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Created: 02/16/2018 • Last updated: 02/27/2018 General information Organization Bridging AZ Furniture Bank Contact First name Jim Contact Last name Piscopo Contact e-mail jim@bridgingaz.org Contact phone number 4803755454 Address Street 25 N. Extension Road City Mesa State Arizona ZIP Code 85201 From what tribe is the Gila River Indian Community organization requesting the grant? Total grant amount request 24000 1 / 2 The Gila River Indian Community offers multi-year awards. If your organization is requesting a multi-year grant for this project or program from the Gila River Indian Community, enter the amount to be requested each year. Amount Year 1 (Gila River Indian 12000 Community Grants Only) Year 2 (Gila River Indian 12000 Community Grants Only) Year 3 (Gila River Indian 0 Community Grants Only) Year 4 (Gila River Indian 0 Community Grants Only) Year 5 (Gila River Indian 0 Community Grants Only) 2 / 2 Change of Address As of June 1. 2005: Bridging AZ Furniture Bank, Inc 25 N. Extension Mesa, AZ 85201 Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2018 Cover Sheet Municipality Information 1. Date of Application: 2/27/2018 (NOTE: Click or use up/down arrow keys to move among fields) 2. Name of City, Town or County: Maricopa County 3. Mayor (City or Town) or Board of Supervisor’s Chairman (County): Steve Chucri 4. Mailing Address: 301 W. Jefferson Ave., Suite 960 5. City: Phoenix State: Arizona Zip Code: 85003 6. Acknowledgement of Submission by Authorized Municipality Representative: Typed Name/Title: Zachary Wolfe/Finance Department Signature: Applicant Information 7. Department/Organization Name: Bridging AZ Furniture Bank 8. Is this a 501c non-profit Organization? No Yes If yes, attach IRS Determination Letter 9. Application Contact Person: Jim Piscopo Title: Executive Director 10. Phone Number: 480-375-5454 11. Mailing Address: 25 N. Extension Road 12. City: Mesa State: Arizona Zip Code: 85201 13. Email Address: jim@bridgingaz.org Website Address: www.BridgingAZ.org Project Information 14. Project Name: Veterans Furniture Project – Veterans Apprenticeships 15. Purpose of Grant: Cost-share funding for apprenticeships for unemployed/disabled veterans at a woodworking shop. The shop is associated with a furniture bank serving homeless people, including veterans. 16. Priority Funding Area Economic Development 17. Annual amount requested $12,000 18. Number of years that funding is 2 requested 19. Total amount requested (annual $24,000 amount x number of years) 20. Has your organization received past No funding from GRIC? If yes, list each year and amount 21. Geographic area served Maricopa County For Office Use Only: Data Entry Receipt Evaluation Outcome A Approval Recommended/Amount $ A Denial Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2018 Narrative Please structure your proposal to provide the following information in the order indicated. Provide the narrative in paragraph form in the text field provided. Please be thorough but strive for brevity. 1. Briefly describe the organization’s history, mission and goals. Bridging AZ Furniture Bank is the first and largest furniture bank in Arizona. Bridging is headquartered at a Mesa warehouse, where we receive donations of new and gently used furniture, which we clean, repair, sort and store. Then, we partner with social service agencies who find housing for clients moving out of homelessness or other dire circumstances. When they move into an apartment, Bridging is there to turn a bare living space into a home, with beds, tables, chairs and dressers. We started in 2004 with the simple premise that “no child within our reach should be sleeping on the floor.” Over the years, Bridging has provided furniture and household items for more than 60,000 families and individuals. As our expertise in the furniture industry and social services has evolved, so has our mission. Today, Bridging has added separate programs focusing on specific groups – Beds for Kids, providing free beds for children in need, and the Veterans Furniture Project (VFP), which aims to reengage “unemployable” veterans in the workplace as they learn woodworking skills. The VFP, located in an adjoining shop constructed at the warehouse site in 2017, complements our mission. We’re able to repair and produce some furnishings that are in short supply. We now see our mission in a broader context, using furniture and other resources to help children and adults not only to stay off the floor, but to stand on their own two feet. 2. If the applying organization is non-municipal or a non-profit 501c, please describe your relationship with Arizona municipalities including past and present support, whether through partnerships, collaborations, in-kind contributions, grants, tax-based funding or other. Describe the supporting municipality’s role in this project. If the applying organization is a municipality governmental sub-division please enter the text “Not applicable.” Bridging AZ is applying for GRIC funding through Maricopa County. While we are headquartered in Mesa, we serve agencies and clients across all cities in the county, with the greatest concentrations in the City of Phoenix. We also are formal partners with the County, which provides surplus storage space to Bridging, and we are just beginning, in turn, to provide furniture to clients of the Maricopa County Human Services Department. We also are working with the department’s Workforce Development Division, proposing a pilot program to employ previously incarcerated veterans in woodworking this would tech a new skill and hopfully reduce recidivism. The veterans would work either in our furniture bank program or in the Veterans Furniture Project. Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2018 3. Describe the proposed project and planned goals and activities. The Veterans Furniture Project has moved from concept to reality is a short time and is now at a crucial stage in its growth. With the help of many donors, Bridging AZ was able in 2017 to complete the first phase of a new workshop space, which is in four 8-by-40-foot, converted shipping containers. Bridging’s founder is a veteran himself, and has long been interested in effective ways to re-engage unemployed and/or disabled veterans in the workforce and in the community. He came up with the idea to introduce a complementary project at the furniture bank, where Bridging AZ could, in effect, do good twice. As veterans learn woodworking skills, they can also help repair furniture and build or assemble furniture that is sometimes in short supply. The project provides hands-on experience in a skill that is easily understood but difficult to master. People with a wide range of experience and skills can achieve satisfying results with woodworking and, yet, be challenged to try more advanced techniques. 4. Describe how the proposed project satisfies one or more of the priority funding areas identified by the Gila River Indian Community. The Veterans Furniture Project falls under the “economic development” priority funding area, which includes “projects that assist with employment” and “job readiness.” The project’s primary goal is the engage unemployed and/or disabled veterans in hands-on training to demonstrate the importance of soft skills like teamwork and attention to details and safety. They will also learn basic woodworking skills, with an option to learn and use more advanced tools, such as a compter-guided router system and a laser cutting system. Because Bridging expects to draw VFP apprentices from among the homeless population that the agency serves in its furniture bank, the project also will help address a root cause of veteran homelessness – unemployment. 5. Identify the needs/problems to be addressed, target population and number of people to be served by the project. There is a critical need for job readiness among veterans served by Bridging. Veterans' overall jobless rate matches the general population, but Bridging and its partners serve a distinct subset - homeless and/or mentally ill veterans. Of the 227 referrals Bridging received from Arizona Housing Coalition in 2016 and 2017, 100 percent were unemployed, and only two had an annual income of over $5,000. The VFP targets this population. Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2018 The goal is to enroll 4 to 8 of these veterans per year as AmeriCorps volunteers in the workshop’s apprenticeship program. As AmeriCorps volunteers, they earn a small stipend for their work and also qualify for an educational award of up to $5,920 that they can apply to further training or education. The VFP program will help build self-confidence in veterans who have been out of the workforce for long periods. If the apprentices acquire skills quickly and wish to remain in the woodworking trade, they can advance to training with computer-aided tools and design systems. They'll also have a foundation to branch out into carpentry, construction and many other trades. 6. Define the project as a new or continuing program. Continuing. The project began in 2016 and operations started in 2017. 7. Provide a brief timeline including start and finish dates. Indicate if the timeline is flexible. We started work on the Veterans Furniture Project in 2016 and completed the installation of an onsite workshop in the fall of 2017, while developing a series of prototype products. Early in 2018, we hired a part-time woodworking instructor – a Marine veteran -- and have been recruiting and hiring veteran apprentices. We plan during the remainder of 2018 to enroll four to eight veterans in the program, upgrade equipment from consumer- to commercial-grade and expand the workspace to provide more room for production. We plan to begin marketing some of our products under the Veterans Furniture Project brand and, we hope, earn enough return to eventually make the workshop self-sustaining. Our timeline is flexible and may change depending on funding, especially capital funding that will provide for expansion of the workshop. 