Monday, November 04, 2002

WILMINGTON, NC -- The UNCW Center for Social Work Research and Practice and the City of Wilmington Community Development Division are hosts of a Grant Development Workshop for outside agencies who plan to apply for Community Development Block Grant or general funds for FY 2003-04. The workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to noon, Friday, Nov. 15, in the UNC Wilmington University Union, Room 100.

This is the first time UNCW and the City of Wilmington have partnered to hold a grant development conference for potential grantees, noted Dr. Art Frankel, executive director of the UNCW Center for Social Work Research and Practice (CSWRP). This conference will help Wilmington non-profit organizations apply for city grant funds, making it clearer to them who is eligible for funds, how to fill out the applications, and what community needs the city is focusing on.



The Grant Development Workshop will provide guidelines to help non-profit agencies apply for funding. In addition to discussing the guidelines for the city application, Dr. Frankel will present a short workshop on program evaluation to all non-profit staff attending this conference. It is expected that staff from up to 100 city non-profits will be attending this Grant Development Workshop.

“This workshop will prepare applicants by helping them understand the purpose of city funding,” said Lillie Gray, community development manager for the City of Wilmington. “We wanted to bring everyone together to explain federal and city funding. We want to see quality, strong, and complete applications. This saves everyone a lot of questions and time.



“Last year, we received 66 applications and funded 16 grants to 14 agencies for a total of $565,000. All these agencies will be coming to the workshop and asking for public services, public facilities, and public improvements monies again,” she said.



In the spring of 2002, UNCW received a $115,000 grant from Cape Fear Memorial Foundation to provide two-year funding to help establish the UNCW Center for Social Work Research and Practice to work with the New Hanover County social service community. The center offers free grant writing services to non-profit, governmental organizations, and university departments. The center also provides program evaluation design and implementation to help non-profits document the effectiveness of their work, and continuing education for social work.

By building in funding within new grant requests to support program design and evaluation, CSWRP is expected to be self-supporting after two years. After two years, its goal is to be submitting 50 grants a year with non-profit organizations in New Hanover County.

“The Cape Fear Memorial Foundation has worked with over 100 organizations in the past five years, and we’ve noticed that many don’t have the administrative depth to run their organizations and handle the fund raising efforts needed to sustain their organization,” said Garry Garris, president of Cape Fear Memorial Foundation. This grant to fund the center at UNCW is an investment in infrastructure from our perspective,” he added.



Cape Fear Memorial Foundation was founded in 1996 and is a private, non-operating foundation located in Wilmington. It has invested about $12 million in the community over the past five years.

Media Contacts: City of Wilmington Community Development Division at 910/341-7836 or Dr. Art Frankel at 910/962-4115.