June 2020
Capital Youth Empowerment Program (CYEP) is a 501c3 non-profit organization with offices in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. that seeks to increase the proportion of children who grow up with involved, responsible, and committed fathers. Launched in 2008, CYEP built its capacity to deliver services via contracts and small grants. The organization had never received federal funding.
New Growth supported CYEP to apply for a grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services Fatherhood FIRE program. Over the course of six weeks, the New Growth team worked with CYEP leaders and partners to move from project ideation to writing and submission. Even with CYEP drawing on the strengths of its existing programming, New Growth met almost daily with project leaders to flesh out detailed operational plans and budgets for the application. New Growth helped CYEP structure a compliant performance management and continuous improvement process; and overcome a lack of federal grant experience, which was a critical scoring element, via partnerships.
The end result was a 100+ page grant submission that was funded at $4.9 million. Over 800 fathers will receive parenting courses, career counseling and case management, and job training as a result.