8. Identify other organizations, partners or funders participating in the project and their roles. Past funding for the Veterans Furniture Project has come from Intel Corporation, through a $50,000 grant for two, 1,000-hour Encore Fellowships, supporting two retirees who helped design, build and equip the VFP workshop. Additional past support has come from the Arizona Veterans Donation Fund ($12,500), for the hiring and training of a part-time employee, and Arizona Cardinals Charities, Sundt Foundation and Executive Council Charities, totaling $7,000 for equipment and general support. Current funders include the Arizona Veterans Donation Fund (a multi-year grant of $20,000 for equipment and supplies), the Boeing Employees Community Fund ($3,000 to support a workshop Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2018 instructor), Sundt Foundation ($2,500 for equipment) and Safeway Foundation ($2,000 in supplemental funding for veteran apprenticeships). Partner agencies include the Arizona Housing Coalition and the East Valley office of the U.S. Veterans Administration, who are helping us identify veterans who can benefit from the program; the Arizona Fine Woodworkers Association, which is providing advice and training on woodworking techniques and equipment; and Mesa United Way, which is administering the cost-sharing program that provides AmeriCorps positions for the VFP. 9. Would you be able to implement the proposed plan if your organization received partial funding for this project? Yes. However, hiring veterans for paid apprenticeship positions would be limited. 10. Describe your plan for project financial sustainability beyond the grant period. If this is a program/project previously funded by the Gila River Indian Community describe efforts made towards the previously described sustainability plan. We have already developed several prototypes of items that may be built by trainees and either offered for retail sale or made available to our furniture bank division to fill gaps in furniture supplies. We are planning to specialize in the use of recycled materials and have recently received a donation of 2,000 square feet of maple flooring from the Grand Canyon University basketball court. Prototype items already developed include a dresser made of wood flooring materials, an Adirondack chair made of flooring, an herb (or wine) tote and several bottle-and-glass totes. In the last two months, the workshop has obtained several small wood lathes and is producing wooden pens. We have also discussed the possibility, with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, of building and marketing at least two versions of the Wright-designed “Origami” chair. Our plan is to test market various products as they are put into production and, eventually, to sell them at local outlets and online, with proceeds supporting program expenses. Our plan, after two years, is to match or exceed through product sales the amount we receive in grants. Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2018 To increase public exposure for the VFP, we have secured a booth at the bimonthly Downtown Mesa Festival or Arts, where we explain the project and show examples of products we will produce. Response has been overwhelmingly positive. 11. Describe your plan to document progress and results. Bridging will track the following to demonstrate progress and program results: - The number of veterans enrolled as apprentices in the program. - The number who complete the hours or service and training they have selected. Through AmeriCorps Bridging offers part-time and full-time positions of 320, 480, 960 or 1,700 hours of service. - The number who find full- or part-time employment while enrolled in the apprenticeship program. - Percentage of participants passing skill-level competency tests for each major piece of woodworking equipment. - Proceeds, both gross and net, returned to the program as a result of any sales of items made in the workshop. 12. Indicate any application to and/or awards made by a tribe other than the Gila River Indian Community for state shared revenues for this and any other project for the past five (5) years. If this information is included in a separate attachment, please indicate that here. This is Bridging’s first application for shared revenue from any tribal community. We have not applied for any funding in the past. Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2018 Project Budget Budget Period: Calendar Year 2018 (Please see separate sheet for 2019 budget) For each budget item listed here please provide a narrative description on the following Project Budget Detail page. Proposed Budget Expense Amount Amount In Kind Total Budget (list each budget item) requested from requested or contributions GRIC secured from other funders 1. Program and product $0 $0 $0 $32,500 development salaries 2. Part-time Woodshop Trainer $0 $5,000 $0 $17,000 3. AmeriCorps $12,000 $12,000 $0 $24,000 4. Other personnel expenses $0 $0 $0 $7,200 5. Tools and supplies $0 $10,000 $0 $19,600 6. Events, promotions, marketing, $0 $0 $0 $5,200 mailing 7. Trucks operation and $0 $0 $0 $1,200 maintenance 8. Building rental & repairs $0 $0 $0 $12,600 9. Utilities, internet, web $0 $0 $0 $2,200 10. Professional development, $0 $0 $0 $2,800 volunteer-related expenses 11. Liability insurance $0 $0 $0 $1,400 12. Miscellaneous expenses $0 $0 $0 $1,200 13. Click here to enter text. $0 $0 $0 $0 14. Click here to enter text. $0 $0 $0 $0 15. Click here to enter text. $0 $0 $0 $0 16. Click here to enter text. $0 $0 $0 $0 17. Click here to enter text. $0 $0 $0 $0 Total Budget $12,000 $27,000 $0 $126,900 Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2018 Project Budget Detail Please provide a narrative description for each of the project budget items listed on the previous page. Include the dollar figure and how it was derived. 