New CSSP brief -- Guide to Preparing for Federal Grants

We recently released a new brief, Guide to Successfully Preparing for Federal Grants, which shares the lessons learned through our Neighborhood Investment work about how communities can best prepare for federal grant opportunities. Through our Neighborhood Investment work, we work with communities and local leaders to understand, assess and secure public and private resources needed to achieve better long-term results for vulnerable children and families.  In the current economic climate, federal funding in particular is a significant source of support for local efforts and can be hugely beneficial in helping communities achieve, scale-up and sustain local work. Our work has shown that communities can be most successful in accessing federal grants by working together to create a process that contains key elements: a focus on results, data to demonstrate need, solutions that work, learning and accountability, effective partnerships, and long-term sustainability. The Guide to Successfully Preparing for Federal Grants explores why each of these elements is important.