Washington, D.C.: Delivery Associates, in collaboration with philanthropic partners, is proud to announce the launch of the Community Funding Accelerator (CFA). Launching on September 18, 2023, the CFA helps underserved communities access competitive federal grants. CFA demystifies the competitive federal grants landscape, delivers world-class technical assistance, and drives implementation to scale innovative education and workforce solutions in communities across the US.

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The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional learning and exacerbated inequities in education. Education has historically been insular, but as the future of work arrives, there is a pressing need to deepen connections between education and other sectors that contribute to workforce development and economic mobility, especially for historically marginalized students.

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"Birmingham's strength is its people,” says Sarah McMillan, Manager of Workforce and Talent Development for the City of Birmingham, Alabama. “The CFA has assisted our team in strengthening partnerships, facilitating open dialogue between community partners, and helped to lay a foundation for collaborative methods designed to bring resources to our people and communities."

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There is unprecedented federal funding available to foster and scale innovative solutions in education. However, competitive federal grants are notoriously complex, and many organizations need support and capacity to make the most of this moment.

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“The Community Funding Accelerator initiative is instrumental in helping us capitalize on funding opportunities previously unexplored, with the specific goal of fortifying our coalition and enhancing our collective impact,” said Ronnie King, Co-Founder of MyVillage Project in Jacksonville, Florida. King and his colleagues are working to create a collective of black organizations in the community to lift up black students and families. “The CFA team has demonstrated expertise in the federal grant process, but, most importantly, they understand our community's desired outcomes.”

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Along with world-class technical assistance, the CFA increases access to the competitive federal grants landscape through a Competitive Federal Grants Tracker and other online resources. The Competitive Federal Grants Tracker invites users to explore education, workforce development, and economic mobility grants from multiple federal agencies in one interactive tool. The Competitive Federal Grants Tracker is unlike other automated tools. The CFA team researches competitive federal grant opportunities and synthesizes key information to make specifications, eligibility, and other requirements digestible for users. Users can search grants by topic and sort by closing date, grant ceiling amount, and recently added competitive federal grants, which helps them find competitive grants they might not have been aware of to advance their community’s goals. From there, they can reach out to CFA for technical assistance, which may include idea incubation, grant application support, coalition building, and implementation planning.

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Currently in its pilot phase, CFA has helped 9 coalitions apply for up to $10 million in federal funding, with the potential to support 1.9 million K-12 students. By the end of its first year, CFA estimates supporting 25 grantees to apply for up to $178 million in federal funding. 

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"The Community Funding Accelerator was critical to Colorado's successful effort to submit competitive applications for the Department of Commerce' Regional Innovation (Tech) Hub program this summer,” said JB Holston, Strategic Advisor to Colorado TechHubNow! “CFA's work specifically ensured that those applications were centered around diversity, equity and inclusion, that they explicitly developed plans for scaling new, region-wide workforce pathways in support of these emerging tech categories, and that the final grant submissions were of the highest quality.” 

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For more information, please visit communityfundingaccelerator.org

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Delivery Associates is a global public sector consulting firm founded by Sir Michael Barber, previous advisor to former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Delivery Associates works with ambitious governments and philanthropies across the globe to deliver real results for their residents and citizens that have a lasting impact.

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