DATE:      10/9/02
CONTACT:   Mark Small, (864) 656-6286;  msmall@clemson.edu
           Richard Campbell, (864) 656-6323;  Rcmpbll@clemson.edu
WRITER:    Mark Small, (864) 656-6286;  msmall@clemson.edu


Clemson receives $3 million grant
to assist rural community groups
 
     CLEMSON -- A $3 million grant has been awarded to Clemson
University for programs designed to combat the effects of poverty.
     The Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life will receive $1
million annually for three years from the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services to provide technical assistance and to distribute grants
to faith-based and community-based organizations interested in
implementing programs related to poverty.
     The award was distributed from the Compassion Capital Fund
Demonstration Program as part of President George W. Bush's faith-based
initiative.
     "For too long, government has made it difficult - if not
impossible - for small charities and faith-based organizations to
provide federally funded services," said Jim Towey, director of the
White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, in a U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services news release. "The Compassion
Capital Fund is key to making sure these organizations have the tools
they need to expand their services to poor and needy Americans."
     The Clemson award, titled "South Carolina Rural Faith- and
Community-Based Organization Compassion Project," will focus on
building the capacity of rural churches and community groups to apply
for grants and implement programs related to hunger, homelessness,
at-risk children, families making the transition from welfare to work,
and people in need of intense rehabilitation, such as addicts and
prisoners. Clemson was one of four universities to receive the award.
      In a news release announcing the award, Secretary of Health and
Human Services Tommy G. Thompson said, "Faith- and community-based
organizations are often the most effective groups in carrying out
purposes of Health and Human Services programs, yet many do not have
the staff or expertise to successfully apply for our funding."
     To improve their chances of receiving federal funding, Clemson
faculty and staff will help these rural organizations learn how to
build collaborations, write grants, and implement service programs. In
addition, $300,000 of the award will be distributed directly to rural
organizations as part of a mini-grant program for capacity-building
activities.
     "The ultimate beneficiaries of this project will be individuals
and families living in distressed rural communities," said Mark Small,
principal investigator for the project. "By providing technical
assistance on state-of-the-art programming and how to sustain services
to organizations that most directly serve those in need, we hope to
make a lasting difference." 
     "This project would not have been possible without the wisdom and
generosity of leading foundations in South Carolina," Small said. The
Sisters of Charity Foundation, the Self Family Foundation, the
Fullerton Foundation, and the Close/Springs Foundation have agreed to
distribute collectively at least $575,000 to rural faith and
community-based organizations annually and this giving pattern will
used to meet the federal match requirement.
     These four foundations have been working together to maximize ways
in which faith- and community-based organizations could best serve
those in need. Two years ago, the foundations collaborated to create
the South Carolina Center on Grassroots and Nonprofit Leadership,
located within the Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life, to build
the capacity of fledgling nonprofit organizations.
      "This award exemplifies how partnerships between universities,
foundations and community groups can work together to make meaningful
differences in the lives of South Carolina residents," said Richard
Campbell, director of the Center and co-principal investigator.
              
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