Tuesday, June 21, 2004: Volume #2, Issue #34
The VERB Weekly Email Digest
Edited by Sophy Pich, VERB Project Associate

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In This Week's Issue

1. Announcements
• Lunchtime Forum and Discussion
• Using the Arts to Increase Civic Engagement
2. Promising Practices
• Participatory Evaluation
3. News
• Vietnamese Refugees Near Last Leg of Freedom Journey
• Legal Action Launched against Developers of Agent Orange
• Report Released by State Department Provides
• Help Resettle Hmong Refugees
• A Political Pilgrimage Dedicated to Hmong Still Living in Laos
• Web Site of Language Maps Different Dialects on Tips of Our Tongues
• Hmong Refugees May Begin Arriving in Twin Cities Next Week
• Multilingual Homeownership Center Launched in Alameda County
• Classes at Buddhist Temple Instill Pride in Asian Roots
• Immigrant Teens to Get Help Halting Date Abuse
• British Video Reveals Hmong Rebels' Plight
• Vietnamese Banh Mi a Delightful Surprise
• Hmong Refugees to Face Different Challenges
• Fox Visit Underscores State's Growing Mexican Population
• Democratic Delegates Take on New Role As Kerry 'Ambassadors'
• 'We Had Never Ridden in a Car before'
• Medical Community Is Ready for Hmong Arrival
4. Funding Opportunities
• Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures
• 2004 Drucker Nonprofit Innovation Awards
• Christopher D. Smithers Foundation
• CHS Foundation
• JCPenney Company Fund
5. Resources
• Love Our Children USA

I. Announcements

American Youth Policy Forum Invites You to a Lunchtime Forum and Discussion

Do Faith-Based Organizations Have a Role in Promoting Educational Outcomes?

Friday, June 25, 2004
12:15pm-2:15 pm
Capitol Hill location TBA

(Registration deadline is 12:00 p.m., Tuesday June 22nd, 2004. Register by confirming your contact information in response to the electronic invitation. Incomplete registrations will not guarantee a space; please do not assume you are registered unless you have received confirmation from AYPF. If you register and must cancel, please allow us 48 hours notice. A box lunch will be provided to those who register by the deadline and arrive before 12:15pm.)

e-mail: aypf@aypf.org

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Using the Arts to Increase Civic Engagement

Americans for the Arts and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies Second Joint Convention

The Americans for the Arts and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies Second Joint Convention will focus on using the arts to increase civic engagement by the diverse populations that make up America. The convention will unite colleagues at the local, state, and national levels to create a national arts action agenda detailing strategies on how organizations can use the arts to engage individuals in building communities that are vibrant, inclusive, and economically prosperous. Arts administrators, board members or commissioners, educators, artists, funders, public officials, and advocates devoted to using the arts as a community-building tool are invited to attend.

The convention is scheduled for July 17-20, 2004, in Washington, DC.

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II. Promising Practices

Participatory Evaluation:

How It Can Enhance Effectiveness and Credibility of Nonprofit Work by Susan Saegert, Lymari Benitez, Efrat Eizenberg, Tsai-shiou Hsieh, and Mike Lamb, City University of New York Graduate Center

Editors' Note: This article is written from an evaluator's point of view and although the examples focus on community-based organizations, they illustrate broader lessons about accountability, evaluation and participation that should prove useful to any nonprofit leader. As you read this piece, we suggest that you think about which elements of the practice described here can inform your own work.

Many community-based organizations (CBOs) experience two very different sets of demands. On the one hand, they want to connect more closely with the communities they represent and serve. Honest engagement with the community includes both understanding how residents view their situations and involving them in determining, evaluating, and then re-determining program goals. This is a dynamic and progressive process. On the other hand, CBOs need to show progress toward measurable outcomes because funding is increasingly contingent on specifying such outcomes before work gets started. This presents a conflict between openness and closure, although both point to the need for systematic ways of gathering information. It is our belief that when CBOs establish participatory research and evaluation as a core part of their practice, they protect the quality of their work with their communities in a way that builds credibility, power, and influence with other stakeholders, including funders. Perhaps most importantly, it builds effectiveness.

This article examines ways that CBOs and community residents can become partners in knowledge enterprise. The examples cited here come primarily from our work in New York City, but the challenges and lessons learned have broader applicability. Since 1990, the Housing Environments Research Group (HERG) has worked with dozens of CBOs and surveyed over 8,000 residents of inner city neighborhoods searching with them for "practical truths" (Montero, 2002) that support action.

At the simplest level, if the projects and programs undertaken by CBOs embody a wish for change, then community development evaluations are designed to determine if the wish has come true. But as we seek to understand both the wish and the extent to which it has become reality, questions arise about the different perspectives and interests that define "the wish" and drive the actions taken in its name.

