2003 VERB Request for Proposals

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.

As of April 14, 2003 we are no longer accepting proposals for 2003. A list of FY 2003 VERB Grassroots Partners is available.

This RFP is for organizations that can be described by all of the following statements:

1. The organization must be located in one of the following locations:

   • Northern California¹
   • North Carolina
   • Wisconsin
   • Metropolitan Washington, DC (incl. southern Maryland, northern Virginia, and the District of Columbia)

2. The organization must be either a "faith-based organization" such as a temple or church, or a "community-based organization" such as a mutual assistance association (MAA).

3. The organization must be primarily managed by, and for, people whose families are from Cambodia, Laos, and/or Vietnam.

4. The organization must have provided services to Southeast Asian American communities for at least three years.

5. The organization must provide services to low-income communities.

6. The organization must provide services in at least one of the following areas, or it must be interested in beginning to provide such services in the near future: hunger, at-risk children, welfare-to-work transition, substance abuse, homelessness, and/or work with prisoners.

7. The organization must be interested in receiving technical assistance (or personalized help to strengthen the organization) from the VERB project, and in participating in two VERB training programs each year (one in the local area, and one in Washington, DC). Also, the organization must set aside time for such activities. (Evening and weekend hours may be possible for VERB.)

8. The organization must agree to submit brief financial and activity reports to VERB staff every three months. In addition, if the organization is a faith-based organization such as a temple or church, it must be interested in further developing the social services it provides to communities. If the organization is an MAA, the organization must have an annual budget of $250,000 or less. Faith-based organizations (temples, churches, etc.) with any budget size may apply.

If your organization does not meet ALL of the conditions listed above, please do not submit an application.

The maximum amount of funding available through this grant is $15,000 for each organization for year ending September 30, 2003. We hope that all partner organizations will continue to be part of VERB for two years after that, and funding will be $15,000 to $20,000 for each organization, each year. Continued funding for project years two and three will depend on successful completion of each project year, continued need, and availability of funds to the national project.

In addition to financial support, partner organizations will receive assistance through training and "technical assistance," or personalized help.

Before filling out this online form, you will likely want to have some information prepared. In addition to your contact information and some information on your organization, you will be asked to answer a series of "Yes and No" questions. You will also be asked to answer two questions about your project in less than two pages and to provide some budget figures for your project. You can also download printable PDF version (above right sidebar) and submit it by mail or fax.

Additionally, if your organization has nonprofit (or 501[c][3]) status, please fax or mail documentation of this status with your application along with your most recent financial audit, if one is available. This documentation should be sent to:

Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
Attn: VERB Project
1628 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009-3099
E-mail: searac@searac.org
Fax: (202) 667-6449

If you have questions please call the following numbers (depending on the language you would like to use):

• English: SEARAC at 1-800-600-9188.
• Hmong: Hmong National Development (HND) at (202) 463-2118.
• Khmer: SEARAC (Mr. Sophy Pich), SEARAC, 1-800-600-9188
• Lao: Mr. Vilay Chaleunrath, Laotian American National Alliance (LANA) at (202) 462-4430
• Vietnamese: National Alliance of Vietnamese American Service Agencies at (301) 962-7135

Proposal reviewers will call all applicants by April 28, 2003.

VERB staff will notify applicants of decisions by May 12, 2003.

Applications and their supporting documentation must be received by April 14, 2003.

¹For the purposes of this project, "northern California" includes the following counties: Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Marin, Mendocino, Modoc, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo, and Yuba. Applications from organizations in other California counties will not be considered for this project.