Economic Stability RFP

Economic Stability RFPs - Applications Closed

Overview

Economic Stability is a high-impact approach to improving the financial standing of families in Greater Atlanta. Without financial stability, families cannot have economic mobility – creating little to no chance of children moving out of poverty.

GOAL: Improve family financial stability by 10% by 2027

All Child Well-Being Mission Fund grants are organized into three major approaches: Direct Service, Systems Approach, and Capacity Building. For more information on the Fund and what type of work falls into each of these approaches, click here.

Within the Economic Stability Investment Priority area, we have five pathways through which we seek to create change:

Secure Housing: Increase access for families to have stable housing through programs that provide financial assistance (rent/utilities) and/or supports for a pathway to obtain and maintain permanent housing
Basic Needs and Equitable Access: Increase supports for families to ensure food security and access to childcare and preventative health care.
Close the Skills Gap: Create easy access to job training programs, increase opportunities for experiential learning and the access to obtain the credentials needed to obtain a high-demand career and achieve prosperity for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) families.
Build Wealth: Provide supports so that families can increase savings, improve credit scores, access financial products, access financial education, and attain assets that create economic mobility for themselves and the next generation
Manage Health: Provide access to health care including health education to assist families managing chronic disease, reduce health care costs and increase the ability to work consistently

To read more about the Economic Stability Investment Priority area, click here.

Current Funding Opportunities

The Economic Stability Investment Priority area is requesting proposals from organizations providing services in the following three pathways.

Secure Housing: Direct Services Approach
This pathway is open to organizations that provide connection to permanent housing for families with school-age children that have resided in motels/extended stays for at least 30 days. Applicants should provide one or more of the following services in addition to housing:

Case Management for at least six months
After Care Services, for example: emergency food assistance, access to primary health care, mental health services or educational support
Financial education

Basic Needs and Equitable Access: Systems Approach
This pathway is open to organizations that address food insecurity in Metro Atlanta by supporting sustainable and equitable food systems. Qualifying organizations and collaboratives should do one or more of the following:

Increase the efficiency and equity of the emergency food distribution system.
Support community-based solutions towards increasing food security, including but not limited to expansion of urban agriculture and increased access to farmers markets.
Improve links between local farmers and low-income communities.
Focus on BIPOC communities, areas of low and very low Child Well-Being, and/or food deserts.

Priority will be given to collaborative applications. Collaborative applications should feature a backbone organization as the applicant and at least two additional partners.

Build Wealth: Direct Services Approach
This pathway is open to organizations providing financial coaching. Financial coaching focuses on improving long-term financial behavior, facilitates clients to set and achieve financial goals largely on their own, helps clients practice new behaviors and monitors those behaviors over time, and targets clients with a minimum level of financial skills and experience. Goals can include debt relief, emergency savings, increasing credit scores, and asset building.

Have a 2-year track record of providing financial coaching.
Financial coaching must be paired with additional support (for example, housing, childcare, after-school programs, workforce development, domestic violence services).

Grant Time & Award Information

Process Timeline

The grant process has five phases that will extend from January – May 2022. More information will be provided in the Applicant Orientation.

Information
Session

January

Applicant Orientation Webinar

Application opens Jan. 12, 2022

Application
Submission

Application deadline: February 2, 2022

All applications submitted through FLUXX

No incomplete or late submissions accepted

Application
Review

Mid-February – Early April

Assessment of application

Follow up questions

Notification

Mid–Late April

United Way Leadership volunteers make grant decisions

All applicants notified

Contract

Late April – Mid May

Grantee Orientation

Development of measures

Finalize contract

Award Information

All applicants will be notified in late-April after United Way leadership volunteers complete their decision-making.
The minimum grant award will be $25,000 for a one-year grant period.
We anticipate awarding 2 organizations with $25,000 grant awards the Secure Housing funding opportunity.
We anticipate awarding 4-6 organizations with grant awards ranging $25,000 - $100,000 for the Basic Needs and Equitable Access funding opportunity.
We anticipate awarding 4-6 organizations with grant awards ranging $25,000 - $50,000 for the Build Wealth funding opportunity.

Minimum Requirements

Applicants must be a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit or working with a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit as their fiscal sponsor
Applicants cannot have an active grant from United Way of Greater of Atlanta, excluding any active grant awards issued from the following grant programs: Emergency Housing Assistance Program, Building Opportunities in Out-of-School Time (BOOST) grant, School-Age Help and Relief Effort (SHARE) grant, Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP), and United for Racial Equity and Healing Fund (UfREHF)
(FOR BUILD WEALTH AND SECURE HOUSING APPLICANTS ONLY) Applicants must be a Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC)-led organization or project must be led by people living closest to issue or directly impacted. United Way of Greater Atlanta considers BIPOC-led organizations to meet 3 of 4 criteria: (1) Executive Director is BIPOC, (2) The majority of the organization’s Board of Directors are BIPOC, (3) The majority of the organization’s executive staff (C-Suite or equivalent level) are BIPOC, (4) the majority of people served are BIPOC.
(FOR BUILD WEALTH AND SECURE HOUSING APPLICANTS ONLY) Applicants must have an annual organizational budget under $2,000,000.
(FOR BUILD WEALTH APPLICANTS ONLY) Applicants must target communities with additional barriers such as non-English speaking populations or homeless individuals with income.
First time Awardees will participate in the Grantee Orientation to gain more information about grant expectations. Please note: United Way of Greater Atlanta uses a Results Based Accountability measurement framework across our Child Well-Being Mission Fund investments. For organizations that are award recipients we will provide detailed training and United Way staff will work with your organization to develop a minimum of 1 Results Based Accountability metric that corresponds to your grant during the Contract Phase of the process.
Applicants must target zip codes of low and very low Child Well-Being. Please review the Child Well-Being Map.
Maintain a current registration with the Georgia Secretary of State office.
Have an independent governing body consisting of at least nine voting members who are resident volunteers, that has the authority to decide policy and strategic direction with respect to the agency's programs, administration and finances, in accordance with the organization's By-Laws, and who shall meet at least four times per year. Paid staff must not be a voting member of the Board.
Maintain a non-discrimination policy or plan that does not discriminate on the basis of race, cultural heritage, religion, gender, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran status or status as a qualified disabled or handicapped individual.
Demonstrate financial management - All financial statements must show evidence of accounting principles in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Procedures (GAAP) and include full disclosures and appropriate notes for such things as leases, loans, investments and affiliated party transactions.

How to Apply

Download Fluxx Instructions

United Way of Greater Atlanta will be accepting applications from January 12, 2022 – February 2, 2022 through our grants portal FLUXX. The link will to the application will go live on January 12, 2022.