The decennial census determines the allocation of hundreds of billions of federal program dollars. Federal agencies and private entities use data on race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, age, and disability to determine where disparities exist and where community groups could assist. This workshop brings together professionals working to collect data for the census to discuss recently analyzed data with community groups searching for information to support program objectives and goals. 

Facilitator:  Lynne Chambers-Ketchens, Technical Assistance Advisor, Illinois ResourceNet

About the facilitator:  As a technical assistance advisor, Lynne Chambers is considered to be a subject matter expert on a variety of topics, including child welfare, grantsmanship, teen pregnancy, recovery support and health promotion/disease prevention. Lynne is a highly qualified facilitator and speaker. Illinois ResourceNet provides technical assistance on designing high caliber proposals and meeting proposed project goals. 

This workshop was held at the Shawnee Community College located at Shawnee College Road in Ullin, Illinois in the River Room.

Dive into the Census

Print and use documents to enhance your grants

• 50 REASONS to Use Census Data
• A Glimpse into the 2010 US Census
• Key Facts of the American Community Survey (ACS)

TA Advisor: Jay Readey

Writing a federal proposal is a multi-step process with every tier requiring an equal level of intense consideration. The federal budget piece is probably the most detailed and specific item on the federal proposal to-do list. Illinois ResourceNet’s face-to-face workshop tackles the topic of federal budgets and help attendees sort through this daunting section of the federal proposal. In addition, this session describes the principles used in developing a budget narrative.

Illinois ResourceNet’s technical advisor explains the importance of managing your organization’s finances to improve your success in applying for a federal grant.

You will walk away knowing how to plan and monitor financial activity, while establishing a solid line of communication between program staff and budgeting staff. This course helps to prepare organizations to manage the detailed federal budget section of their proposals.

Get the entire story by clicking here: Finding Funding for Floods

IRN’s hazard mitigation model works with cities and counties to help them apply for funding to safe guard against natural and environmental disasters by providing training and technical assistance around hazard mitigation planning and long term recovery. In addition, our technical assistance providers also identify and map additional federal funding opportunities based on approved hazard mitigation plans throughout the state.

Recent Accomplishments

The Department of Commerce and Economic Progress (DCEO)  announces $7.5 million in federal IKE Disaster Recovery funds for Henderson County and Gulfport. Funding will support property buyouts in communities affected by the floods and storm disasters that occurred in 2008. 

• Read Message from DCEO- Henderson County Press Release
• View Video Summary of 2008 Floods

Before you Apply! Additional Resources for Local Community Officials

• CDBG Disaster Recovery Plan (IKE) Plan
• Hazard Mitigation Assistance Unified Guidance
• Long-Term Recovery Council Final Report

To work with an Illinois ResourceNet TA provider on a grant proposal send an email to info@illinoisresource.net or call Shaye Hall at  (312) 413-4301.

Listen to a history of university-community partnerships, projects, and place-based community development strategies that have defined the operations of UICNI- East Campus, the section of UICNI focused on community and economic development. Current projects, including Illinois ResourceNet: A Funding Access Initiative and the ChiWest project.

Atanacio”Nacho” Gonzalez, UICNI associate director and IRN director, and Thea Crum, UICNI program coordinator and IRN assistant director will be presenting at this seminar.

Established in 1993, GCI’s Neighborhoods Initiative (UICNI) represents a diverse network of partnerships between the Universityof Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and organizations in the neighborhoods adjacent to UIC or near university-sponsored, neighborhood-based facilities. The Initiative works with community members to create programs that encourage engagement, partnership, and mutual development.

The GCI Hello! seminar series are given by leaders of Great Cities Institute programs to share their history and discuss current projects.

For more details about the Great Cities Institute log onto UICNI’s webpage.

Valerie Leonard, Illinois ResourceNet technical assistance provider worked with MyWay Village on a $4.7 grant in ARRA funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce. 

