Examples of our work
Client: NACCP CT Chapter
Since 2022, Farnam Associates has served as a program advisor, process design parter, and grant writer for the Connecticut NAACP’s One Million Jobs Campaign, which helps formerly incarcerated individuals secure high-quality jobs. In this role, Farnam Associates has helped the campaign grow to include more comprehensive job training, built nnew relationships between the NAACP and community partners, and secured funds to drive this program serving vulnerable returning citizens.
Client: City of New Haven
Developed from the coalition of organizations that came together to plan the New Haven Promise Zone, the City Transformation Plan is a cross-sector plan for improving outcomes for all city residents. The CTP places particular emphasis on equity in each of its focus areas. The CTP contains strategies for improvements in job creation, economic activity, education and youth development, crime and neighborhood safety, community health and wellbeing, and housing and neighborhood infrastructure.
Farnam Associates advised the City and community team on the overall planning process, facilitated six of the seven work groups that contributed to the development of the plan, and assisted City staff in the drafting of the final document that was released in January 2016.
Find details of the CTP online here.
Client: City of New Haven
Beginning in 2014, the City of New Haven began developing a proposal for designation as a federal Promise Zone. As a Promise Zone, a cluster of low-income neighborhoods would have an infrastructure to better align social services, economic development opportunities, and other resources otherwise lacking in the area to achieve defined goals for community improvement. New Haven was named one of 10 national finalists in 2015; its status for the final 2016 round is still pending. However, the City used the network formed in this planning process to launch the City Transformation Plan (see below).
Farnam Associates facilitated the process of developing the application and securing commitments from over 40 community partners that signed on to a Memorandum of Understanding.
Client: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Farnam Associates provided comprehensive technical assistance to the Connecticut Working Cities Challenge from its inception in 2018 until 2021 after being selected through an RFP process.
Cross-sector teams in 10 CT cities competed to be selected for a three year support grant for their proposed initiative to address a pressing issue in their community related to addressing poverty and inequity. Five city teams were selected to receive the grant funding and technical support— Danbury, East Hartford, Hartford, Middletown, and Waterbury. All the cities chose to address aspects of workforce development among other priorities. A full description of the city teams, plans, and results is available on the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston web site here.
The Farnam Associates team supported the staff and Steering Committee in the selection process and then coached the leaders and paid initiative coordinators in each of the five cities while designing and managing cross-site meetings and learning experiences throughout the three year initiate
Farnam Associates served as the One Stop Operator for the South Central Connecticut region from 2016-2021. The role is multi-faceted, involving coordination of collaborative initiatives and partner networks, strengthening the customer satisfaction system and identifying opportunities for growth.
Client: City of New Haven
The City of New Haven asked partners in 2017 to support the LEAD initiative with a grant proposal under the federal Justice Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) that will divert persons with mental health or substance use issues from the criminal justice system to reduce the rates of incarceration and recidivism. The grant would build on Justice-Mental Health Collaboration Program’ s efforts in increasing public safety by facilitating collaboration among criminal justice, mental health, and substance abuse treatments, maximizing opportunities for an early intervention, and increasing the number of partnerships.
Farnam Associates prepared the grant under the Justice-Mental Health Collaboration Program of the US Department of Justice. It was awarded in September 2017.
Client: Alliance for Bloomfield’s Children
Farnam Associates facilitated a process to develop a Strategic Plan for the Alliance to guide their efforts to support early childhood development in Bloomfield.
Client: URU, The Right to Be, Inc.
Changing the Face of Medicine is an initiative of New Haven non-profit URU The Right To Be, Inc., made up of a documentary film, a photo-essay book, and educational events about African-American women trailblazers in medical professions. Local filmmaker and activist Crystal Emery, Executive Director of URU The Right To Be, created the film and book and designed the educational tour.
The project’s tour is being piloted at area schools and community organizations, and aims to launch nationally in 2016. The goal of the project is to increase the number of students of color entering into medical and STEM fields.
Farnam Associates has advised on the design of the tour and supported fund development efforts for the project.
See a list of all of our grants awarded successfully.
Client: ‘r kids Family Center, New Haven, CT (web site)
‘r kids Family Center provides a wide array of services in support of vulnerable families involved in or at risk of involvement in the Connecticut child welfare system. They recently completed a$4 million expansion of their facility at 45 Dixwell Avenue in New Haven by adding two floors and expanding to 11,000 s.f.
Farnam Associates has assisted in advising on fund development strategies and in writing numerous grants and other funding proposals to private and public funding sources, including the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the New Haven Public Schools, and many others.
