CPN is designed and maintained by ONline @ UW: Electronic Publishing Group.

Topics: Community

United Ways' Community Capacity Building Stories, continued

Index

United Ways' Community Capacity Building Stories
Preface
Introduction
United Ways

United Way & Community Chest
Cincinnati, Ohio

Mile High United Way
Denver, Colorado

Hawaii Community Services Council
Honolulu, Hawaii

United Way of Los Angeles, North Angeles Region
Los Angeles, California

United Way of the Mid-South
Memphis, Tennessee

Mesa United Way
Mesa, Arizona

United Way of Northeast Louisiana
Monroe, Louisiana

Challenges & Opportunties
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Readers' Feedback [not available on-line]

Contents

United Way of the Mid-South
Memphis, Tennessee

Mesa United Way
Mesa, Arizona

United Way of Northeast Louisiana
Monroe, Louisiana

Challenges & Opportunties
Conclusion
Acknowledgments

United Way of the Mid-South
Memphis, Tennessee

Metro: I
Region: Southeast

Community Context

Resident involvement on the neighborhood level has a long-time history, and the tremendous value of neighborhood organizations has, for the past five years, been increasingly recognized by outside institutions such as United Way, foundations, and city and county governments.

Background

The board envisioned that the venture fund would provide support to non-member agencies and test new strategies in social service delivery. However, the board had no preconceived notion of the approach that the fund would take.

Ron Register and Tim Bolding, two urban anthropologists, served on the first Venture Fund Committee. They introduced committee members to development concepts and challenged the types of funding decisions that the committee was making.

The committee began to ask itself, "Do we fund in a way that helps people do for themselves? Or are we funding projects that are doing for the people?" As a result, the Venture Fund Committee changed its funding criteria and now funds a variety of neighborhood-based organizations—namely, 501(c)(3) organizations that are organized by neighborhood residents to address issues that affect and are important to their area. For example, Northside Redevelopment Corporation is an organization that was organized by residents.

In 1990, Janice Foster, the program director for the Memphis Community Foundation and an urban anthropologist by training, joined the committee. Foster gave the committee members articles by John McKnight, which furthered their thinking about community capacity-building.

Since 1989, United Way has also formed partnerships with a variety of public, private, and nonprofit organizations in order to expand its role in community capacity-building. These partnerships range from administering the VISTA volunteer program that supplies neighborhood-based organizations with volunteers, to establishing a subsidiary nonprofit housing development corporation using funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The United Way board is very supportive of and personally involved with community capacity-building efforts and the venture fund. The venture fund has always had board representation on its committee. In 1994, Karl Birkholz, the current chair of the United Way board, and four other board members serve on the Venture Fund Committee. Additionally, Dr. Charles Leonard, the chair of the United Way board for 1992-1993, was president of a company that has a strong working relationship with the neighborhood association and that serves the low-income neighborhood in which its headquarters is located.

Principles

• The Venture Fund Committee first sought to promote self-help through its grant-making. However, over time venture fund grants have come to address a variety of community capacity-building principles, including human development, community assets, resident control, and economic and institutional development.
  
• United Way's sponsorship of the VISTA volunteer program seeks to promote self-help, community assets, and resident control.
  
• United Way's coordination of HUD's Homeownership Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE 3) planning and implementation grants (description to follow) is based on community assets and promotes resident control and institutional development.

Community Capacity-building Efforts

The Venture Fund Program makes one-time grants to groups, organizations, programs, and projects that develop new and innovative programs that produce long-term solutions to human problems. The program is specifically interested in funding programs that engage people and communities in the development of decisions and policies that affect them.

Between 1986 and 1994, Venture Fund grants totaled $1,306,669. The grants have supported an assortment of programs from career development to homelessness to literacy. However, more than 40 percent of the funds have gone to housing and community and economic development projects. The next largest funding categories are youth and health, mental health, and substance abuse, which have received 26 percent and 20 percent of the venture grant funds, respectively.

Venture fund grants have supported such projects as Students, Mothers and Concerned Citizens (SMACC's) Project War and Bethel Grove Community Organization's W.C. Handy Cultural Resource Center. Project War is an employment training program for young people that is operated by neighborhood residents.. The W.C. Handy Cultural Resource Center will serve as both an incubator for small neighborhood-based businesses as well as a civic center for the neighborhood.

