The Nonprofit Development Program in the Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside recently received a three-year, $1.5 million grant to strengthen links with faith-based and community organizations that provide social services, said Debra Karp, the program's director.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services approved funding for the Kenosha-Racine Compassion Capital Fund Project to support capacity building for these organizations, Karp said. The Development Program helps small non-profits develop their boards.

Karp spoke with The Journal Times about the grant and the program's plans for it.

How long has the Nonprofit Development Program been around?

The Nonprofit Development Program was established in 2004 by a group of community partners that saw a need to strengthen regional nonprofit organizations through connecting them to resources at the university and in the community for technical assistance and professional development. The founding partners are UW Cooperative Extension of Racine and Kenosha Counties, United Ways of Kenosha and Racine Counties, Kenosha Department of Human Services and UW-P Center for Community Partnerships.

What was your reaction when you learned the program had received the grant?

Honestly, I was amazed! I knew that the grant guidelines were a perfect fit for our program; but we knew that the competition for this federal grant was very stiff and our program is still relatively new.

What are your plans for the grant?

Our goals for the grant are to deepen the relationships we have with our partners and the nonprofit community. The funding will allow us to provide organizational assessments, technical assistance and training for smaller and emerging organizations that goes much deeper than we have been able to do so far. We will also provide $600,000 in sub-grants to nonprofits for capacity-building activities over the next three years.

What are its goals?

The goal of the Compassion Capital Program are to strengthen the ability of grass-roots faith-based and community organizations to help economically distressed individuals or families within the cities of Kenosha and/or Racine. This includes organizations providing services related to one or more of the following critical needs: homelessness; elders in need; at-risk youth; families in transition from welfare to work; those in need of intensive rehabilitation such as addicts or prisoners; prisoners re-entering the community and/or children of prisoners; and marriage education and preparation services.

Another goal of the grant is to help forge greater cooperation in the nonprofit community rather than the proliferation of non-profits. To implement this enormous project, we are collaborating with all of the founding partners of the Nonprofit Development Program as well as Racine County Department Human Services, the Volunteer Center of Racine, Racine Interfaith Coalition and CUSH of Kenosha.

How will a group or organization participate?

We're going to work with our partners to promote this program, but anyone can call me at (262) 595-2636 to learn more about it. We will do an official launch early in 2008. The plan is for forty eligible organizations to be inducted into the program each year for three years.

Each group will work with us to develop an individualized capacity-building plan. However, it is important to note that the all the non-profits in this region will benefit from expanded and enhanced training and technical assistance opportunities for their staff and boards.