Register for Food and Job Training Readiness Workshop - ***REGISTRATION CLOSES, COB --- WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3***

Tuesday, Feb. 9, Tuesday, Mar. 9 and Tuesday Apr. 13, 2021 (3 Sessions – Must attend all) Join us for a virtual event sponsored by CCUSA and presented by FareStart's Catalyst Kitchens. The entire program includes 3, 3-hour sessions. The training, exclusively for Catholic Charities member agencies, will help you evaluate whether incorporating job training into food service programs is a useful addition to improve kitchen operations and to create new job opportunities for clients. The workshop will improve your food service even if you decide not to add a workforce training component. There is a modest fee for the 3-session training (9 hours), and the fee is discount because of CCUSA’s sponsorship. Space is limited. Questions about whether this program is a fit for your kitchen? Contact Steve Bogus. Ready to register? Click here.

Lessons on Self-Care from a Trauma-Informed Perspective - For Social Service Providers, Teachers, and Childcare Professionals

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is stressful. Fear and anxiety about a disease can be overwhelming and cause strong emotions in adults and children. Join CCUSA to raise awareness about symptoms of vicarious trauma in social service staff, teachers, and childcare professionals, trying to stay resilient during this difficult time. We will address important ways to practice self-care to maintain our health. Our team will advise on how to prevent and deal with stress and how to cope with emotions that will make you, the people you care about, and your community stronger. NOTE: This webinar offers 1.0 Continuing Education Credit. Course completion requirements - To earn CE credit, participants must log in at the scheduled time, attend the webinar and complete an online course evaluation and CEC post-test. The post-test survey will close 7 days after you receive the link to your email. CE Certificates will be emailed within 10 business days of course completion. Date: Feb. 16, 2021. Time: 3 PM ET. Register here.
Public Forum: CCUSA Poverty and Racism Paper

Strengthening 2Gen approaches through listening, engaging, and designing with families

Join our experts for a webinar where participants will engage in peer learning to develop and strengthen understanding of a Whole Family Approach (WFA). Additionally, we will focus on ways to become centered in key WFA concepts like racial equity, engaging and listening to families, and attending to system and policy changes that support parents and children. We will address how engaging and listening to customers can strengthen program design and build buy-in internally and externally while exploring multiple ways to connect organizations shifting to a Whole Family Approach (WFA). Date: Feb. 24, 2021 at 2:00 PM EST. Register here.

WIC 101 Webinar - A Presentation for Catholic Charities Agencies

Join us for a webinar to explore the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Join our experts to learn more about one of the nation’s premier public health nutrition program providing nutrition education, breastfeeding support, referral to health and social services, and supplemental foods to the nation’s low-income women, infants, and children through age 5. Across the United States, in urban and rural areas, WIC’s time-limited services and benefits ensure that children get a strong, healthy start in life. There is clear evidence that good nutrition during pregnancy and in the first few years of life has long-term, positive impacts on health. When children have a healthy start, their prospects, and America’s prospects, are brighter. With historically strong bipartisan support and clear evidence demonstrating how WIC is both efficient and effective at improving the health of low-income women, infants, and children, WIC ensures the future health and safety of millions of Americans. Date March 08, 2021 at 3:00 PM EST. Register here.

Grant Opportunities and Resources

Grant opportunity: CCUSA AmeriCorps VISTA program's request for proposals

CCUSA is taking applications for our Family Strengthening AmeriCorps VISTA program! The Family Strengthening program funds one-year AmeriCorps VISTA positions, which support Catholic Charities' programs through indirect activities, capacity building activities, such as fundraising and resource development, communications and social media, outreach, partnership building, volunteer management, and parish outreach, and much more! On January 28, CCUSA held a webinar (recording, slides) giving an overview of the VISTA program and the application process, highlighting sub-grantee expectations, estimated costs, and allowable activities. The application is due Friday, February 26 with a program start date of summer 2021. Please contact Sarah Hendley with any questions.

The Foundation for Financial Planning grant opportunity

The Foundation for Financial Planning is accepting grant applications (until April 30th, 2021) from nonprofit organizations whose programs link pro bono financial planners to people in need. Programs should include one-on-one engagements between Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) professionals and pro bono clients, and comply with COVID-19 safety guidelines. Grants are generally in the range of $5,000 to $40,000. For more information about eligibility and how to apply, please visit here. Nonprofits seeking to connect with CFP professionals who want to provide free, no-strings-attached financial planning and advice to underserved populations can register on FFP’s Pro Bono Planner Match website. On Pro Bono Planner Match, nonprofits can post volunteer opportunities that engage financial planners in one-on-one or interactive, small group (virtual) sessions with people in need. To access Pro Bono Planner Match, click here. For more information, please contact Rachel Roth.

