Change grants support sustainability

The Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES) has been undergoing a significant transformation.

“We identified that there was this problem of people being shuffled through the justice system as opposed to getting the treatment that they needed,” Loyal Miles, CASES’ director of development and communications, said. 

In October 2014, CASES opened the Nathaniel Mental Health Clinic in Central Harlem, licensed by the New York State Office of Mental Health to provide outpatient mental health treatment. It is designed to support the needs of youth and adults who have mental illness and have become involved in the criminal justice system.

The clinic has received more than 800 referrals from clients. But Medicaid reforms in New York state forced the organization to think more strategically about its business approach in order to build the program’s sustainability. 

Then along came a $300,000 Change Capital grant from the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF). 

The grant has provided some deficit funding, supported the cost of technology infrastructure upgrades to implement electronic medical records and helped CASES hire a health care business manager.

"It’s a large grant, so we have a significant in-­hand investment in the clinic," Miles said. "When we approach other funders, it makes a real difference.”

The NFF’s Change Capital grants are designed to be limited-duration infusions of capital to help fuel change at an organization and over the long term. They are also intended to improve the stability of human services providers – seeing as the demands upon them have “done nothing but increase since the recession,” NFF’s managing director of advisory services Kristin Giantris said. The grants are part of NFF’s Community Resilience Fund (CRF) launched in 2013 to offer overtaxed social safety nets focused expertise and opportunities to finance organizational change.

(Stacey Young, a clinician at CASES' Nathaniel Clinic, meets with a client. Photo: Joe Cooper)

To be eligible, nonprofits must provide direct services to underserved communities, have received at least 51 percent of their funding from government contracts over the last three years, focus on health and human services and have been in operation for a minimum of five years.

The grant winners were the African Services Committee, the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco), Leake & Watts, Grand Street Settlement, the New York City Anti-Violence Project, CASES and Palladia Inc., which now operates under Services for the Underserved. They received a combined total of $1.6 million. 

The grants were used for project management activities related to Palladia’s merger with SUS; fundraising and events positions at AVP; efforts to maximize existing government contracts and fundraising to support cash flow needs at Grand Street Settlement; a recapitalization plan for WHEDco’s Urban Horizons project - a 132-apartment flagship affordable housing development; ASC’s new nominal legal fee clinic; and Leake & Watts’ rebranding. 

Kate Webster, practice manager for ASC’s Immigration Community Law Center, particularly appreciates the Change Capital grants because she said it is virtually impossible to receive grant support for a fundamental immigration program. Immigration programs that cannot sustain themselves end up forcing potential clients to consider much less favorable options. Some end up overpaying private attorneys or approaching notarios: non-lawyers who charge large fees, and can be incapable of delivering what’s promised.

After experimenting with a fee-for-service model, ASC formed a nominal-fee clinic that provides immigration legal services to clients who do not qualify for ASC’s grant-based legal program.

The $225,000 grant funded the clinic’s infrastructure, the hiring of a marketing consultant, focus groups and the hiring of a second full-time attorney for the clinic whose salary will now be funded by fees the clinic generates. The clinic has two full-time attorneys and two part-time paralegals. 

“The reason we applied for the Change Capital grant was to use that funding to build up the infrastructure of that clinic and get it to the point where it is self-sufficient and is able to generate the fees,” Webster said. 

ASC has planned a media push including radio advertisements and print ads. It has also been using funds to develop the clinic’s website. 

WHEDco was struggling to determine how to both recapitalize Urban Horizons for long-term financial security and pay for upgrades and renovations. 

The $200,000 grant financed the development of a scope of work. The nonprofit also hired engineers, commissioned a physical needs assessment and paid staff to formulate a budget and a funding proposal for government agencies. WHEDco expects to close on a financing project with government agencies for the $4 million project by the end of this year. The organization approached the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the state Homes and Community Renewal’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal about financing a low-interest loan. 

“It’s something that we value not only because we otherwise would not have the resources to do that plan, but also once we implement that plan … those savings will benefit us in the long term,” said Jonathan Springer, WHEDco’s senior vice president and chief operating officer.

The grant also helped Leake & Watts hire experts to review its mission, elevator pitch, website, color scheme, donation site and the possibility of a name change. The nonprofit helps children and families struggling with poverty, disabilities and a lack of access to education and basic services.

"They recognize that branding is part of capacity building,” said Meredith Barber, Leake & Watts’ senior director of institutional advancement. She is the primary liaison for the brand consulting effort.

ASC’s Harlem-site lease expires next year, prompting a likely move to the Bronx due to the influence of gentrification. In addition, uncertainties related to federal immigration relief weigh heavily on the organization’s future. CASES’ clinic is still operating at a deficit as recouping fees for Medicaid-funded treatment services has been challenging: “The focus now is to ensure the clinic’s sustainability,” Miles said. 

But ultimately, the grant also helped each nonprofit determine what it needs to stay adaptable, says Jina Paik, NFF’s director of advisory services.

"I think even going through the exercise of thinking about that was very powerful to the organizations,” Paik said.