Andrew Lowenstein, the Chief Strategy Officer for MyWay Village Inc. says the grant will help fund:

• New computer equipment
• Internet access
• Connected Living training programs for over 4,500 trainees

“Low income seniors and affordable housing communities deserve equal access to technologies that can deliver better health and economic opportunity,” said Sarah Hoit, CEO and Co-Founder of MyWay Village.

Listen to Charles Benton, Chairman of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois (PCI) and Drew Clark, Executive Director of PCI talk to Illinois ResourceNet about the goals of the Broadband Partnership in Illinois

What is the Goal of Broadband in Illinois?

How did Illinois ResourceNet help MyWay Village apply for federal funding?

Background

MyWay Village, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the Illinois Low Income Senior Internet Coalition, plans to transform its Connected Living Adoption and Sustainability Program, a longstanding program that ties technology, training, and technical support together in a way uniquely tailored for the senior community.

The project plans to engage its 23 targeted senior housing communities to teach the basics of e-mail, Web access, and other practical broadband applications. The project also intends to collaborate with local Workforce Investment Act organizations to help seniors who develop their digital literacy skills to find part time work.

Listen to Don S. Samuelson of DSSA Strategies who has more than 30 years of experience in government-assisted housing and real estate development. He collaborated on the development of the MyWay Village Inc. proposal and worked with Illinois ResourceNet to submit the winning proposal.

The award will help in the expansion and improvement of the Illinois Century Network by:

• Providing ultra high-speed access in 55 counties
• Creating more than 160 jobs
• Connecting about 400 community institutions

Background

On September 8th, 2010, Governor Pat Quinn announced the launch of a nearly $100 million project to construct more than 1,000 new miles of high-speed fiber optic broadband infrastructure in 55 Illinois counties. Supported by Illinois Jobs Now! capital funding, a $62 million competitive federal award will modernize Illinois’ high-tech infrastructure, creating approximately 676 jobs and serving more than 285,000 businesses and nearly four million households.

Read Governor Quinn’s Press Release

Governor Quinn Announces $106 Million in Funds

Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity News Release

“Building information infrastructure brings jobs and high-speed Internet access to under-served areas,” said Governor Quinn. “This significant federal funding is a major win for Illinois and will support economic development across our state.” Read more

Listen to Governor Pat Quinn’s Press Conference

Governor Quinn Announces $106 Million

How will IBOP Help Connect Illinois residents to the Internet?

What is the East Central Region of the Illinois Broadband Opportunity Partnership?

On Tuesday, September 28, 2010, the 13 recipients of Governor Pat Quinn’s Broadband in Illinois federal funding convened at the first meeting of the statewide partnership. Charles Benton, Chairman of Partnership for a Connected Illinois (PCI) hosted the gathering and congratulated each grant recipient for their specific involvement in coordinating and implementing the statewide effort to connect Illinois residents to the digital community.

Next Steps: The Partnership will be meeting monthly to implement the broadband proposal. For more information on the progress of the grant click here.

Help meet EPA site inventory, public record and notice, and reporting requirements All site data available in your own password protected database Multiple entities may work together to create/use the database All information/data entered into BIT is password protected to prevent unauthorized use Data can easily be imported or exported for individual or multiple sites A mapping feature allows viewing of site or sample locations Instructions available on every page in BIT Contains additional brownfields-related resources

BIT Advantages

BIT WEBSITE: http://tab-bit.org

BIT Contact Information Blase Leven TAB Program at Kansas State University Phone: 785-532-0780 E-mail: baleven@ksu.edu

Hosted by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning

Speakers include:

• Blase Leven, Kansas State University
• Ryan Ames, CMAP
• Moderated by Deborah Orr, USEPA

The Brownfield Inventory Tool (BIT) is a Free, web-based, comprehensive brownfield program management tool. BIT was designed especially for users working under an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cooperative agreement requiring the submittal of a Property Profile Form, but any entity working on establishing a site inventory database will find BIT very helpful. Cities, regional coalitions, and Tribes can also use BIT to consolidate environmental and administrative information from sites in multiple programs.

