Nineteen programs targeting persons experiencing homelessness in sixteen states are among the 145 recently awarded investments from the Compassion Capital Fund as part of a $42,957,597 announcement by President Bush. Created in 2002, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Children and Families' Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) is a key component of the President's Faith-Based and Community Initiative. CCF helps faith-based and community organizations increase their effectiveness and enhance their ability to provide social services in communities across the nation. The Compassion Capital Fund administers two programs: the Demonstration Program and the Targeted Capacity Building Program. HHS Secretary and former United States Interagency Council Chair Tommy Thompson is pictured here at right with United States Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary and Council Chair Anthony Principi.

The President's announcement included two groups of awards. A total of $38 million included $6.9 million to 14 new intermediary organizations as first year funding of a three year cycle. Additionally, $31.1 million will be used for second and third-year investments for 31 organizations in the Compassion Capital Fund Demonstration Program. The intermediaries will assist grass-root, faith and community-based organizations so they may increase their effectiveness, enhance their ability to provide social services, and create collaborations to better serve those in need.

The second set of investments under the Compassion Capital Fund Targeted Capacity Building Program totals $4.9 million and goes to 100 organizations working on priority issues including at-risk youth, homelessness, healthy marriages and serving people in rural communities. While announcing the grant awards, HHS Assistant Secretary for Children and Families Dr. Wade F. Horn said, "Faith-based and community-based groups know the problems and solutions in their neighborhoods. Now they will have more resources with which to improve the lives of children and families around the country."

Triangle United Way in North Carolina, which has made homelessness a top priority this year with its support for 10-Year Plans in Wake, Durham, and Orange Counties, hosted more than 200 community partners on August 26 for Community Care Day at Nortel Networks in Research Triangle Park. Pictured here, left to right are: Triangle United Way client Larry Colie, Triangle United Way President Craig Chancellor,author Tanisha Bagley, United States Interagency Council Executive Director Philip Mangano who keynoted the United Way event, United Way Care Campaign Chair and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina CEO Bob Greczyn, and Nortel Executive Gayle Lanier.

"The Triangle United Way has stood in the gap to make sure that tens of thousands of local residents had a safe place to lie their head down at night. About 41,000 people received services from the Triangle United Way last year that helped keep them from winding up homeless or in a shelter," said Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina President and CEO and Community Care Campaign Chairman Bob Greczyn. "Additionally, more than 400 Triangle residents were transitioned to affordable housing from being homeless. The Community Care Fund is the vehicle that gives people the most opportunity to do the most good." According to United Way, more than 2,000 people in the Triangle area are homeless, with families accounting for 56 percent of that number. Each event attendees was asked to donate a small suitcase that will be used by a local nonprofit agency assisting families in transition.

Intergovernmental partnership was at work across the state as Executive Director Mangano also met with Sanford Mayor Winston Hester and City Manager Lester Barefoot, Fayetteville City Manager Roger Stancil, Cumberland County Commission Chair Jeannette Council, and Durham Mayor William V. "Bill" Bell to encourage their support for 10-Year Plans in their communities. Joining the intergovernmental discussions on behalf of state government was North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Homeless Policy Specialist Martha Are.

Dallas Mayor Laura Miller this week named local businessman and former mayoral candidate Tom Dunning, Chairman and CEO of Lockton Dunning Benefit Company, to lead the implementation of the new Dallas 10-Year Plan. Mayor Miller announced Mr. Dunning's appointment to the press in the Dallas City Council Hall of Flags after meeting with the civic leader and United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, who joined Dallas officials for the press announcement. Following the press conference and at the request of the Dallas City Council, Executive Director Mangano addressed Council Members on federal initiatives to end chronic homelessness.

Stated Mayor Miller, "Tom Dunning understands the homeless issue and the importance of reducing the number of people living on our streets. As we face new challenges in addressing homeless issues, Tom has all the right experience to bring new solutions." In June, the Dallas City Council approved final adoption of the 10-Year Plan developed in partnership with Deloitte, the United Way, and the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance. Pictured here are, left to right: Tom Dunning, Mayor Miller, Council Member Mitchell Rasansky, and Executive Director Mangano. Also present for the press announcement were Dallas City Council Member and Health, Environment, and Human Services Chair Lois Finkelman and Council Members Mitchell Rasanky and Veletta Forsyth Lill.

Mr. Dunning, who previously chaired the Dallas Homeless Task Force, created one of the largest privately owned health and welfare benefit firms in the United States and is active in civic affairs, including as a Board member of Southwestern Medical Foundation and Baylor Medical Foundation, and Dallas Citizens Council. He previously served as Chair, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board, and as a member of the Boards of the Texas Departments of Transportation, Human Services, and Criminal Justice, as well as serving as an Executive Committee Member for the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce Board. Mayor Miller also appointed Trinity Industries Executive Vice President John Adams as Finance Chair for the initiative, to assist in fundraising.

"Mayor Miller has joined other mayors across the country in demonstrating wisdom and leadership in appointing a 'ocal hero' to implement the city's 10-Year Plan," stated Executive Director Philip Mangano. Indianapolis was the first city with a mayorally appointed 10-Year Plan coordinator. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom called on his election opponent Angela Alioto to coordinate and now implement that city's plan. Atlanta's Mayor Shirley Franklin turned to civic leader Horace Sibley, who helped bring the Olympics to Atlanta, to lead the city's planning process and now to implement the Atlanta Blueprint and spearhead private fund raising.

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-newsletter continues its series of reports on veterans' Stand Down events around the country. Stand Downs are community- based events targeted to homeless veterans and designed to offer a welcoming atmosphere, a safe gathering place, and easy access to a broad range of services for homeless veterans. Stand Downs are derived from the military practice of "standing down" from customary activity or the front line.