1. Program and product development salaries, $32,500. 20% of this budget item is allocated to administrative salaries for Bridging AZ Furniture Bank, based on the proportion of time spent on the Veterans Furniture Project. 2. Part-time Woodshop Trainer, $17,000. Bridging already received a $3,000 grant from the Boeing Employees Community Fund of Arizona and a $2,000 grant from the Safeway Foundation to supplement funding for this position. 3. AmeriCorps, $12,000. This amount is based on 6 of the 8 part-time AmeriCorps slots secured through Mesa United Way. The shared cost to Bridging for the equivalent to approximately 50% of the pay the AmeriCorps members receive. Example: Bridging’s cost for one 960-hour AmeriCorps position is $3,562. AmeriCorp commitments may also be up to 1,700 hours a year or as little as 320 hours over 3 months. Bridging will adjust the allocation of positions based on veterans’ needs. We are asking for a two-year commitment from GRIC for $12,000 each year.. 4. Other personnel expenses, $7,200. This includes workman’s compensation insurance, payroll taxes and processing fees, based on historical costs and the project’s portion on Bridging’s budget. 5. Tools and supplies, $19,600. We are in the process of upgrading our shop equipment from consumer- grade to commercial-grade equipment, and have sought grant funding from several sources for this expense. At least $10,000 for this purpose for the next fiscal year has been secured from the Arizona Veterans Donation Fund administered by the Arizona Department of Veterans Services and we expect spend another $10,000 from the same grant in 2019. Expenses in the category are estimated based on equipment and supply needs during the project’s prototype phase. 6. Events, promotions, marketing, mailing, $5,200. This is a combined expense for printing, mailing, marketing and other promotional activities needed to market woodshop products, report progress to our donor base and secure additional donations and support. 7. Trucks operation and maintenance, $1,200. This is an allocated expense for delivery truck operations for the VFP. The project takes advantage of Bridging’s pick-up and delivery capabilities by using donated wood and other recycled materials. Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2018 8. Building rental & repairs, $12,600. This covers expenses for rental of the workshop structure and property on which it is located, as well as anticipated repairs for the year. 9. Utilities, internet, web, $2,200. This items covers utility expenses – mainly electrical costs – and costs associated with internet services for the woodshop. Internet access is necessary for some of the shop’s computer-controlled equipment. 10. Professional development, volunteer-related expenses, $2,800. This item covers training classes and other professional development opportunities, primarily for instructors who are training and counseling veterans. It also covers potential expenses for volunteers who are helping with the project. 11. Liability insurance, $1,400. This item covers the VFP’s allocated portion of liability insurance expenses for Bridging AZ, based on historic costs. 12. Miscellaneous expenses, $1,200. This item covers miscellaneous expenses of $100 per month. 13. Click here to enter text. 14. Click here to enter text. 15. Click here to enter text. 16. Click here to enter text. 17. Click here to enter text. Other explanation: We are also submitting a 2019 budget, which includes the same line items. The explanations above apply to each item in the 2019 budget, but we have included an increase of 2% in each category – except for the AmeriCorps positions budget -- to account for inflation. Also, in the 2019 budget, we anticipate using the remaining $10,000 of a $20,000 grant from the Arizona Veterans Donation fund slated for equipment and supplies. 2019 Veterans Furniture Project budget (Includes 2% across-the-board increases in all categories) Proposed Amount Amount In Kind contributions Total budget budget requested requested or expense from GRIC secured from other funders Program and $33,150 product development salaries Part-time $17,340 woodshop trainer Taxes, other $7,344 employee- related expenses AmeriCorps $12,000 $12,000 $24,000 Equipment, $10,000 $19,992 tools & supplies Utilities, $2,244 phones, internet Mailing, $5,304 printing, promotions, marketing Trucks $1,224 operation, maintenance Building $12,852 rental and repairs Professional $2,856 development & volunteer expenses 5Misc. $1,224 expenses Liability $1,428 insurance Total budget $128,958