Pepsi launched its "Refresh Project" campaign, which Pepsi will give away $1.3 million each month to fuel the work of great organizations across the nation. The great news! Teach For America won the challenge and will be one of the very first recipients of a $250,000 grant to provide more excellent teachers to students in low-income communities! For mor information click on the following link: www.refresheverything.com/TFA.

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On Saturday, March 6th, 2010, Families and Youth Incorporated, FYI-AmeriCorps, and other local organizations will come together at Young Park to hold a fundraiser for Haiti. The event will be from 12:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. In addition to providing live music from “Moses Jones” and “The Raggies”, there will be a yard sale, a bake sale, a silent auction, a bungee run, face painting, seed planting, a blood drive, horseshoes, a bean bag toss, and much more. All family oriented activities will be donation based, and all proceeds will be sent to the victims of the January 12th earthquake in Haiti by the Southwestern New Mexico Red Cross chapter. Blood donations will benefit locally, as will the clothes leftover from the donation based yard sale.

The Social Innovation Fund was authorized by the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, and signed by President Obama in April 2009. In December 2009 we began our process by hosting several Social Innovation Town Hall meeting across the state. We are at the next step in of the very rigorous process of developing a proposal for submission to the Corporation for National and Community Service for the Social Innovation Fund (www.cns.gov). We have developed a three-stage approach to designing the grant proposal which will draw on the expertise of community leaders, businesses, and organizations throughout the state. The Design Team of diverse professionals will help develop a proposal that will best position the state of New Mexico to receive this highly sought-after funding. We have no preconceived ideas as to how to tailor the proposal for submission. Instead, we will be looking for input from you to provide insight and expertise on how best to design this proposal to create meaningful system reform in New Mexico.

February 25, 2010

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ALBUQUERQUE, NM — Lt. Governor Diane Denish announced three designates today, to lead a team to generate a proposal for the Social Innovation Fund. Claire Dudley (New Mexico Children’s Cabinet), Robin Brulé (Office of Philanthropic Outreach) and Greg Webb (New Mexico Commission for Community Volunteerism) will serve as co-leaders of the state’s plan to develop the New Mexico proposal to apply for the newly formed Social Innovation Fund available through the Corporation for National and Community Service.

The release of the final NOFA followed a one-month public comment period that generated over 200 public comments from a broad array of stakeholders, including potential intermediaries, nonprofit organizations and experts with deep experience in grantmaking, social change, evaluation, replication and expansion.

“The input of the nonprofit and philanthropic communities has greatly improved the final product that we’re publishing today,” said Stephen Goldsmith, the Chair of the Corporation’s Board of Directors. “This is a key first step toward providing the financial capital and the ideas to focus public and private resources on what works, so our nation can make dramatic progress on key social challenges.”