20, 2005

***

Fear Follows Refugee
Sacramento Bee
February 21, 2005

***

State's Lone Hmong Dnr Officer Is a Calming Force
Minneapolis Star Tribune
February 21, 2005

***

New Program Aims to Break Language Barrier
MaineToday.com
February 22, 2005

***

Multilingual Staff Can Drive Up Auto Sales
USA Today - USA
February 22, 2005

***

TB Screenings to Restart Stalled Hmong Resettlement
Minneapolis Star Tribune
February 22, 2005

***

Children's Museum Exhibit Focuses on Hmong Culture, Immigration
Boston Herald
February 23, 2005

***

Young and Insatiable: Vietnamese Diaspora Films Making Wave
New California Media
February 23, 2005

***

A New Constituency
San Antonio Current
February 24, 2005

***

Immigrant Sex Offenders Targeted
Chicago Tribune
February 24, 2005

***

Workers Took Advantage of Hmong Resettlement's Temporary Halt
Green Bay News Chronicle
February 24, 2005

***

In Bid for Openness, Minnesota Hmong Groups Plan Hot Line
Pioneer Press
February 25, 2005

***

Cambodian Parade Falls on a Grievous Date
Long Beach Press-Telegram
February 26, 2005

***

Milwaukee's Melting Pot is Bubbling Along Quite Nicely
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
February 27, 2005

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Cambodian Community Builds Pride
Seattle Times
February 27, 2005

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IV. Grants

1. (California, DC, Wisconsin)
   GTECH

   The GTECH After School Advantage Program provides state-of-the-art computer labs to nonprofit organizations in inner-city communities where GTECH's offices are located. GTECH donates up to $15,000 of computers, on-line technology, computer software, and volunteer hours to after-school programs targeting minority and at-risk children aged 5 to 15.

   Nonprofit community agencies with existing after-school programs in need of a computer lab in jurisdictions in which GTECH does business are eligible to apply.

   Eligible states include Arizona, California, Washington, DC, Georgia, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.

   Deadline: Open

2. (North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin)
   The International Paper Company Foundation

   The International Paper Company Foundation supports nonprofit organizations that address existing and emerging educational needs, as well as short-term, critical civic needs within the communities where International Paper has operating facilities. The Foundation's primary focus is education, including specifically environmental education and literacy programs for children and minority career development in forestry and engineering fields.

   The Foundation also provides seed money on a one-time basis for critical community needs in areas where we operate. Nonprofit organizations serving communities with company operating facilities located in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin are eligible to apply.

   Deadline: Varies

3. (National)
   Southern Poverty Law Center & the Study Circles Resource Center

   The Mix It Up Grant program, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Study Circles Resource Center, provides grants of $500 to youth-directed activist projects that focus on identifying, questioning and crossing social boundaries in schools and communities. Preference is given to projects that show youth leadership; collaborative efforts across social boundaries; and continuing efforts to identify, cross or challenge social boundaries.

   Deadline: Open

4. (National)
   The Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation

   The Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation Children's Initiative provides funding for local programs that strengthen the social, physical, intellectual, and emotional functioning of young children in significant and measurable ways.

   The Initiative will consider programs that serve children from the pre-natal stage to six years of age; deliver services to children in non-office or non-traditional settings; and involve parents or guardians in the planning, delivery or evaluation of the program. All proposals must demonstrate that the project meets all three of the above elements. Nonprofit organizations throughout the U.S are eligible to apply.

   Deadline: April 1, 2005 (letters of intent)

5. (National)
   The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities

   The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities is inviting nominations for its 2005 Coming Up Taller Awards.

   In partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (http://www.imls.gov/), the National Endowment for the Arts (http://www.nea.gov/), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (http://www.neh.gov/), the Coming Up Taller Awards recognize the accomplishments of after-school and out-of-school arts and humanities programs and activities for young people across the United States.

