Faith Based Grant – Partner with Angel Action
August 8th, 2006 at 12:50 pm (General)
Some exciting news for the church! In partnership with Angel Action, a program of Wyoming County Community Action, our church received a faith-based grant of $68,891 from the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. I want to tell you how this happened and what it means for the church.
The Vision Plan we created together last year has as one of our strategies to increase mission involvement by developing ongoing ministry to area families in need, including both emergency assistance and providing help for people to improve their lives, such as training in life skills. For several months we talked with Pat Standish, director of Angel Action, about ways our church could work with them to work directly with families in need. In the spring Pat discovered this grant opportunity through the faith-based initiative program, and we applied for it. We received word in July that we were one of 55 agencies nationwide, out of over 500 applicants, who received a grant award.
The program for which we received the grant has a specific purpose: to offer services to underemployed and hard to place workers in Wyoming County which will increase their chance of successful employment and their earning power. Some of the services we hope to offer are:
- Life skills training, household and personal budgeting classes, one on one mentoring
- Support group sessions and social and business networking opportunities
- Assistance with emergency transportation, child care, and clothing needs
- Leadership and professional development workshops by Pioneer Credit employees and volunteers
- Career counseling, resume writing assistance, job search assistance, direct job referrals
- Training and tuition assistance and job seeker workshops
Don’t get too nervous. Our church will not do all of this by ourselves. We hope that 20-30 of our members will volunteer as they are able to be part of this program. Jeff and Linda Thomas have already agreed to be the coordinators for our church, and they serve on the Community Action Angels board. There are 600 Angel Action volunteers to draw upon. And the Wyoming County Community Action Program will serve as our fiscal agent, handling all the funds. Their One Stop Center already provides some of the services required by this program. So it really is a community effort.
Two-thirds of the grant funds are earmarked for direct participant costs. Only a small portion comes to the church itself, and that will be to offset any costs we might incur by participating in the program or to pay for supplies and resources needed for the program.
Because the Food Pantry, Headstart, and Starburst Christian Preschool all operate out of our church building, we come into contact with a lot of families who might need the services of this program. We are looking forward to launching the program in August. Please contact Jeff and Linda (786-5735) to volunteer. And we’ll let you know our specific needs for volunteers as we move forward.