Grantees

Strategic Investments
Innovation Grants
Promising Strategies Grants
 

Strategic Investments

Strategic Investments are longer-term investments in regional, multi-regional, or multi-state collaborations that have the potential to bring about multi-level change and poverty alleviation through wealth creation, family self-sufficiency, and leadership development strategies.  Strategic Partnership investments must be able to demonstrate long-term sustainability and the potential for measurable leverage and impact.  (see Criteria)

Alaska Rural Community Health Economic Strategies
Alaska
To expand the base of village-based primary health providers to work in remote Native Alaskan villages to provide dental care, mental health/behavioral care and elder care while also providing Medicaid reimbursable health-related career ladders, meaning more viable Native communities and stronger local leaders.

Appalachia Ohio Regional Investment Collaborative
Ohio
To build a strong economic and entrepreneurial base within the 28 counties of Appalachian Ohio, engaging both state and federal partners in a wide variety of projects that include: supporting entrepreneurial opportunities and networks; encouragement of specialty food businesses and local buying; and building a local arts and nature tourism base.

Central Valley Partnership for Citizenship
California
To support the work of 14 immigrant organizations working in California’s Central Valley to increase civic participation through legalization and naturalization, to  build and strengthen a Valley-wide culture of collaboration and mutual understanding and to empower residents to bring about positive, lasting improvements to quality of llife for Valley immigrants through leadership development and grassroots policy change.

Rural Livelihoods Collaborative
New Mexico
To strengthen the viability of communities and families in pueblo- and small rural communities through revival and nurture of culturally-based community industries that promise to revitalize the economic base of these communities, identify and strengthen emerging community leaders and increase the overall self-sufficiency of rural New Mexican families living in poverty.

South Carolina Community Economic Development Public Policy Collaborative
South Carolina
To support a community capacity-building, grassroots leadership development, and wealth creation in low wealth rural communities throughout rural South Carolina through building a strong based of community development corporations, establishing a forum for training and policy advocacy for grassroots leaders and expanding a statewide program of IDA’s for low wealth families and individuals.

Innovation Grants

Innovation Grants are short-term investments designed to support innovative models and move work to the next level.  Innovation Grants will serve to highlight replicable rural models for change.  Emphasis will be placed on showcasing the unique approach to rural transformation.  Innovation Grants are not considered a pathway to Strategic Investments. (see Criteria)

Black Family Land Trust
South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia
To implement a strategy for land conservation and ownership retention utilizing public easement funds and funds from other sources to restore historic Black family lands to original ownership and to allow for limited development thereof, which will allow for wealth creation for Black families while preserving the integrity of natural assets.

Building Philanthropy to Support Rural Entrepreneurship
Nebraska
To support a strategy for capturing some portion of rural Nebraska’s transfer of wealth over the next 20 years through establishing community endowments and for using this community endowment strategy as an opportunity to educate rural communities to be come more competitive by adopting more entrepreneurial economic strategies for growth.

Good Faith Fund
Arkansas
To expand a multi-faceted strategy in the Mid South Delta for increasing family self-sufficiency through strengthening workforce development efforts by connecting them to a statewide Career Pathways program with Arkansas’s two-year college system and by expanding the Arkansas Assets Coalition to provide financial literacy and IDA savings opportunities throughout the Mid South Delta.

Montana HomeOwnership Network
Montana
To develop and expand, in partnership with the American Indian Tribal Homeownership Task Force, Native-based financial literacy programs on seven Montana reservations,  leading to greater family self-sufficiency and wealth creation – and ultimately, homeownership – on tribal lands.

New Mexico Community Foundation
New Mexico
To expand existing efforts to expand usage of the Earned Income Tax Credit by low-income families to include Rural Livelihoods communities and to support corollary efforts to eliminate predatory lending in the state.

Rural Community Assistance Program (RCAP)
Washington, D.C.
To undertake a national research project to develop and refine NRFC’s evaluation model based on Community Capital and Rural Success Indicators and Performance Measures.

Rural Community College Initiative
Hawaii, Alaska, Chippewa Reservation North Dakota
To support Rural Community College Initiative to understand and document the unique contributions and efforts of Hawaii Community College, College of Rural Alaska and Turtle Mountain Tribal College to expand their mission to include community capacity building for long-term positive change.

Western Maine Sustainable Development Collaboration
Maine
To create a stronger regional economy in Maine's western mountains through developing local leadership, participation and civic institutional capacity; through educating community leaders to understand natural, built and financial assets as shared assets to be used and managed by community interests; and through increasing area community and family economic self-sufficiency by supporting and developing new craft and heritage-based industries in an artisan- and culture-rich region.

 Promising Strategies Grants