New Strategic Initiative to Enhance Capacity of Youth-Serving Nonprofits in the County

The Prince George’s County Council and Venture Philanthropy Partners (VPP) announced the new Ready for Work Nonprofit Capacity Building Initiative to strengthen nonprofits to better serve youth across the county.

There are currently more than 4-thousand nonprofits operating in Prince George’s County and most are without the capacity to successfully apply for major grant support or fully achieve their objectives. 

Council Chair Derrick L. Davis says the Council is working to change that with a $250,000 commitment to Ready for Work.    

“The Council appropriated FY 2018 funding to support this pilot initiative and the power of nonprofits to serve the community.  We are especially excited to partner with VPP to build up nonprofits in Prince George’s County dedicated to improving the lives of young people, and the Council congratulates the selected nonprofit participants.  This is a critical investment in our youth and the future of our County.”

Carol Thompson-Cole, President and CEO of Venture Philanthropy Partners added, “At VPP, we strive to improve the lives of youth in Greater Washington.  With the Ready for Work Nonprofit Capacity Building Initiative, we are investing in Prince George’s County nonprofits so they can expand their ability to help young people achieve their goals. We are excited to see the long-term impact that this will have on youth.”

Ready for Work is a six-year, $15 million investment to help young people in Prince George’s County successfully transition to career and college ready adults. 

A key goal of Ready for Work is to build networks of community-based organizations that can provide integrated supports for students. The Nonprofit Capacity Building Initiative will strengthen the capacity of these nonprofits to provide more students in the county with high-quality services.

Following a competitive process, four nonprofits in the County were identified as organizations specifically focused on providing high school students with academic achievement, high school completion, post-secondary preparation, career readiness and healthy behaviors.

·         First Generation College Bound

•     The Foundation for the Advancement of Music and Education (FAME)

•     Joe’s Movement Emporium

•     End-Time Harvest Ministries

VPP has selected Fair Chance, an experienced provider of nonprofit capacity building, to co-manage the initiative and work with the nonprofits to improve organizational outcomes in

•           Effective leadership

•           Strategic governance and stewardship

•           Organizational management practices

•           Program design, implementation and evaluation

•           Communications

•           Collaboration

Selected nonprofits will receive support to become high-performing organizations, and be provided the opportunity to strengthen grant writing, management and report writing skills and capacities. Each nonprofit will compete for mini-grants for use over a three-year period to further enhance select organizational and programmatic capacities. The program will also focus on strengthening the boards of the participating organizations.

By the end of the three-year period, participating nonprofits may be invited to begin serving students in the Ready for Work high schools.

-0-