Some of the venture fund grants have gone to programs in which United Way has participated in the program design and as the funder. Such is the case with the Project Development Training Program and the Technical Assistance Pool. Both of these programs seek to build the institutional capacity of neighborhood-based organizations (i.e., community development corporations) to develop affordable housing.

The United Way sponsors the Development Training Program to provide systematic training in affordable housing, neighborhood development, and economic development to community development corporations (CDCs) and other neighborhood-based organizations. United Way contracted with the Development Training Institute (DTI) in Baltimore to present the training. Staff in the community initiatives department worked with DTI and the local groups to identify their training needs.

Funding for this program comes from the venture fund, the city of Memphis, and three local lenders. For the first phase of training, which took place in 1992 and 1993, the city provided $39,000, local banks provided $6,500, and the United Way provided $20,000. For the second phase of training, which began in early 1994, the city has committed $35,000, which may be increased to $85,000, and the United Way has committed $20,000.

The Technical Assistance Pool was established in early 1994. This program provides funds to neighborhood-based groups on an as-needed basis for hiring consultants, attending training, visiting CDCs outside of Memphis, or bringing outside CDC representatives to Memphis. United Way and the city of Memphis have both contributed funds totaling $24,000 for the Technical Assistance Pool.

Volunteer Placement
Since 1989, ACTION (now a program of the federal government's National Commission for Community Service) asked the United Way to become the local sponsor for the VISTA volunteer program in Memphis. ACTION approached the United Way because United Way has extensive working relationships with local nonprofit organizations, including neighborhood-based organizations. For the first two years, volunteers were placed with more traditional agencies (e.g., YWCA and the Alliance for the Blind). However, in the program's third year, placements were made to some neighborhood-based organizations (e.g., Douglas, Bungalow and Crump Neighborhood Association and Memphis Area Neighborhood Development Corporation). And in the fourth year, almost all of the volunteers were placed with neighborhood-based organizations.

In 1993, ACTION also administered a Summer Associates Program that was the precursor to the National Service Program. ACTION approached the United Way to be the local sponsor for this program. The United Way agreed to do so and placed 18 volunteers, 14 with neighborhood-based groups.

Accessibility of Neighborhood-based Organizations to Traditional United Way Services
Neighborhood-based organizations have access to such programs as Gifts-in-Kind, Management Assistance Program, and Day of Caring. In fact, Gifts-In-Kind is actively pursuing local building supply companies to obtain materials for CDC housing developments. Furthermore, in 1993 and 1994 CDCs received several volunteers for the annual Day of Caring.

Small Grants Program
The Venture Fund Committee serves as the grant review body for the Neighborhood Small Grants Program. This program is a collaboration of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, the city of Memphis, Malone & Hyde Inc., the Independent Grocers, the Center for Neighborhoods, and United Way of the Mid-South.

Between January 1991 and December 1993, the Neighborhood Small Grants Program made 54 grants totaling $ 194,390 to 36 neighborhood-based groups. For example, the Small Grants Program awarded funds to the 27th Ward Civic Club to assist with its neighborhood clean-up and home-ownership counseling activities, and the Raineshaven Civic Club for its neighborhood newsletter.

HOPE 3 Planning and Implementation Grants
In late 1992, a group of CDCs, with whom the United Way had established a working relationship, came to the United Way and asked it to submit an application for a HOPE 3 planning grant. The board approved the request. Little did anyone know that United Way's involvement in this planning grant would become the catalyst for far greater involvement in community capacity-building in the future.

Homeownership Opportunities for People Everywhere is a series of federally funded programs that create homeownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income households. HOPE 3 specifically makes federally owned properties (FHA foreclosures, RTC properties, etc.) available for purchase.

In February 1993, United Way was awarded $54,000 as a subcontractor to Neighborhood Housing Opportunities. Through this grant, the United Way, along with CDCs in five neighborhoods, the University of Memphis, the Center for Neighborhoods, and the Grants Information Center conducted an extensive study to determine the feasibility of converting government-owned properties into affordable housing for neighborhood residents. The feasibility study included such issues as potential market, security, architectural design, the availability of homeownership counseling, social services, and employment opportunities.