Users may enter detailed site data, upload documents and data, and generate and export a variety of reports, including the Property Profile Form. BIT can also be used as a collaborative tool where specific inventory data can be accessed by multiple users IF permission by the primary user is granted. All information entered into BIT is username/password protected to ensure privacy.

BIT is very user friendly and instructions can be found on every page of the program.
BIT was developed by the TAB (Technical Assistance to Brownfields communities) program at Kansas State University with funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Cooperative Agreement TR83389401.

A prototype of BIT was developed by EPA Region 8 in 2004 and BIT is the updated version of this prototype.

The Conference on Thursday, September 16, 2010, UIC Forum, Chicago, IL, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m attracted representatives from nonprofits, municipalities, and state and federal agencies.

You can access all of the information, resources and materials disseminated and presented at this year’s conference on this page. 

View- 2010 IRN Statewide Conference Announcement  

View- 2010 IRN Conference Panelists, Presenters & Facilitators Biographies 

View- 2010 IRN Conference Agenda  

View- 2010 IRN Conference Details- (Payment, Check-in, Parking Options, Overnight Accommodations, Lunch)  

Conference Break-Out Sessions Descriptions

View- IRN 2010 Conference Break-out Sessions 

Case Study: Finding Funding in Floods: Working with Local Communities to Develop Hazard Mitigation Plans

Facilitator: Carrie McKillip, IRN Technical Assistance Provider 

Presenters: Jared Owen, IEMA Hazard Mitigation Planner; Rich Meyers, Gulfport Village Board President; Susan Meyers, Henderson County Treasurer;Coral Seitz, Henderson County Emergency Management Director 

Flood mitigating has increasingly become the responsibility of local decision makers who work with technical assistance providers to apply for federal funding.  IRN has worked consistently with local communities in Illinois after the 2008 floods on the importance of understanding why local communities need to adopt both structural and non-structural flood mitigation strategies. During the panel, particular attention will be paid to the role of organizational capacity within communities to address floods in addition to various local geophysical and socioeconomic characteristics. 

On August 19, 2010, Governor Quinn announced federal disaster assistance approved to help people and businesses affected by the July 2010  floods. The recent declaration only reaffirms the relevance and importance of the work being completed by IRN’s technical assistance providers in previously impacted flooded communities. 

View press release of Governor Quinn’s announcement >

Break-out Session Conference Audio 

Advantages in Place: Creating a continuous proposal stream

Presenter:  Al Zwilling, University of Illinois Extension Specialist Project Development and Sustainability and Illinois ResourceNet Extension Coordinator 

In this session participants will learn about new potential federal grant opportunities and the process of using one federal grant to lead to another in a process of continuous proposal development. Proposal success is cumulative, especially when carried out in collaborative networks where data can be shared, partnerships can be forged, learning can take place, different program areas can be linked, and diverse resources can be leveraged.  This session gives practical hands-on training on how to engage in a continuous proposal building process including utilizing the catalogue of federal assistance, grants.gov and planning documents to anticipate and prepare for potential opportunities. 

Break-out Session Hand-outs 

Advantages in Place 

IRN Place Based Grants Matrix Activity 

A memo for the heads of executive departments and agencies on Place-based policies was released by the Obama Administration signaling the shift to a place-based model for determining domestic and fiscal priorities. 

Read the memo here >

Developing a Proposal Building Team

Presenters: Deborah Minor-Harvey & James Pfluecke, IRN Technical Assistance Providers 

This workshop will identify best practices in federal grant proposal project management including developing a work plan and your work team. Participants will learn about the organizational capacity needed to successfully complete a federal grant proposal, how to assess and document your community’s needs,  and how to develop a time line for the successful completion of all aspects of the proposal. 

