Wanted: Orgs with strategies to maximize income and benefits for households facing poverty

United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey and the City of Philadelphia issued a call today to nonprofit organizations: If you have the expertise and community reach to connect a large number of individuals and families with the public benefits, subsidies, supports and resources they need — apply.

The call for collaborations is part of The Family Stability Community Challenge, one of a number of challenges that will be issued in the next year as part of the Poverty Action Fund’s aim of helping lift 100,000 people out of poverty within the next five years.

The Fund is a coalition of public and private sector organizations, governed jointly by City Council, the Mayor’s Office, and UWGPSNJ, that is investing $20 million in a poverty alleviation effort unprecedented in the city.

Nonprofit organizations responding to today’s call for collaborations must be able to implement place-based and/or population-based strategies and deliver evidence-based approaches to maximize resources and benefits for a high volume of Philadelphia residents.

In the offing are one-year grants in the range of $1,000,000-$2,500,000 for partnerships that:

• Create and make available free tax preparation and benefits screening and application tools that streamline enrollment and access;
• Convene and bring together a broad range of diverse programs that help connect low-income Philadelphians to subsidized basic needs, such as food, health care, housing and child care, and provide added income, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and direct cash transfer;
• Improve outreach and address accessibility-related barriers through the use of nontraditional venues, such as community-based organizations, community colleges, public schools, and child care centers.

According to the guidelines, the Poverty Action Fund expects the proposals it receives to “leverage organizational partnerships that strengthen awareness building and community outreach, provide place-based or population-based expertise, and expand access to programs and services that support stability among low-income households, including but not limited to tax preparation, benefits access, financial/legal counseling, and other income and basic needs supplements.”

In order to successfully deliver those services, the guidelines explain, the Fund expects nonprofits to develop collaborations that “leverage the expertise of multiple partners.”

The nonprofits will partner directly with the public-private partnership which is operated by United Way, and in partnership with the City of Philadelphia.

“We must act quickly to ensure that our neighbors have the tools they need to recover and rebuild from this  pandemic,” Bill Golderer, president & CEO of UWGPSNJ said in the call for collaborations.

“The Family Stability Community Challenge is laser-focused on income and economic stabilization so that all Philadelphian’s can meet their basic needs to address our city’s untenable poverty rate,” Golderer added. “We must rise to meet the devastating economic and health  crisis and focus on collaborative, bold approaches to help our neighbors achieve financial stability.”

There will be an informational webinar for nonprofits on November 30, and this first grant cycle has a December 11 deadline.