Nonprofit seeks $4M from stimulus -Group already won $1.3M in funding

by Mary Beth Lehman

A local nonprofit is battling for $4 million in federal stimulus funds to expand its programs and facilities.

Miami Valley Child Development Centers Inc. is applying through two separate grant programs for $1.5 million and $2.5 million to expand the number of children it serves. It already received $1.3 million in May from stimulus funds for quality improvement, including money for a new bus and computer lab for its child learning centers.

“We’re going for broke,” said Mary Burns, chief executive officer of the Dayton-based nonprofit. “The ripple effect of these grants is much larger than us.”

The new funds would go toward adding 44 employees and hundreds of educational opportunities for area children.

The group manages Head Start — a child care program for low-income families — in Clark, Madison and Montgomery counties. It runs both Early Head Start and Head Start programs for about 2,800 children, ages 3 to 5 years old, and 110 children newborn to 3 years old.

In fiscal year 2007, Ohio was allocated $247 million for Head Start programs, and nearly 38,000 children throughout the state were enrolled.

Without the program, children of low-income families would likely not have access to pre-kindergarten education and could go into elementary school behind other students. The Head Start program is administered by the Office of Head Start within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Burns said her group’s needs exceed the support provided by federal funding, so she sought out stimulus funds.

Burns applied for the first round of funds through the regional Head Start office in Chicago. She expects to receive the money this month.

Those dollars will allow the nonprofit to add a bus, a computer lab and a technology center. It also will pay for many of the group’s teachers to complete their bachelor’s degrees.

Meanwhile, the nonprofit is completing two more stimulus applications through the office of Head Start in Washington, D.C., to add 200 Head Start slots and 286 Early Head Starts slots to its existing programming.

The result would mean 17 new employees for the Head Start program and an additional 27 in Early Head Start programs.

“It’s wonderful that this money is available — especially in these economic times,” Burns said.

There is $3.9 million in stimulus dollars available throughout Ohio for the Head Start programs and $19.8 million available for Early Head Start, Burns said. Although the local nonprofit is competing for more than half of the money for Head Start programs, Burns said she was confident the local programs would be funded.

The federal Head Start money has to be obligated by Sept. 30, so the nonprofit will learn by then if it has received funding. Stimulus applications will begin being reviewed Aug. 15.

Stimulus money could be the saving grace for many area nonprofits struggling through the tough economy.

Miami Valley Housing Opportunities, a Dayton-based nonprofit that provides housing for disabled people, is applying for $1.7 million in stimulus funding for new housing projects to give homes to the disabled in the region. The result of funding — distributed through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — would mean more than 113 additional homes for disabled people in Dayton.

“At this point, there is a lot of stimulus money coming in, and this is our one time to make a big dent,” said Natalie Harris, president and CEO, of MVHO.


Source: Portland Business Journal