At the conclusion of the study, the team calculated that the CDCs could profitably purchase, rehabilitate, and sell the homes to low- and/or moderate-income households. The team also judged that there was a sufficient market for the homes among low- to moderate-income households. Additionally, the team determined that there were sufficient support services in place for the new homeowners.

Since the situation looked promising at the conclusion of the feasibility study, applying for an implementation grant seemed to be the logical next step. The CDCs asked the United Way to submit the proposal for a HOPE 3 implementation grant. Again, the United Way board approved the request, which has launched the organization into a much deeper level of involvement in community capacity-building.

In February 1994, HUD awarded United Way a $1 million implementation grant that will be matched with $300,000 from the city of Memphis and other local sources, and $45,000 from the venture grant fund.

This grant calls for the United Way to purchase 60 government-owned properties over the next three years and contract with CDCs to rehabilitate the properties and provide homeownership counseling for prospective homeowners. Profits from the sale of the homes will be used to purchase and rehabilitate more homes, provide subsidies to prospective homeowners, and cover counseling and administration costs.

In order to fulfill grant obligations and limit its liability, United Way is forming a subsidiary, United Way Housing, Inc. United Way has hired a project director to oversee the administration of the project on other affordable-housing projects.

Outcomes

In addition, partnerships between neighborhoods are growing. Last year, the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis and Memphis Light Gas and Water funded a neighborhood-based organization banquet that was planned and coordinated by neighborhood residents for the first time.

United Way of the Mid-South's capacity-related efforts have brought new dollars to the organization and expanded its role in the community. United Way has attracted approximately $1.5 million to fund its community capacity-building efforts. In order to manage the United Way's increasing number of community capacity-building efforts, the community initiatives professional staff has been increased from one to four.

The United Way has established close working relationships with a number of CDCs and has assisted them in a number of ways, over and above financial support. As a result, United Way is perceived differently by these organizations. Although the United Way has not made any of these organizations member agencies, it has provided funds to them for specific projects and brokered a number of services for them. By way of example, 10 CDCs obtained the services of a VISTA volunteer and received additional volunteer assistance through the Day of Caring. The volunteers rehabilitated affordable housing using paint donated to United Way's Gifts-in-Kind program from Home Quarters, a local retailer of home improvement supplies.

United Way's participation in the HOPE 3 implementation grant has moved its involvement with CDCs and affordable housing to a new level. United Way Housing, Inc.'s contract with the CDCs is a means of providing them with operating support.

Furthermore, the profits from the sale of the homes will provide an ongoing source of funding for affordable housing projects. Finally, United Way is assuming a considerable amount of risk in this venture by purchasing the government-owned properties.

Future Plans & Tips

Nevertheless, the project that will consume most of the community initiatives staff's attention in the immediate future is the HOPE 3 implementation grant. United Way is in the process of hiring a project director to manage all aspects of this program.

Tips

• Do your research; find out what groups exist in your community. Look externally in order to examine which outside organizations have a capacity orientation. You may find that some of your member agencies have a capacity orientation. In addition, look for other funders that are interested in supporting community capacity-building efforts.
  
• Keep your board informed every step of the way. If you do not get board "buy-in,' you will have problems.
  
• Do not be defensive or overprotective about the core mission/function of United Way.
  
• Examine what you are doing. Do not weed out a thought because it challenges your program or method of operating.

Mesa United Way
Mesa, Arizona

Metro: III
Region: Western

Community Context

Located in "The Valley of the Sun," Mesa, Ariz., is a mid-size city with an economy that has flourished in recent years. It has a permanent population of approximately 340,000 (with an additional 100,000 taking up residence here in the winter). It is also one of the few cities in the country with an expanding employment base.

During the 1980s, Mesa was ranked as the fastest-growing city in the country. Consequently, many of the residents are newcomers to the community and few neighborhoods have long-standing histories. Therefore, one of the initial aims of Building a Healthy Mesa is to help foster community identity in neighborhoods throughout the city.

