In partnership with the National Center for Social Entrepreneurs, JVA Consulting is working with the Telluride Foundation to administer its recently awarded Department of Health and Human Services Strengthening Communities Fund (SCF) grant for the west ends of San Miguel, Dolores, Montrose and Montezuma counties.
The SCF program is funded through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Stimulus dollars. Paul Major, president and CEO of the Telluride Foundation, said, “We will work to make this a breakthrough opportunity for our rural counties to create new and sustainable enterprises, products, services and jobs.”
The purpose of the two-year SCF grant, which the Telluride Foundation calls the Paradox Community Trust: Strengthening Communities Fund, Nonprofit Building Capacity Program, is to improve the ability of nonprofit and faith-based organizations and community groups to promote the economic recovery of their communities. Over $600,000 in grant funding as well as technical assistance and training will be available to nonprofits and faith-based organizations to build the capacity of their organizations in order to address the broad economic recovery issues present in these rural communities, including helping individuals secure and retain employment, earn higher wages, obtain better-quality jobs and gain greater access to state and federal benefits and tax credits.
A two-track training and technical assistance approach (social enterprise/new business and operational effectiveness), complemented by two competitive financial assistance grant cycles, will build the nonprofit organization’s operational capacity, as well as its capacity to run and to partner with effective social enterprises, establishing a new model for supporting economic recovery and renewal in rural America.
“Strengthening the local economy starts from the ground up,” said Kerry Lupher, JVA Consulting’s Vice President of Growth and Impact. “We look forward to working one-on-one with local partners to create a strong, sustainable future for rural southwest Colorado.”
JVA will provide much of the training and technical assistance to west-end grantees. JVA has a 22-year track record working to advance the effectiveness and sustainability of social service secular and faith-based nonprofit organizations in Colorado and across the country. JVA serves as the Colorado chapter of the National Center for Social Entrepreneurs, which has an over 25-year history of providing training, consulting and technical assistance to nonprofits for the purpose of creating mission-driven new business ventures. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, NCSE has helped nonprofit organizations launch hundreds of successful social enterprises in urban, suburban and rural communities across the country.
“We are excited and honored to contribute to the Paradox Community Trust: Strengthening Communities Fund, Nonprofit Building Capacity Program’s movement toward a more innovative and entrepreneurial social sector,” said NCSE Regional Manager Dave Parker.
For more information on JVA Consulting and NCSE, visit www.jvaconsulting.com.
The primary focus of the grant will be the western and rural portions of San Miguel, Montrose, Dolores and Montezuma counties, including the communities of Norwood, Redvale, Egnar, Naturita, Nucla, Paradox, Dove Creek and Rico. Last month, Kerry and Lorna Naegele, JVA’s Senior Associate based in Grand Junction, , joined the Telluride Foundation to facilitate community meetings in Dove Creek and Naturita to introduce local nonprofits, faith-based organizations, community leaders, regional development agencies and the interested public to the Telluride Foundation’s recently received grant.
For more information, please go to http://www.telluridefoundation.org and click on the Funds and Initiatives tab, or call the Telluride Foundation at 970.728.8717.
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