Grants and In-Kind Support to USA Local Governments for Prog

Grants and In-Kind Support to USA Local Governments for Programs that Train Leaders to Establish Economic Empowerment Programs

Financial Empowerment Cities (FE Cities) Initiative

GrantWatch ID# 200976

Agency: Foundation

Funding Source

Cities for Financial Empowerment (CFE) Fund

Geographic Focus

All USA

Important Dates

Deadline: 03/03/23 Save

Grant Description

Grants and in-kind support to USA cities and counties for programs that train local leaders to create and manage economic empowerment programs. Selected local governments will receive funding, technical assistance, and training to be used in fellowship programs for local leaders. Fellows will work with the funding source to establish a new financial empowerment office and manage existing programs. The purpose of the program is to advance financial empowerment initiatives at both the local and national level.

The Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE Fund) is requesting applications for the second cohort of Financial Empowerment Cities.

Through the Financial Empowerment Cities (FE Cities) initiative, the CFE Fund will support cohorts of local leaders, trained in a new two-year FE Fellowship training program. Each FE Fellow will work with the CFE Fund to launch and lead a newly established local Office of Financial Empowerment, managing existing and launching new financial empowerment programs and initiatives. FE Fellows will also serve as the local government’s internal financial empowerment consultant; bring a financial stability lens to a range of related issues; and leverage their leadership role to ensure financial empowerment is central to local anti-poverty efforts. FE Fellows also will be well-positioned to bring financial empowerment services and expertise into local racial equity efforts.

Local governments (city or county) will receive grant funding, plus extensive training and technical assistance over two years, to create an Office of Financial Empowerment that institutionalizes local financial empowerment efforts. This cohort of Financial Empowerment Cities will recruit dedicated staff members who will not only lead this work locally, but also join other leaders in this space across the nation advancing the municipal financial empowerment field.

Full Grant Text RFP

Hire a Grant Writer

Recipient

Eligibility

Others (see text field entitled "Additional Eligibility Criteria" for clarification)

Additional Eligibility Criteria

Local governments (cities or counties) with 50,000 or more residents are eligible to apply.

Applicants must demonstrate strong commitment from the Mayor, County Leader, or City Manager (as applicable) and other key leadership to launch an Office of Financial Empowerment. Strong preference will be given to cities/counties with existing financial empowerment programming and demonstrated experience in launching related programmatic and/or policy initiatives. However, cities/counties with existing Offices of Financial Empowerment or their equivalent are not eligible to apply for this opportunity.

Please note that this engagement will require committed senior staff member(s) to serve as the main point of contact for CFE Fund prior to the designation of their local FE Fellow, with strong preference that he or she likely would serve as supervisor of the FE Fellow.

Pre-Proposal Conference

The CFE Fund will host an informational webinar on this grant opportunity on January 30th, 2023 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time.

To register: https://cfefund-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aY42RNGzQR-b7cHbhbiBzw

Pre-Application Information

Important Dates
- Application release date: January 10, 2023
- Informational webinar: January 30, 2023, 3-4pm EST
- Application due date: March 3, 2023

The application process is in two stages: (1) A written proposal submitted through the CFE Fund’s online grant portal, and (2) a more in-depth follow-up interview with each eligible applicant. For the interview, cities/counties should plan for the participation of the staff member(s) designated to oversee the early development of the program and relevant senior city/county leaders. Interview participation should be restricted to municipal staff and leadership.

Funds may be used to cover salary of the full-time OFE Fellow/leader and other OFE expenditures with the approval of the CFE Fund. Additionally, approximately $20k of funds should be reserved to cover travel for convenings and site visits over the two years.

Funds will be paid out over two years as match funds. Grantee will need to raise $120,000 to draw down the full grant.

Further information: https://cfefund.org/project/financial-empowerment-cities/

Number of Grants

Up to five local governments (city or county) will receive funding.

Estimated Size of Grant

Successful applicants will receive $170,000 in grant funding, plus extensive training and technical assistance.

Term of Contract

The grant term for each cohort of FE Cities is expected to be 24 months.

The FE Cities Initiative is comprised of two distinct phases of work: (1) Pre-Launch/Infrastructure Building, and (2) Post-Launch/Operations. Pre-Launch is expected to last approximately 3-9 months, with the remainder of the grant period dedicated to operations, program/policy development, and continued sustainability work.

Contact Information

For further information about the program and to apply online: https://www.grantinterface.com/Process/Apply?urlkey=CitiesFE

For questions, please contact Brad Willows, Senior Associate, at BWillows@cfefund.org.

Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund
44 Wall Street, Suite 1050
New York, NY 10005
646.362.1638

We have foundations for

We have grants for

Grant Writers For Hire - Grant Writer Team