The Cumberland County Community Development Office is seeking single women living alone or with roommates in the Portland area to participate in a study of their housing needs and preferences.

Data will be collected through an online survey and in-depth interviews, said Elizabeth Trice, the county’s grants and special projects coordinator.

Some of the interviewees will be invited to participate in a focus group further discussing some viable options for housing catered towards the needs of women living alone or with others.

This research is primarily funded by a grant from the Maine Community Foundation.

Tom's of Maine, "50 States for Good" Initiative Offers Program Funding for Nonprofits

With a total community action fund of $100,000, Tom's of Maine's "50 States for Good" initiative is celebrating and rewarding nonprofits from across the country whose efforts are focused on lasting, positive change in the community.

Tom's of Maine is hoping to inspire participation from nonprofits of all sizes and is excited to hear about the community projects that matter most to them.

Microbusinesses generally means businesses employing fewer than five that borrowed less than $35,000 often much less to start up.

And just this week Kiva, the San Francisco nonprofit that made international microfinance a household name, launched a Web-based way for individuals to make small loans to small businesses in the United States.

Weaver says microlenders also need to get the word out among potential borrowers. "The one thing I think we need most to take it to scale," he says, "is raising the awareness that it is here so that people know to look for it."

To that end Opportunity Fund, Kiva and Silicon Valley Community Foundation late last month hosted a daylong microfinance conference at Stanford University. The day's agenda was none-to-subtly labeled "Microfinance: It's Happening in Our Backyard." About 500 attended to debate the future of the industry in the United States and to discuss models that might broaden the success of the practice.

It was during one of those sessions, a field trip to two businesses launched with microloans, that a group of conference attendees met Taran and even took an impromptu salsa lesson from her.

The 'Ewa Beach Community Fund of the Hawai'i Community Foundation is now accepting proposals from nonprofit organizations. Preference will be given to projects that address a community need and benefit the 'Ewa Community. Deadline for submissions is April 24, 2009. Advertisement

The 'Ewa Beach Community Fund is interested in supporting programs that promote positive community identity and relationships, and serve the youth or the elderly. The programs should be conducted by Ewa-based organizations, which have a history of involvement in the 'Ewa community.

At a news conference held at the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne this morning, Lilly Endowment Inc. announced that it will provide a $20 million grant to accelerate the development of northeast Indiana’s workforce and talent resources.

The grant will be administered via a program, entitled Talent Opportunity Success (TOpS) 2015, which will develop education, training and talent initiatives in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. TOpS 2015 -- an unprecedented collaboration in northeast Indiana -- will better prepare the region’s workforce to capture the high- quality job opportunities available in the near term and those of the future.

The grant will be made to an affiliate of the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne, Community Partnerships, Inc. (CPI), which will govern and provide oversight for the program. CPI is a supporting organization of the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.

A community foundation reinvents an indicators report with a 20-year history to engage an entire region in strategic responses to major issues. In recent years, The Spartanburg County Foundation has extended ownership of the report—and a resulting community-wide strategic plan—through partnership with the local chamber of commerce, United Way, a state university, and local government.

via Community Indicators Report @ The Spartanburg County Foundation « We’re Better Together.

What are the most important pieces of Santa Cruz County land to protect from development? The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County will seek to answer that question as it develops a 20-year conservation blueprint, the group announced Wednesday.

The 18-month endeavor is being made possible with a $488,000 grant provided by the San Francisco-based Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County has chipped in $15,000 for a series of public forms in the fall.

Many workers who are vital to the community compete for a limited number of affordable units. According to the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission Housing Analysis, entry-level firefighters and police officers could only afford 129 of the single-family homes and 42 of the condominiums sold in the Planning District between 2004 and 2005.

The Charlottesville Areas Association of REALTORS (CAAR) created a Work Force Housing Fund to assist those people who serve essential community functions to purchase homes near to where they work. The Fund is based at the Charlottesville Albemarle Community Foundation and administered by the Piedmont Housing Alliance.

Reversing the blight has been a mission of the Hill Youth Action Team (HYAT) since the summer of 2006 when they scanned 40 local properties for abandoned houses, litter and vacant lots on the streets where they live. Their banner message “Save Our Society” still hangs over Howard Avenue and Minor Streets to remind everyone to get involved.

Donors to The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven provided funding for the project (more…)

Maximizing economic opportunity

Those are the watchwords of the continuum of Learning, a community partnership among the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, the United Way of Central Illinois and the Sangamon County Community Foundation.

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