September 2008
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In This Issue
Fiscal Year 2009 Federal Budget
It has been 20 years since Congress failed to complete action on even a single appropriations
bill, a dubious distinction that seems increasingly likely this year. The last time that all of
the spending bills were rolled into an omnibus appropriations measure was fiscal year (FY) 1988.
At the moment, the only FY 2009 appropriations bill that seems to have a chance of enactment on
its own appears to be the defense spending measure. But even that bill, usually considered a
must-pass measure, particularly in war time, has been hung up by election-season wrangling.
Democrats have made clear that they do not want to repeat last year’s protracted spending
fight with President Bush, who has threatened to veto bills that go beyond the spending limits
he has set.
As congressional leaders have signaled that they are not interested in shutting down the government
in an election year, they will have to pass a stopgap continuing resolution to fund the government
through the election in cooperation with President Bush before October 1. Although many lawmakers
are talking about the need for a lame duck session after the November election to complete work on
the FY 2009 appropriations, Democratic leaders do not favor the idea. They are looking to an Obama
presidency next year that will allow them to provide more money for their priorities, which may
ultimately turn out to be a flawed plan.
Federal Funding Opportunities
- National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Legal Assistance Program
http://www.nw.org/network/nfmcp/#LegalAssistanceFunding
Deadline: Friday, September 26
NeighborWorks has released the final funding announcement for the $30 million in grants available
through the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Legal Assistance Program. The deadline for
Legal Assistance Funding applications will be Friday, September 26. If your program
would like to contract with an organization that is eligible to apply for these grants, you must
act quickly.
Only HUD-approved Housing Counseling Intermediaries, state Housing Finance Agencies (HFAs) and
NeighborWorks organizations applying for NFMC Program Counseling Funding in September 2008 are
eligible to apply for this Legal Assistance Funding. A listing of eligible entities can be found
in Exhibit 2 on the last two pages of
the announcement.
Intermediaries and HFAs can either contract directly with a legal entity or entities, or receive
funds for their approved sub-grantees, branches and affiliates to contract with a legal
entity or entities. NeighborWorks organizations must contract directly with a legal entity or
entities. A "legal entity" is defined as private attorneys, legal nonprofits, law clinics,
pro bono attorneys or other legal organizations. By statute these funds cannot be used to provide,
obtain, or arrange on behalf of a homeowner, legal representation involving or for the purposes of
civil litigation.
No legal assistance funding can support legal representation involving the following activities:
- Representing homeowners in foreclosure proceedings
- Assisting homeowners when they are representing themselves in court
- Filing legal documents on behalf of a homeowner to initiate a civil complaint
- Bankruptcy filings
- Providing advice or counsel on judicial foreclosures if proceedings have begun or documents have been filed with a court
The contracting legal entity should advise the client at intake that it cannot use legal assistance
funds for civil litigation and that, in the event civil litigation is warranted, they must rely
upon an alternate source of funding for such activity. It is permissible for such alternate
funding to be provided by the same organization. Either the grantee or its contracting legal
entity must show documentation that it has provided a 20 percent match for awarded legal assistance
funds. Federal funds, with the exception of Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), may not
be counted toward match requirements.
Contracting legal entities will receive up to $500 for each client referred to them for legal
assistance by their partnering counseling agency. It is not the intent that every legal session
should be billed for $500. Some sessions will be briefer and cost much less than this amount.
If a session only costs $150, it must be attributed accordingly so as to extend the reach of
these legal assistance funds. Even if assistance to a client costs $500 or more, the contracting
legal entity can only be reimbursed up to $500 from the legal assistance funds. Grantees will be
required to develop a fee schedule before they expend legal assistance funding that includes a
negotiated billable rate or presents different fees for various types of legal assistance.
- HUD Sets Deadline for Continuum of Care Applications
http://www.hud.gov/esnaps
Deadline: Thursday, October 16
(Please note this change in the deadline was announced
in the
Federal Register on September 15.
)
After publishing a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) on July 10 for $1.42 billion in
Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance funding without committing to a deadline,
the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) has now announced an October 16 application
deadline. Prior to this announcement, HUD had only provided a tentative deadline of September 15,
and then announced a September 26 deadline.
The problem was that HUD was requiring all applicants to file through HUD's e-snaps system,
a system which HUD did not have fully up and running by the time the NOFA was published.
All electronic applications must be received by e-snaps by 4 p.m.
EST on October 16. Paper applications from applicants who were granted a waiver from the
electronic submission requirement must also be received by HUD no later than 4:00 p.m.
Private Foundation Funding
- Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance
http://www.foreclosurelegalassistance.org/
Deadline: Friday, October 31
The Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance, a project of the Center for
Responsible Lending (CRL) and managed by the National Association of
Consumer Advocates (NACA), is accepting applications for foreclosure legal
assistance grants for fiscal year 2009. This three-year grant is available to legal service
programs addressing the current foreclosure crises by providing the necessary funds to hire
an attorney.
Funding is specifically earmarked to hire attorneys and legal support staff to
represent homeowners faced with foreclosure. The Institute will also fund
capacity building efforts and provide in-kind resources that will include
trainings and training materials, technical assistance and support services, and
other legal resources needed to carry out project objectives.
The Institute welcomes proposals from non-profit organizations not currently funded under
their foreclosure legal assistance program that demonstrate the required
willingness, ability and leadership to run an effective foreclosure defense
project and can develop a comprehensive program model to handle the varied
needs of the clients in the community.
There will be a pre-application conference call held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, September 30.
Please check page 2 of the
Request for Proposals
for information about how to join the call.
- Mary Byron Foundation Celebrating Solutions Awards
http://www.marybyronfoundation.org/work_solutions.html
Deadline: Friday, October 17
The Mary Byron Foundation created the Celebrating Solutions Awards to showcase and applaud local
innovations that demonstrate promise in breaking the cycle of domestic violence. The foundation
seeks programs that can serve as models for other programs and offers $10,000 cash awards in
recognition of their pioneering efforts. These are awards for accomplishments, not grants for
future projects. The foundation typically chooses four winners each year.
To be eligible, the nominated program must address the issue of domestic violence. The program also
must be part of a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization or government agency, and must operate in
the United States or a U.S. territory. Both the nominated program and the organization or agency
must have been operating for a minimum of three years. The program should be replicable.
Organizations may nominate themselves for the award. Complete program guidelines and nomination
forms are available at the foundation's Web site.
- Brookdale Foundation
http://www.brookdalefoundation.org/RAPP/rapp.html
Deadline: Thursday, December 4
The Brookdale Foundation has announced the Relatives as Parents Program (RAPP) Local and State Seed
Grant Initiatives for the year 2009. RAPP is designed to encourage and promote the creation or
expansion of services for grandparents and other relatives who have taken on the responsibility of
surrogate parenting when the biological parents are unable to do so.
Up to 30 local and regional programs will be selected through this Request For Proposal (RFP)
process from within the United States. Each selected organization will receive a mini-grant of
$10,000 during a two-year period ($6,000 and $4,000 respectively), contingent on progress made
during year one and potential for continuity in the future. On-going technical assistance will
also be provided. Selected applicants will be notified in April and be invited and required,
as a guest of the foundation, to attend their National Orientation and Training Conference to
be held May 1 - 3, 2009 in Denver, Colorado.
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