Background

What has become Building a Healthy Mesa originated with a grant from the Office of Substance Abuse Prevention (OSAP). In 1991, a coalition of nonprofit organizations in Mesa received a community partnership grant. From the start, the coalition viewed the empowerment of neighborhoods as its primary drug-prevention strategy. The coalition recognized that strong neighborhoods were necessary to stem growing gang problems.

Overtime, both the coalition's focus and United Way's involvement have expanded. No longer is the coalition solely focused on drug prevention. The coalition is now seeking to develop world-class levels for Mesa residents in health and fitness, education, emotional wellness, and economic health.

The United Way is providing key staff and volunteer leadership, as well as financial support to this effort. At the outset, United Way primarily provided staff consultation and assisted the coalition in broadening its focus beyond drug prevention. In addition, the United Way helped provide credibility for the coalition. Since 1993, United Way has also provided office space for the project director who served as a loaned staff to the United Way.

Furthermore, these efforts are becoming an integral part of Mesa United Way. Neighborhood Development Initiative is one of a variety of initiatives overseen by United Way's community problem-solving division. This initiative has been given the charge of implementing the Building a Healthy Mesa effort. In addition, as the OSAP grant period is coming to a close, United Way's board has voted to create a new staff position, neighborhood development director, and has hired the current project director to fill this position.

Principles

United Way is seeking to implement a capacity-building model. United Way views drawing on the strengths of neighborhoods as not only the means for addressing problems, but also the means for achieving world-class standards in its community.

Community Capacity-Building Efforts

Building a Healthy Mesa involves organizing the community at three levels: community leaders, programs, and neighborhoods. A community roundtable was created as a forum in which a diversity of community leaders meet regularly to discuss issues of concern and develop collaborative approaches. Members of the roundtable include representatives from the city of Mesa, the Mesa school district, Mesa Community College, the chamber of commerce, Mesa United Way, and citizen leaders.

For social service agencies and the religious and business communities to better respond to neighborhood issues, they have developed theme teams. The theme teams correspond to the issues around which the community is striving to attain world-class levels: i.e., health and fitness, education, emotional wellness, and economic health.

Two additional theme teams provide support to the issue-oriented theme teams through information and training. The information theme team, called Mesa Link, has produced a video, put together a notebook on neighborhood organizing, publishes a newsletter, and uses the computer to link neighborhoods by creating an on-line neighborhood bulletin board. The theme team's goal is for every neighborhood to have its own computer bulletin board.

The training theme team utilizes seminars, community college courses, and satellite down-link courses. Seminars have been held on such topics as how to organize and how to talk to your neighbor. The community college offers classes on neighborhood leadership. Mesa is a site for the Civic Television Network.

Finally, to organize neighborhoods themselves, Building a Healthy Mesa divided the city into 12 areas, based on the boundaries for the 12 junior high schools in the city, and is promoting the formation of area councils. Each area has 25,000 to 40,000 residents. It is hoped that each block will have representation on the area council.

This organizing effort does not solely focus on low-income neighborhoods, but on neighborhoods throughout the city. Therefore, area meetings are as likely to be held in a country club as in a church basement.

Outcomes

Eight of the 12 areas are now organizing local councils, moving at a much faster pace than anticipated. The formation of these councils has been facilitated by the chamber of commerce. The chamber holds an annual town meeting called Mesa Speaks. This year's meeting, held in May, focused on the area councils. In less than three months, eight area councils have begun to organize.

The community-organizing piece of Building a Healthy Mesa has been piloted in Area 5. This area has a dynamic volunteer chairperson and has received intensive staff support.

Early indications suggest that residents are getting actively involved in their neighborhood and it is making a difference. Residents are working with police on block watches and a multifamily-unit crime-prevention problem. The neighborhood has also held clean-up programs and an immunization program for children.

Since the start of this community-organizing effort, streets in Area 5 are cleaner and the rate of crime has decreased.

The United Way's efforts are prompting agencies to refocus their efforts. For example, the YMCA, which typically offers a variety of exercise classes, is now having aerobics instructors identify neighborhood leaders and train them to be aerobics instructors.

