Two State Programs Get Grants

By Pamela Maisano
For The Sooner Catholic

Each year, state programs may apply to the national CCHD for funds to initiate projects or strengthen projects already in place.  Most states consider themselves blessed to have one program selected on the national level to receive national CCHD grant monies, but in 2006, two programs in Oklahoma have received that honor.  

Possibilities Inc., an organization that has helped to change the face of neighborhoods around Mount Saint Mary’s High School, was selected along with the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Development Corporation.

The (CPCDC) focuses on training and educating native citizens of Oklahoma’s Indian Country in finance and business entrepreneurship

In an effort to help the Hispanic neighborhood surrounding Mount Saint Mary’s High School, students there decided to commission a survey of the area. Possibilities Inc., a nonprofit organization in Oklahoma City, was brought in to help with the effort. The organization is devoted to strengthening neighborhoods, through facilitation and guidance,

Possibilities Inc. inspires residents of the neighborhoods themselves to reach for their hopes and dreams. To do this in the neighborhood around Mount Saint Mary’s, Possibilities helped students survey and gather information from the neighborhood in an effort to learn the most pressing needs and ways in which students could help.  

The results of this survey revealed that residents needed and desired an opportunity to learn to speak English and opportunities to complete an education and help in dealing with the many common problems and needs arising for any group of people living in a new environment.  

As a result, students  — with help provided by a one-year Mercy Caritas grant from the Sisters of Mercy for $48,000  — established the El Centro de Oportunidades (Center of Opportunities) program, which provided free English as a second language and high school equivalency  courses.  

They also instituted a program with a goal of informing 500 Hispanic people per year about health, social service and education issues.  Between January and July 2005, nearly 600 Hispanics were reached with such information.  

According to Lisa Reed, executive director, the services and information provided to the students and faculty of Mount Saint Mary’s High School is typical of the type of empowerment programs which are the hallmark of Possibilities.  

“The problems are numerous, as different as are the differences in  people and neighborhoods,” said Reed, “but the methods used are time-   tested. Rather than entering an area and claiming that we have the solutions for all of a neighborhood’s problems, we go where we are invited — based on referrals from residents of neighborhoods that have been part of the program and have seen success.”  

Among other projects, Possibilities also has helped to facilitate an exchange between the city of Spencer and residents, assisting the community to the best use of  a building when a school closes; assisted Westlaw Gardens in developing nightly neighborhood patrols; and supported the community and parents taking an active role in education of their children at Mark Twain Elementary School.

Possibilities also brings residents together and recruits participants for Camp Possibilities, an intensive training program that teaches leadership and facilitation skills.   

Once trained, these individuals reach out and involve others. The process builds on itself, and the results are amazing. A conservative estimate is that more than 25,000 people benefit from Possibilities’ work each year.

The Citizen Potawatomi Nation Development Corporation (CPCDC) was chartered by the Citizen Potawatomi Nation to provide capital and technical assistance for business projects that help create financially healthy tribal families and a healthy tribal economy.  They received grant funding through the CCHD Economic Development Grant Program.

On an individual level, the CPCDC focuses its efforts on capital creation and asset-building strategies such as financial literacy and business development training.  According to Kristi Coker, executive director, the purpose of the Building Native Communities — Financial Skills for Families Training Program administered by CPCDC is to enable tribal members to realize their traditional values by learning financial skills that will help each person make informed financial decisions for themselves, their families and their tribal community.

In short, the CPCDC assists tribal members to increase their business ownership skills, job security and incomes just as their fur-trading ancestors did so long ago.

Alongside the financial education and business entrepreneurship  programs offered, the organization offers three lending programs, one of which makes emergency loans as well as having a Financial Education Component that includes one-on-one counseling, monthly workshops and credit counseling.

“Today, more than ever, Native American families need more than a regular paycheck to achieve financial security.  They need the capacity to acquire and preserve assets, a pathway to self-sufficiency,” says Coker. “The Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation’s asset-building strategies provide opportunities that enable native Oklahoma families to build assets and they also introduce them to a financial horizon that extends beyond this month’s bills.”

Thanks in part to the Economic Development Grant from CCHD, these new business and economic opportunities allow native families to take control of their financial futures and give them meaningful opportunities to reap the benefits of asset acquisition and preservation.