Read on: http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/section/499.html

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III. News

Vietnamese Refugees Near Last Leg of Freedom Journey
June 14, 2004
Kansas City Star

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Legal Action Launched against Developers of Agent Orange
June 15, 2004
ABC Online

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Report Released by State Department Provides Transparent Data That Will Help Victims of Sex Trafficking
June 15, 2004
Yahoo.com

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Help Resettle Hmong Refugees
June 15, 2004
Wisconsin State Journal

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A Political Pilgrimage Dedicated to Hmong Still Living in Laos
June 16, 2004
Star Tribune

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Web Site of Language Maps Different Dialects on Tips of Our Tongues
June 16, 2004
Toledo Blade

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Hmong Refugees May Begin Arriving in Twin Cities Next Week
June 17, 2004
Kare11

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Multilingual Homeownership Center Launched in Alameda County by Lao Family
Community Development, Inc.
PR Newswire

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Classes at Buddhist Temple Instill Pride in Asian Roots
June 18, 2004
Star-Telegram

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Immigrant Teens to Get Help Halting Date Abuse
June 18, 2004
The Seattle Times

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British Video Reveals Hmong Rebels' Plight
June 18, 2004
The Post-Crescent

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Vietnamese Banh Mi a Delightful Surprise
June 18, 2004
Kansas City Star

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Hmong Refugees to Face Different Challenges
June 18, 2004
Grand Forks Herald

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Fox Visit Underscores State's Growing Mexican Population
June 19, 2004
Finance and Commerce

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Democratic Delegates Take on New Role As Kerry 'Ambassadors'
June 20, 2004
Lowell Sun

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'We Had Never Ridden in a Car before'
June 20, 2004
Pioneer Press

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Medical Community Is Ready for Hmong Arrival
June 20, 2004
Minnesota Public Radio

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IV. Grants

1. (National)
   Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures

   A joint program of the Yale School of Management, the Goldman Sachs Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures runs the National Business Plan Competition for Nonprofit Organizations. This annual competition is open to nonprofits seeking to start or expand successful profit-making ventures.

   The competition takes place over the course of one year and includes several rounds of evaluation. All entrants receive comprehensive feedback from the program's team of evaluators.

   In May 2005, the final twenty entrants will attend the Third Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony, where a panel of judges will select four grand-prize winners, each of whom will receive $100,000, and four semi-finalists, each of whom will receive $25,000. In addition to the cash awards, the winners will receive hundreds of hours of business-planning consultations to assist their organizations in moving their ventures forward.

   Nonprofit organizations of all types are invited to enter. To be eligible, the nonprofit organization must have established 501(c)(3) status and must be headquartered in the United States. In addition, the earned-income venture must be in its planning stages or have been in operation for no more than twenty-four months as of July 16, 2004. The venture may be a nonprofit subsidiary, a for-profit subsidiary, or a program of the nonprofit organization, and entrants may operate or seek to operate various types of business ventures, including service-related (fee-for-service); product-related (manufacturing and/or sales); cause-related marketing; and renting or leasing property.

   Deadline: July 16, 2004

2. (National)
   2004 Drucker Nonprofit Innovation Awards

   August 3 is the deadline for submitting applications for the 2004 Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation, which will recognize three groups that have made a difference in the lives of those they serve.

   The first-place winning program will receive $25,000; runners-up will receive $2,500 each. Nonprofit groups established since Jan. 1, 2000 may apply.

   For more information, contact the Claremont Graduate University, Graduate School of Management, 1021 North Dartmouth Ave., Claremont, CA 91711.

3. (National)
   Christopher D. Smithers Foundation

   The Christopher D. Smithers Foundation focuses its grantmaking on the issues of alcoholism, including prevention, treatment, research, public education, and creating awareness of these problems in the nation's work world. The main thrust of the Foundation's funding is in the field of alcoholism prevention and education. While a number of grants go to national organizations, regional and local organizations across the country also receive funds. Nonprofit organizations throughout the United States are eligible to apply.

   Deadline: Open

4. (National)
   CHS Foundation

   The CHS Foundation is committed to investing in the future of rural America, agriculture, and cooperative business through education and leadership development. The Foundation supports national efforts, as well as those within the CHS trade territory. The Foundation's funding focuses on the following program areas: cooperative education, rural youth and leadership development, farm and agricultural safety, returning value to rural communities, and emergency assistance/disaster relief. Nonprofit organizations with national scope, or those located in the CHS territory, are eligible to apply.

   Deadlines: vary according to the program area.

5. (National)
   JCPenney Company Fund

   JCPenney supports targeted issues of concern to the company, its employees and its customers, including improvement of K-12 education through curriculum-based after-school care, support of employee volunteerism, and support for United Way in communities with a company presence. Support is provided to national and local nonprofit organizations, with priority given to organizations and programs that are located in communities where JCPenney has a business presence. Nonprofit organizations and state government agencies are eligible to apply.

   Deadline: Open

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V. Resources

Love Our Children USA is the national leading grassroots organization that honors, respects, and protects children. As a voice for children we celebrate them and the loving relationships we should have with them. Our mission is to stop the cycle that victimizes children. We do this by promoting positive changes in parenting and family attitudes, along with behaviors and prevention strategies through public education campaigns. Love Our Children USA works to empower and support children, teens, parents and families through information, resources, advocacy, and online youth mentoring.

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