"It was like a miracle," said a central Alaska veteran who used long distance calling services provided at the August 21 Stand Down in Fairbanks. "I spent an hour on the phone with my mom in the lower 48 who I haven't spoken with in twenty years." The veteran was one of many at the recent Stand Down who used the unusual but highly valued service of long distance calling. Over 425 veterans from villages of central Alaska, as well as those in the immediate Fairbanks area, received services including general physical exams, diabetes and other health care testing, dental services, eye exams and eyeglasses, employment counseling, legal assistance, tax assistance, clothing, food, haircuts, and even acupuncture and massage therapy. A volunteer dentist from the Air National Guard commented, "Many of the vets have returned from previous years and are doing much better through these annual check ups that are their only source of dental care."

Federal, state, and local partnership was evident at the Fairbanks Stand Down. Event organizer Nancy Smoyer, who served with the Red Cross in Vietnam and now serves as a volunteer counselor at the Fairbanks Veterans Center, expressed her gratitude to the many volunteers who made the event possible. Financial support was provided by the U.S. Department of Labor through the State of Alaska Labor Department, as well as through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Homeless veterans are a targeted population for FEMA's Emergency Food and Shelter program funds.

Communities in the Land of Lincoln state continue to commit to 10-Year Plans. Madison County, Illinois, is the latest county to launch a 10-Year Planning process to end chronic homelessness. The Madison County Board voted to commence the planning process in a unanimous resolution, stating, "Madison County Board supports the federal government's goal to end chronic homelessness in the United States in 10 years and will help advance the planning process set forth by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness." Madison County joins the other nearby Illinois communities of St. Clair County and Springfield in pursuing a 10-Year Plan. Chicago and Urbana-Champaign both have completed plans.

"Getting everyone working together with the county's lead is a step in the right direction. Hopefully, someday every place in the United State is going to have the same resolution. If we can do that, that's a very worthwhile cause, and Madison County will play a part and fulfil their role, " stated Madison County Board Chair Alan Dunstan.

Just north of St. Louis, Madison County has a population of over 259,000. The county includes Edwardsville, the county seat, and Alton, the site of the October 1858 Congressional election debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. Pictured here is the debate site memorial. Madison County has conducted a homeless census since 1993, and the 2004 census identified 620 persons and found that almost 13% of the homeless population lived in Alton.

. . . that, in the 3-year history of the Compassion Capital Fund (CCF), a total of $99.5 million has been awarded to 1,906 organizations Created in 2002, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Children and Families' Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) is a key component of the President's Faith-Based and Community Initiative led by the White House Office of Faith based and Community Initiatives under the direction of Jim Towey (pictured here). One hundred and ninety-seven organizations have received grants and 1,709 grass-roots faith and community-based organizations have or will receive sub-awards by Sept. 30, 2004.

. . . that CCF has recently released four new guidebooks for faith-based and community organizations, as well as intermediary organizations. The new Guidebooks are:

• Best Practices: knowledge and information needed to be able to identify, validate and promote best practices
• Establishing Partnerships: key elements involved in building capacity through effective partnership development
• Grant Acquisition: key concepts about effective federal grant research and proposal writing practices
• Grant Management: key concepts and elements required to manage Federal grants effectively

. . . that CCF also has available guides in PDF format on Outcomes Measurement, Revenue Sources, Sub- Award Management, and Technical Assistance. CCF Guides can be viewed on-line at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccf/resources/rscs_toolkit.html#gbks

FOR THIS ISSUE, the e-newsletter focuses on remarks given by United States Interagency Council Executive Director Philip Mangano at the Triangle United Way event "Together We Can End Homelessness," held on August 27 at Nortel Networks in Research Triangle Park, NC.

"The United Way, its staff, and all of its partners, corporate, business, and providers have saved many a life and made life more livable for many over the past quarter century. Across our country, United Way agencies from your national office in Washington to United Ways in Atlanta, Manchester, New York, San Diego, Los Angeles, and numerous other cities have reinvolved themselves in the response to homelessness. In Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin asked the United Way to lead the planning process to create that city's 10-Year Plan. In bringing together a broad-based, inclusive, and expansive partnership in that community that includes corporate, business, non-profit, philanthropic, and faith-based agencies, they have led the way in the Atlanta community, investing $10 million in their 10- year plan in the past 12 months."

"The focus on management outcomes and results by this administration is resonating across other cities as well. 135 mayors and county executives have partnered with the federal government in creating 10- Year Plans to end chronic homelessness in their communities in a result-oriented approach characterized by benchmarks, milestones, and outcomes. Mayors Worley in Asheville, Joynes in Winston-Salem, Bell in Durham, Meeker in Raleigh, Seifert in Henderson have all committed to this 10- year process to replace the ad hoc, siloed approach with the common sense of a strategic, coordinated plan."

"Our efforts and the efforts of the United Way are to ensure that every member of our community will be known by a single name - neighbor - and treated as one. Our collective work is to make the Triangle a national model of neighboring. No one is better positioned to do that than all of you, partnered in the United Way."

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-newsletter continues its focus on elements of the Title V federal surplus property and opportunities to secure resources for homeless programs under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Title V provides that state and local governments, as well as nonprofit organizations, are eligible to apply for land and buildings that have been determined by the federal government to be "suitable and available" for eligible uses to benefit homeless people. More than two dozen agencies of the federal government are included as "landholding" agencies that may have property.

Properties that have been designated as "suitable and available" for eligible uses to assist homeless persons are listed each Friday in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which briefly describes properties determined to be suitable and available. To access the weekly listing, contact your local HUD office or call 1-800-927-7588 to receive information on properties in your area. Or visit the Federal Register online at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html, Choose "browse" and then "back issues," and then select the most recent Friday issue.