Future Plans & Tips

Future Plans
Mesa United Way's board of directors has funded one staff position. Growth in staff will depend on securing grant funds. The community received a National Service Grant that will fund positions for six community organizers.

Tips

• Mesa United Way's suggestion to other United Ways is, "Do it." This approach provides the opportunity to re-energize a community.
  
• One note of caution: Keep the staff as lean as possible to avoid creating another bureaucracy. This will also ensure the active involvement of neighborhood residents.

United Way of Northeast Louisiana
Monroe, Louisiana

Metro: III
Region: South Central

Community Context

Ouachita Parish, a jurisdiction comparable to a county in other states, occupies some 643 square miles in the western portion of the northeast Louisiana region. The Ouachita River bisects the parish and separates the delta region from the hills.

Monroe, a city of 54,000 residents, is the urban center for this region. Monroe and the neighboring city of West Monroe provide trade, financial, medical, professional, educational, and cultural services for over 387,000 people throughout a 12-parish area in Louisiana and two counties in southeast Arkansas.

On the other hand, Monroe also has the third-highest poverty rate in the county and historically has been divided along racial and economic lines. Nearly 38 percent of its population lives in poverty, a rate more than double the national average. Furthermore, the poverty is largely concentrated in the southern portion of the city, an area populated primarily by African Americans.

Monroe's community-based organizations do not currently have the expertise in specialized aspects of community development. Nor is the infrastructure currently in place to support such efforts. For example, there is no community loan fund, no community development corporation, and no national development organization outposts.

Background

Since late 1993, United Way of Northeast Louisiana has been immersed in community capacity-building efforts. These efforts centered around United Way's leadership in facilitating the development of a community-wide strategic plan, the centerpiece of Ouachita Parish's application for the federally funded Empowerment Zone program.

The United Way board of directors recognized the need for such a strategic plan and community vision prior to hearing about the Empowerment Zone program. The United Way completed an internal strategic long-range plan during 1993. In December of that year, the board voted to adopt the plan's recommendations, one of which was to facilitate a coordinated community-wide strategic plan.

Nearly simultaneous to United Way's decision, community leaders began exploring the possibility of applying for Empowerment Zone designation and funding. In November 1993, a community volunteer approached the United Way board asking the United Way to facilitate and provide staff support for the community-wide strategic planning process required for the Empowerment Zone application. The board approved the request, launching the United Way of Northeast Louisiana into a whirlwind of activity that would prove to be more challenging than anyone could imagine.

Throughout the process, United Way volunteers and staff provided key leadership to the process. Two board members served on the Community Working Task Force, one of two committees providing administrative oversight and the one described as the "heart and soul of the collaborative process." In addition, both the president and the president-elect served as volunteers. (It was a conscious decision for the United Way board president and president-elect to be involved, but not in a high-level leadership position.) Furthermore, Janet Shead, executive director of the United Way, became Project Director for the strategic planning effort. Finally, all the staff support for the project came out of the United Way office.

Principles

The Community Working Task Force's mission statement summarizes the principles upon which this project is based: To eliminate poverty by addressing the economic, community, physical, and human needs of the impoverished, thereby enabling them to become self-sufficient.

The strategic planning process and the implementation that will follow both rely heavily on "mapping" community assets. The assets map has identified existing capacities and strengths of the parish. These strengths include the gifts of individuals, the influence of citizen-controlled associations, and the expertise and resources of businesses and institutions. The assets map also includes such natural and physical assets as its river and highway infrastructure.

Community Capacity-Building Efforts

United Way's efforts in facilitating the community-wide strategic planning effort proved to be immense due to the nature and complexity of the task as well as the number of people involved. The planning process developed by the Community Working Task Force consisted of five key steps:

1. Select an area that would serve as the federally designated Empowerment Zone.
   
2. Hold a series of 11 neighborhood meetings to take an inventory of the community's assets.
   
3. Conduct a day-long Vision Session where the community determined the nine components of its vision for Ouachita Parish 2004.
   
4. Facilitate three weeks of planning meetings for the working groups who were putting together projects for each of the nine components of the vision—the heart of the plan.
   
5. Conduct a campaign where citizens, businesses, institutions, and local and state governments agreed to undertake specific tasks to implement the strategic plan.