Break-out Session Hand-outs 

Developing a Proposal Building Team Handout 1 

Developing a Proposal Building Team Handout 2 

Developing a Proposal Building Team Handout 3 

Developing a Proposal Building Team Handout 4 

Request for Proposal Exercise Handout 

Data for Decision Maker: Using census data and visualization to tell a story

Presenter: Brian Deal, Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois and Director of the LEAM Modeling Systems Laboratory and Smart Energy Design Assistance Center 

Census data can provide a unique picture of local communities, by providing information on indicators such as household income levels, the age and education-level of a population, the race and ethnic makeup of a community and how a population has changed over time. This type of information is particularly useful when trying to write a grant proposal to demonstrate the need for resources within a community, or when trying to assess the needs and issues of a community. This session will explain how to access census information and use it to create maps and graphics to visualize the information being written about in proposal submissions.  

Break-out Session Hand-outs 

Data for Decision Maker Resources 

Planning to Layer Federal Funding: Applying sustainable practices to the federal grant process 

Presenter: Susan Kaplan, Outreach Activities Coordinator, UIC Institute for Environmental Science and Policy & IRN Technical Assistance Provider 

Featured Guest: Carol Kulek, representative from the IL Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) 

Detailed comprehensive plans and federal funding grants need some of the same elements to thrive. If a community identifies its needs as part of the planning process, it can, as part of a continuous proposal building process, pinpoint which grants will help meet those needs. Federal grants are available for communities with an integrated vision for connecting economic development, community development, and environmental protection to create greater livability. This session will explain why comprehensive community planning should be an integral part of the federal funding process to help facilitate the continuous development of proposals. 

Also featured in this breakout session, Carol Kulek will speak about grant opportunities available from the IL DCEO, and how a community can best be prepared to respond when an RFP is announced. 

Panel Discussions

Place-Based Funding in Illinois: Federal, State, and Regional Insights

This panel will engage four experts from different perspectives on steering federal funds into development strategies at the community and regional levels. 

Rachel Weber, Associate Director of the Great Cities Institute, and Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Policy at UIC, will facilitate a discussion among the participants about their experiences with the realities of blending federal funds into comprehensive, durable efforts to sustain and revitalize Illinois communities.  Subjects likely to emerge include how to get place-based funding efforts started, what state offices are already interested in helping, and what regional and local planning bodies, colleges, and nonprofit organizations can do to build partnerships that will convince federal agencies to send funding their way. 

Panelists

• Debra Orr, Brownfields Coordinator, EPA Region 5

• Denise Bulat, Executive Director, Bi-State Regional Planning Agency, Quad Cities, IL & IA

• Alan Quick, Planning Manager, Illinois Housing Development Authority       Part 2

• Jeri Beel, Director of Grants Development, Lakeland College, Mattoon, IL

View Here- You can also view the Question & Answer Section of this panel discussion!

Why Place Matters for Grant Seekers?

This panel will invite three panelists to engage in a discussion about the advantages and challenges of comprehensive place-based development fromthe perspective of two active practitioners and a funder

Dennis Judd, Acting Director of the Great Cities Institute, and Department of Political Science will moderate the discussion among expert panelists about the elements a community needs in order to effectively carry out comprehensive, cross sector, integrated place-based development. The panelists will also provide examples of best practices that lead to place-based success and the capacity needed to make it work. 

Panelists 

• Robert Giloth, PhD, Vice President, Center for Family Economic Success and Community Change, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore, MD

• Maureen Hellwig, PhD, Senior Director of Programs, Erie Neighborhood House, Chicago, IL

• Lynne Dearborn, PhD, Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning and Co-Director, East St. Louis Action Research Project, Urbana-Champaign, IL

View Here- You can also view the Question & Answer Section of this panel discussion!

Tue, Aug 3, 2010 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Detailed comprehensive plans and federal funding grants need some of the same elements to thrive. Writing about the vision for investing in a community’s empty brownfields, affordable housing and economic development needs, and health issues can serve as a platform in applying for federal grants. These aspirations, when effectively written and documented, can be used as the basis for grant applications.  If a community identifies its needs as part of the planning process, it can, as part of a continuous proposal building process, pinpoint which grants will help meet those needs.