   Programs initiated by museums, libraries, performing arts organizations, universities, colleges, arts centers, community service organizations, schools, businesses, and eligible government entities are encouraged to participate. Nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations, units of state or local government, and federally recognized tribal communities or tribes are eligible to apply.

   Awards of $10,000 each will be presented to Coming Up Taller Awards honorees.

   Deadline: March 24, 2005

6. (National)
   The William T. Grant Foundation

   The William T. Grant Foundation, which works to help create a society that values young people and enables them to reach their full potential, has announced its annual William T. Grant Scholars Program competition.

   The Scholars Program supports, over a five-year period, promising early career researchers from diverse disciplines whose studies will deepen and broaden the knowledge base on how to make a difference in the lives of young people. Priority research areas focus on the effects of contexts on youth development; improving the systems, organizations, and programs affecting young people; and adults' use of scientific evidence and their views of youth. The foundation focuses on young people ages 8 to 25.

   Every year, four to six William T. Grant Scholars are selected and receive a $300,000 grant distributed over five years. Awards are made to the applicant's institution.

   Investigators at all nonprofit institutions, both in the United States and abroad, are eligible to apply. Because the award is designed for early career researchers, applicants should be pre-tenure (if in a tenure-track position) or in a similar early career status (if not in a tenure-track position).

   Deadline: July 1, 2005

7. (North Carolina and Virginia)
   The Dominion Foundation

   The Dominion Foundation, the giving arm of energy producer Dominion, is currently accepting applications for its Educational Partnership grants.

   The foundation will award approximately $200,000 in educational partnership grants in a five-state area (North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia). Accredited public and private elementary and secondary schools, public school divisions, institutions of higher education, state agencies, and 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations are invited to apply.

   Dominion accepts grant applications for amounts up to $5,000 to encourage the development of new programs to strengthen math and science education in grades K-12. Successful grant proposals should present innovative and promising ideas, involve the teaching of math and/or science skills, reach a significant number of students, and demonstrate broad-based community support. Proposals must align with one of four targeted areas: parental involvement, closing the gap, environmental education, or mini grants (up to $1,000).

   Deadline: May 2, 2005

8. (National)
   The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

   The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation invites applications from organizations interested in initiating or expanding the Nature of Learning program in their communities.

   Nature of Learning, the National Wildlife Refuge System's community-based environmental education initiative, seeks to use National Wildlife Refuges as outdoor classrooms to promote a greater understanding of local conservation issues; encourage an interdisciplinary approach to learning that seeks to enhance student academic achievement; utilize field experiences and student-led stewardship projects to connect classroom lessons to real-world issues; and foster partnerships among local schools, community groups, natural resource professionals, and local businesses.

   Grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded on a competitive basis to support start-up expenses associated with new programs. In addition, grants of up to $3,000 will be awarded on a competitive basis to provide continued support to existing Nature of Learning programs.

   Schools or nonprofit organizations, including "Friends" groups, cooperative and interpretive associations, Audubon chapters, conservation organizations, and nature centers are eligible to apply for funding. Programs must involve a partnership among a local school(s), community group (e.g., Refuge Support Group), and a National Wildlife Refuge.

   Deadline: June 15, 2005

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V. Resources

New 2005 Grant Opportunities Notebook for Grassroots Organizations Published by the Department of Health and Human Services

Contact: The notebook is downloadable in PDF format at www.hhs.gov/fbci. Click on the "New Information" tab in the yellow column (an Adobe Acrobat reader is required) or go directly to http://www.hhs.gov/fbci/CFBCI_M0374_GrantNotebook_FINAL.pdf. For additional questions, please contact the HHS CFBCI at 202-358-3595.

Deanna Carlson, MSW Associate Director HHS Center for Faith-based and Community Initiatives 200 Independence Avenue, SW, Room 120-F Washington, DC 20201. 202-401-4844 (Direct line at ACF) e-mail: deanna.carlson@hhs.gov

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If you wish to contribute to the VERB Weekly e-Digest, please send all materials to sophy@searac.org