A diverse group of 1,000 community residents participated in at least one of the neighborhood or community-wide meetings. The local newspaper, the News-Star, described the participants as "University professors mixed with ministers, the highly educated with those who never finished high school, and the unemployed with top officers of major local corporations."

For such a diverse group to work together cooperatively necessitated breaking through traditional barriers, a process during which conflict and tension surfaced (not surprisingly). However, the conflict and tension gave way to prayer, honest dialogue, reconciliation, and compromise. The News-Star said of this accomplishment, "Tentative friendships were forming between people who in the past eyed each other only with suspicion."

The strategic plan is composed of nine components or vision clusters. These vision clusters include the following:

• Create quality, diverse jobs.
  
• Develop market-driven education.
  
• Expand community-based business ownership by zone residents.
  
• Build safe and caring neighborhoods.
  
• Create innovative and accessible wellness systems.
  
• Improve homeownership opportunities.
  
• Improve transportation and communication infrastructure.
  
• Improve physical community conditions.
  
• Develop downtown, river area, and tourism.

Approximately 300 residents participated in one of nine working groups, each group devoted to developing specific projects that would bring life to a component of the community vision. Their work resulted in the development of 27 projects. As project facilitator, the United Way of Northeast Louisiana made sure that the process moved forward with trust, credibility, and accountability.

The 27 projects are not isolated from one another. Instead, the intent of the plan is to form a cohesive economic strategy that builds collaborative partnerships across traditional barriers, reflects common community values, and empowers all residents to play a meaningful role in the plan's implementation.

Outcomes

All of the months of work resulted in the successful completion of a community-based strategic plan/community vision and the application to receive an Empowerment Zone designation. In the plan's final version, each project is spelled out in considerable detail. As the projects' details became more clearly defined, the negotiations became more intense, since it is in the details that the projects' beneficiaries are identified. Virtually all of the projects require that a minimum of 60 percent of the benefits, (i.e., jobs, contracts, membership of advisory committees, etc.) go to residents of the Empowerment Zone.

On June 18, 1994, amidst applause, tears, and hugs, the final version of the plan was unanimously approved by the Community Working Task Force. Given the task force's broad and deep representation of the various segments within the community, its unanimity represents no small feat.

Ouachita Parish is awaiting notification as to whether it will receive the Empowerment Zone designation. Receiving the Empowerment Zone designation not only would bring in significant financial resources—$100 million and unprecedented business tax credits—it would also provide a funded structure to implement the plan.

If Ouachita Parish does not receive federal funding, implementing the community vision will be more difficult. Nevertheless, the United Way and the rest of the community are committed to pursuing the plan's implementation, with or without federal funding.

Future Plans

The United Way board recognizes that the organization has crossed a threshold by playing a highly visible leadership role in the community-based strategic planning process based on an assessment of the community's assets. In August 1994, the full board of directors voted unanimously to support the implementation of the plan, regardless of whether Ouachita County receives the Empowerment Zone designation. Furthermore, the board voted unanimously that while the community awaits a response from the federal government, the United Way should continue its leadership role as project facilitator.

The United Way board is also pondering the implications that its community capacity-building efforts will have on its operation, funding priorities, agency admissions, venture grants, and role in the community. It has discussed these issues in two board meetings and has convened a meeting for its current president, the incoming president, and three past presidents to further explore these issues.

Nevertheless, United Way's volunteers see its community capacity-building efforts as an addition to the expectation for continued excellence in the basics of a full-service United Way. For instance, the United Way has a history of outstanding campaigns, and last year its campaign giving increased 10.6 percent. United Way recognizes that it must continue to have successful campaigns and year-round operations in order to maintain its community leadership position.

Challenges and Opportunities

Each United Way in this report identified challenges and opportunities that were encountered with their community capacity-building efforts. Following is a general compilation of those challenges and opportunities.

Challenges

Difficulties building trust between funders and neighborhood representatives. Building trust between funders and neighborhood leaders takes considerable time and effort. Funders have difficulty subordinating their decisionmaking role to neighborhood representatives.

