The Community Foundation of Broward wants to hear new ideas about how to get people back to work within the next two years.
The foundation is accepting applications for the "Be Bold" $1 million dollar grant to fund solutions to unemployment.
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WLRN spoke with Sheri Brown, the foundation's vice president of community impact, about what ideas could receive the funding.
The following conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
WLRN: How did the idea to fund this grant program come together?
BROWN: This concept came about with the foundation's recognition that our residents are suffering due to the global pandemic crisis in the community and affected drastically in the unemployment arena. And so we determined to be laser focused on our strategy to get residents back to work. And we're excited that we conceptualized this very unique program that we hope to become a model for the country.
What specific objectives should a winning idea address?
We're looking for big, bold, innovative ideas that will get as many residents back to work as possible. We're being very targeted in terms of who we want the entity to focus on. Given the pandemic's impact in communities of color — they have been impacted the most in terms of the pandemic itself, in the transmission of the virus — but they've also been the most impacted as far as being displaced in the workforce. So we want projects that can innovatively address employing people of color, [but not exclusively].
Also, looking at collaborative models where they're reaching out to various entities to cooperate on the initiative so that we can have as much community involvement as possible.
We're looking at organizations that will focus on the end result of people having jobs. So the more the organization can think about a way to really be innovative — solutions that go beyond the traditional methods of employment — that's what the judging panel will look for.
The number of employed Americans won't return to its pre-pandemic level until 2024, according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office. Why is the foundation looking at a project within a two-year time frame?
The employment won't go back to the [previous] levels anytime soon.
So what we wanted to do was really provide a spark to really ignite a fire within our community to to get people back into the workforce. And we look at this initiative as being a pilot: the program or project is implemented over the first two years and tested. Then if successful, we would look at expanding it for multiple years if possible, if the support is there.
We know it's not an overnight magic wand that anyone can really strike to get people into the workforce. But [a] $1 million incentive will get a lot of people thinking really, really long and hard about what they can do to make it happen.
Companies, governments, educational institutions, and nonprofits can apply for the Broward Be Bold grant. Applications are due Friday, April 9. A winner will be announced by the end of May.
