Boston Capacity Tank Overview 2008

Partners and Purpose.  A program of the Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston, the Boston Capacity Tank works with our Partners, United Way of Massachusetts Bay (www.uwmb.org), Emmanuel Gospel Center (www.egc.org), and Boston TenPoint Coalition (www.bostontenpoint.org), to provide capacity-building services to community-based organizations (CBOs) and faith-based organizations (FBOs) that work with at-risk and high-risk youth in Boston.  The Tank helps FBOs and CBOs to become more sustainable and their programs to be more effective.  Ultimately, the Tank’s services help youths receive needed services and access relationships with supportive adults so they can accomplish positive results in life. 

The Tank has received a 2007-2010 Compassion Capital Fund Demonstration grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services in the amount of $500,000 per year for three years.  Each year, we will provide the following services to FBOs and CBOs that serve youth in Boston.  All services are free of charge and address the following five priority areas: (1) organizational development, (2) leadership development, (3) programs and services development, (4) fundraising and financial management, and (5) community engagement, partnership, and collaboration building.

• Capacity Grants to clusters of agencies:  The Tank awards 5 grants of up to $40,000 each to existing partnerships of youth-serving agencies to build their capacity.  The grant period is May 2 to December 31, 2008; the application deadline is Tuesday, April 8 at noon.  Click here to download the Grant Overview and Guidelines.  For more information, please contact Ellen Bass at ebass@bmaboston.org or 617-445-2737 x13.
  
• Extensive Technical Assistance (TA) to 25 agencies / year:  The Tank gives awards of 20 to 40 hours of free consulting services to support agencies’ capacity building projects, including a brief agency assessment and access to the Tank’s pool of consultants (the Pool).  The Pool includes pre-screened consultants who have expertise and a proven track record strengthening small-to-large youth serving organizations.  To download the TA application and Overview:
  
  Extensive TA Overview [Click here for pdf] [Click here for word]
  Extensive TA Application [Click here for pdf] [Click here for word]
  
  
  Applications are due April 4, 2008.  For more information and for support in planning your project or your application, please contact Curtis Jones at cjones@bmaboston.org or 617-445-2737 x14.

Eligibility Requirements for Cluster Grants and Individualized TA:  CBO/FBO must:
1. have provided direct service to youth in Boston for at least one year; 
2. have paid staff or plans to hire, at minimum, a 25% paid staff person;

• High Risk Youth Network:  The HRYN is a public planning process intended to strengthen the connections between youth providers, City and State agencies, public schools and faith-based and community organizations, to expand and enhance services for youth at high-risk and reverse the trend of youth violence.  The Network meets monthly at the Roxbury Boys and Girls Club Yawkey Center.   All are welcome to attend and participate. In 2007-2008, the Network has identified two priorities to address:  (1) strengthening the infrastructure of the Network, and (2) organizing coordinated coalitions of youth service agencies in targeted neighborhoods.  Since 2005, the Network has created a number of tools to strengthen and connect agencies that serve youth at high risk:  (1) The Needs Assessment Report, (2) Boston Youth Survival Guide, (3) Promising Jobs Practices Report, (4) the HRYN’s website www.bostonyouthnet.org, and (5) the Youth Outcomes Report.  For more information, including a list of our 2008 meeting dates, please click here [make live link to www.bostonyouthnet.org] and contact Talia Rivera at trivera@bmaboston.org or 617-445-2737 x16.
  
• Capacity Training Workshop Series, plus follow-up TA to 25 agencies:  The Tank is providing 16 workshop topics to strengthen programs, management, and leadership.  For a listing of all the topics currently offered, please click here.  To register for our workshops, please click here.  Eligible agencies may also receive up to two hours of follow-up TA with the workshop provider. For more information, please contact Deandra Robinson at drobinson@bmaboston.org or 617-445-2737 x26.

Other capacity-building services.  In addition, the Tank provides the following resources to FBOs and CBOs in Boston:
Communities Empowering Youth:  A 3-year partnership to build the capacity of 10 agencies selected in 2006, to work together to prevent youth violence in Boston.
Hyams Girls’ Initiative:  A 3-year project to build the capacity of 7 Hyams Foundation grantees selected in 2006, which work with system-involved girls.  For more information, please visit www.hyamsfoundation.org or contact Kalya Hamlett at 617-445-2737 x17 or khamlett@bmaboston.org. 
Empowerment Zone Capacity-Building Consultant Services:  18-month project to build the capacity of 12 grantees. 
Teen Cafes and Youth Jobs:  Ongoing effort to provide funding and support to CBOs and FBOs which offer teen cafes and jobs for youth with minor court involvement. 

Accomplishments.  Since 2002, the Tank has awarded 87 federal Compassion Capital Fund program grants to 44 FBOs and 43 CBOs, totaling $2,502,565 and 55 Customized TA grants totaling $1,600,000.  Together, these grants impacted an estimated 26,372 youth, or 18.9% of youth in the City, including 5,041 not previously served.  For a listing of our recent grants, please click here.

Results.  The Tank is pleased to report the successes of its client agencies:
• 93% of grantees improved their management capacity. 
• 86% of program expansion grantees built new capacity in outcome measurement, financial management, or resource development, as a result of efforts to comply with the grant requirements.
• 80% of grantees say they are in a better position to win funds, because of their work with the Tank and Partners.  Tank grantees have accessed an additional $3 million in public, local, and private funds, because of their capacity-building success.
• 87% of grantees are better connected to the other programs and services in their community, because of their work with the Tank and Partners.
• 98% of grantees reported on youth outcomes, or benefits, to the community.
• 70% grantees were able to sustain their funded expansions with other funds.