Conversely, neighborhood leaders also have a difficult time trusting funders. As people who typically have been left out of decision making, neighborhood leaders want to see action. A lapse in activity may breed mistrust and may cause neighborhood leaders to wonder if activities are taking place that exclude them.

Difficulty keeping volunteers and staff educated, informed, and involved. United Ways find it challenging to keep their senior management staff and volunteers informed and involved. It is easy for participating staff and board members to become separated from those who are not as actively involved.

Learning how to build relationships with neighborhood stakeholders. United Ways are familiar with agencies and know how to build relationships with them. Furthermore, United Ways often rely on their member agencies to know and understand the situations faced by stakeholders in the neighborhoods they serve. Therefore, a critical question is, "How relevant are United Way member agencies to neighborhoods?" If it is determined that these agencies have lost relevance in the neighborhoods they serve, the questions is, "How has the United Way system participated in, and inadvertently encouraged, their lack of relevance?"

Turf issues. Some United Ways have experienced turf issues (i.e., who gets credit for highly visible programs).

Retrofitting United Way's approach to accommodate a developmental approach. Can United Ways reprogram themselves within the system to think in terms of development rather than just remediation? United Ways have gained years of habits that focus on remediation.

Integrating community capacity-building with other areas. In United Ways that have successfully implemented community capacity-building efforts in one of their departments, (e.g., community initiatives), several questions remain: How do we prevent this from being a function of only the community Where can the blending occur? Where can we go to learn how it all fits?

Wrestling with what types of efforts reflect true community capacity-building. On a theoretical level, neighborhood capacity-building calls into question the premise that service response is the only solution to all health and human-service problems. However, in practice the theoretical distinction between human services and capacity-building can become unclear. For example, is a job training program a service response or a capacity-building effort? In some cases, the distinction may lie in who is providing the service (e.g,. neighborhood resident or downtown staff). The program's context is often what gives it meaning.

Developing a common vocabulary so that people and programs can work together. Different streams of activity are taking place that have a community capacity-building focus. However, the people involved do not have common definitions for the terminology they use. Developing a common vocabulary will be important for people and programs to be able to work together.

Preserving the integrity of the philanthropic dollar. United Ways must preserve the integrity of the philanthropic dollar. Generally, United Ways fund only 501(c)(3) organizations or, under limited circumstances, other tax-exempt entities eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. There are times, however, as a part of its community capacity-building efforts that funds may need to be provided by a United Way directly to individuals who will use them to fulfill individual and collective initiatives that will benefit their neighborhoods. United Ways can provide funds under these circumstances as long as such programs are within the charitable purposes of the United Way and there is strict compliance with IRS regulations and procedures, particularly with regard to the prohibition against charitable funds being expended for private benefit. Any such program should be reviewed in advance by counsel. As an alternative to accomplish the same goal, United Ways can fund other 501(c)(3) organizations which, as a part of their charitable purposes, provide funds directly to individuals in order to build community capacity.

Logistics. In order to maintain active and continuing participation of neighborhood groups, logistics are critical. For example, daytime meetings are difficult.

The necessity for traditional community leaders to assume new roles. In a planning process that engages a broad range of participants from the community, traditional community leaders may be unsure about what role they should play. For example, one volunteer expressed the awkwardness by saying, "I know I'm not supposed to lead, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

Unknown impact on fund raising and fund distribution in several communities. To what extent will capacity-building efforts attract outside funding? Agencies are concerned that this is a "zero/sum" situation. In other words, if the total amount of United Way funds remains relatively constant, United Way dollars going to capacity-building efforts might reduce the availability of funds for existing agencies.

Developing a suitable approach to market community capacity-building efforts. Since the general campaign may not be a suitable approach to raising funds for community capacity-building efforts, United Ways may have to develop alternative means to market these endeavors. This uncertainty prevents several organizations from knowing the potential that their involvement in community capacity-building efforts will have on increasing donations.

Other challenges. As we seek to identify neighborhood assets, to what extent can neighborhood-based agencies (e.g., settlement houses) be counted as convertible assets?

Neighborhood capacity-building is irrelevant to some of the agencies' service areas supported by United Ways (e.g., a cancer-prevention public-education campaign).