Major Support for Solutions Addressing Issues Facing Disadvantaged Communities

The Andrew Family Foundation seeks to partner with one or more nonprofit organizations in the United States offering creative solutions that address issues facing under-resourced communities as well as the protection and preservation of the natural environment in which they live. The Foundation seeks to support one or more organizations focused on alleviating disparities in food access, affordable housing, high quality education, physical and psychological healthcare, and/or criminal justice. Preference will be given to organizations whose programming is intersectional, alleviating these disparities while demonstrating an interest to conserve our planet's natural resources and promote environmental sustainability. The Foundation will award grant(s) of up to $600,000 to be paid over a three-year period. The annual program budget for applying organizations should be $1 million to $4 million. Letters of inquiry are due by March 15, 2021; the deadline for invited full proposals is May 1, 2021. To review the full request for proposal and to submit a letter of inquiry, please visit the Foundation's webpage.

Direct Service Programs for Traumatized Children Funded

The Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation Children's Initiative provides support to direct service programs throughout the United States that promote resilience, stability, and pyscho-social health for youth ages 14 to 21 who have been traumatized by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Eligible programs must directly serve youth who have been significantly traumatized by ACEs, offer age-appropriate therapeutic interventions, provide services that go beyond crisis intervention, include a plan for evaluating program effectiveness, enhance the relationship between the child and at least one significant adult, be a new program or a new therapeutic component to an existing program, and use trauma informed practices. The average grant size is $30,000 or less. The deadline for Stage One Applications is March 1, 2021; invited Stage Two Applications will be due by August 1, 2021. Visit the Foundation's website to learn more about the funding guidelines and application process.

Grants Promote Youth Justice Efforts

The Visionary Freedom Fund, administered by the Andrus Family Fund, seeks to ensure that Black, Brown, and Indigenous (BIPOC) youth impacted by the youth justice system on the frontlines have the resources, capacities, infrastructure, and relationships they need to develop and implement inspiring long-term, visionary change in their communities. Grants ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 will support organizations where leadership is impacted by the carceral state, criminal legal system, and/or systems of criminalization. Applying organizations must have young people in decision-making leadership roles. General operating grants are provided, with an emphasis on funding for organizations that are often left out of traditional philanthropic giving. The application deadline is February 26, 2021. The request for proposals is available on the Andrus Family Fund's website.

Spread the word on how to access the recent Economic Income payment - particularly for those that are unbanked

The Treasury Department and the IRS are issuing millions of second Economic Impact Payments by prepaid debit card to speed delivery of the payments to as many people as possible. If the Get My Payment tool on IRS.gov shows a date that a recipient's payment was mailed, they should watch their mail for either a paper check or debit card. The debit cards arrive in a white envelope that prominently displays the U.S. Department of the Treasury seal. The prepaid debit card, called the Economic Impact Payment card, is issued by Treasury's financial agent, MetaBank, N.A. The IRS does not determine who receives a card. The form of payment for the second mailed EIP may be different than the first mailed EIP. Some people who received a paper check last time might receive a prepaid debit card this time, and some people who received a prepaid debit card last time may receive a paper check. People should watch their mail carefully; EIP Cards are being sent in a white envelope that prominently displays the U.S. Department of the Treasury seal. The envelope states "Not a bill or an advertisement. Important information about your Economic Impact Payment." The EIP Card has the Visa name on the front of the card and the issuing bank name, MetaBank, N.A. on the back. Each mailing will include instructions on how to securely activate and use the EIP Card. These cards are being issued to eligible recipients across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Residents of the western United States are generally more likely to receive an EIP Card. People can check the status of their payment using the Get My Payment tool on IRS.gov. For more information: EIP debit cards  Economic Impact Payments 

Employment Opportunities

Catholic Charities job opportunities now listed on CCUSA website 

Anyone can view the job opportunities by clicking on the "Careers" tag on the footer of the CCUSA webpage. To post a job opportunity, one must be a member and have access to the members' portal in order to fill out the submission form (click on "Careers" tag on members only portal homepage). If you have any questions about the new job opportunities submission form, please contact David Werning. Please click here to access job opportunities.

CCUSA Photo Gallery

Did you know that one of the benefits CCUSA provides to member agencies is access to a professional photo gallery? Visit our Flickr photo pages to explore our albums and photos. If you would like a high-resolution version for your agency's use, please email CCUSA with photo number.