Opportunities

Aiding the resurgence of low-income neighborhoods. United Ways' involvement in community capacity-building offers organizations an opportunity to improve their effectiveness in situations faced by residents of low-income neighborhoods. All of the United Ways expect their support to facilitate a resurgence of vitality and self-help in these neighborhoods.

United Ways have the potential to create change within the community. They are in a unique position to understand the particular dynamics within the larger community because of their long-standing relationships with the business community in their respective communities and, now, their growing relationships with neighborhoods. United Ways are looking at how to take advantage of all the information they possess.

Complementing social service programs. United Way's community capacity-building efforts complement the social services that the organization supports. United Way is thus able to provide a continuum of care to the community.

Fostering collaboration. In general, the community-building efforts have fostered significant collaboration among social service agencies, such public entities as the police department and the schools, and the business community.

Satisfying donors' interests in funding results. Market research has shown that the public is demanding to see results from the charitable organizations they support.

Seizing the opportunity. Several indicators are pointing to an inevitable shift toward an assets and outcomes approach. The pressure to change is coming from United Way donors who are demanding to see results from their charitable contributions, and from federal requests for proposals (RFPs) that promote collaboration among and between various public and nonprofit agencies as well as with clients/program participants.

Positioning United Ways in their communities. United Ways see their emphasis on community capacity-building as the most effective means of increasing the capacity of citizens to care for one another. In particular, United Ways are well-positioned to replace failing government programs and to link outside resources to disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Building new relationships. Involvement in community capacity-building efforts provides United Ways with opportunities to work with new groups. Furthermore, community capacity-building provides new approaches for traditional agencies.

Increasing funding for United Ways. Since the wider community cares about the future of low-income neighborhoods, United Way anticipates that its community capacity-building efforts will lead to greater public enthusiasm for what United Way is about. As a result, there will be a greater willingness on the part of donors to contribute.

Involvement in capacity-building efforts, which rely on an investment model, attracts new funding to United Way from several sources. Wealthy individuals appear to find this approach very attractive. These activities also put United Ways in a strong position for receiving government and private foundation grants, as well as corporate donations.

Conclusion

The stories that are shared in this report reflect important endeavors and accomplishments in United Way community capacity-building efforts.

By sharing their experiences and learnings through these stories, these United Ways have made a significant contribution to the community capacity-building approach by providing exposure to local ventures.

It is hoped that these stories will be a helpful resource to United Ways when they are selecting and implementing the types of approaches that are most suitable for their own community-building initiatives.

Acknowledgments

Very special thanks are due to the following staff from local United Ways for their enthusiasm, generosity, and dedicated efforts in sharing their community capacity-building stories.

Dan Duncan President Mesa United Way Mesa, Arizona	Janet Stone Shead Executive Director United Way of Northeast Louisiana Monroe, Louisiana
Dorothy Fleisher Planning Director/Co-Director Family Care Project United Way of Los Angeles/ North Angeles Region Los Angeles, California	Regina Walker Vice President Community Initiatives United Way of the Mid-South Memphis, Tennessee
Terry Grundy Community Initiatives Director United Way & Community Chest Cincinnati, Ohio	Dan Watanabe Executive Director Hawaii Community Services Council Kahului, Hawaii
Chuck Shannon Vice President Mile High United Way Denver, Colorado

We are particularly grateful to John (Jody) Kretzmann and John McKnight, Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, Neighborhood Innovations Network, Northwestern University, for their major contribution to the Introduction of this report.

This report was prepared by Curt Johnson and Jim Morrison, Community Building Department, United Way of America, with valued assistance from Cheryl Buford, consultant.

Index

United Ways' Community Capacity Building Stories
Preface
Introduction
United Ways

United Way & Community Chest
Cincinnati, Ohio

Mile High United Way
Denver, Colorado

Hawaii Community Services Council
Honolulu, Hawaii

United Way of Los Angeles, North Angeles Region
Los Angeles, California

United Way of the Mid-South
Memphis, Tennessee

Mesa United Way
Mesa, Arizona

United Way of Northeast Louisiana
Monroe, Louisiana

Challenges & Opportunties
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Readers' Feedback [not available on-line]

Back to Community Index