Client: CitySeed, New Haven, CT (web site)
CitySeed operates a suite of food system-related programs in New Haven, including operation of three farmer’s markets, the Sanctuary Kitchen culinary training program for recent immigrants, and a food business incubator that has helped over 500 individuals to start up food businesses.
Farnam Associates has assisted in advising CitySeed on fund development strategies and in writing numerous grants and other funding proposals to private and public funding sources, including the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Bank of America, TD Bank North, and many others.
Client: Greater Dwight Community Development Corporation (GDDC), New Haven, CT (web site)
GDDC is renovating an historic house at 1377 Ella T. Grasso Boulevard into a child care center to serve infants and toddlers with three affordable apartments above for teachers at the center. As part of the project, GDDC is also working with All Our Kin to create five new family-based child care businesses in the neighborhood to further expand the supply of child care and create jobs for neighborhood residents.
Farnam Associates has helped GDDC secure a federal economic development grant from the Office of Community Services ($625,000) and supported efforts to secure bond funds from the State of Connecticut for the project.
Client: City of New Haven, Health Department
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In addition to the services, a second component of the grant involved a study by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine and School of Public Health to develop better systems for tracking entry to care for persons using opioids.
Farnam Associates facilitated the process of developing the complex application and budget and i securing letters of participation or support from area health departments and agencies involved with addressing the opioid crisis.
Client: City of New Haven, Health Department
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Farnam Associates facilitated the process of developing the complex application and budget and i securing letters of participation or support from agencies involved with addressing housing and lead paint issues.
Client: City of New Haven, Office of Community Resilience
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Farnam Associates facilitated the process of developing the complex application and budget and in securing letters of participation or support from agencies involved with addressing community violence.
Client: Community Placemaking and Engagement Network (CPEN) (web site)
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Farnam Associates facilitated the process of developing several applications and budget and in securing letters of participation or support from agencies involved with community development ad environment.
Client: City of New Haven
Beginning in 2014, the City of New Haven began developing a proposal for designation as a federal Promise Zone. As a Promise Zone, a cluster of low-income neighborhoods would have an infrastructure to better align social services, economic development opportunities, and other resources otherwise lacking in the area to achieve defined goals for community improvement. New Haven was named one of 10 national finalists in 2015; its status for the final 2016 round is still pending. However, the City used the network formed in this planning process to launch the City Transformation Plan (see below).
Farnam Associates facilitated the process of developing the application and securing commitments from over 40 community partners that signed on to a Memorandum of Understanding.
Client: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
As part of our role in supporting the Working Cities Challenge (see above under Comprehensive Community Development), we prepared an application to the Connecticut Health and Education Facilities Authority (CHEFA) under thieir philanthropic funding program for $250,000 to support the hiring of Career Navigators at the five Workig Cities Challenge collaboratives.
Client: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
As part of our role in supporting the Working Cities Challenge (see above under Comprehensive Community Development), we supported efforts to secure state funding through the Connecticut General Assembly to sustain the work fo the five city collaboratives for two additional years after the Federal Reserve Bak-generated funding ended.
Farnam Associates prepared case statements and other proposals for use with legislators and worked with the lead legislators and the city coordinators to ensure inclusion of a $2 million line item in the state’s ARPA funding package.
Client: Connecticut Association for Community Action (CAFCA)
Connecticut’s 14 Community Action Agencies (CAAs) that are state and federally recognized anti-poverty agencies came together to form the Connecticut Association for Community Action, Inc. (CAFCA) to carry out programs and advance the anti-poverty efforts in the state. CAFCA’s mission is to strengthen the capacity of their members to empower people in need and improve the communities in which they live. The mission is fulfilled by CAAs that employ a comprehensive, community-involved, needs-driven approach to deliver resources and services that address poverty in communities across Connecticut.
Farnam Associates worked with CAFCA staff to prepare a comprehensive response to a 2015 Request for Proposals from the Connecticut Department of Social Services for statewide case management services supported through the Social Services Block Grant. Farnam Associates conducted extensive research through contact with all the CAAs to document their capabilities and their case management strategies. The grant helped CAFCA build upon and enhance the statewide delivery system of the CAAs’ services to vulnerable or at-risk individuals and families.
Farnam Associates is the One Stop Operator for the South Central Connecticut region. The role is multi-faceted, involving coordination of collaborative intiatives and partner networks, strengthening the customer satisfaction system and identifying opportunities for growth.
Client: City of New Haven
The City of New Haven asked partners in 2017 to support the LEAD initiative with a grant proposal under the federal Justice Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) that will divert persons with mental health or substance use issues from the criminal justice system to reduce the rates of incarceration and recidivism. The grant would build on Justice-Mental Health Collaboration Program’ s efforts in increasing public safety by facilitating collaboration among criminal justice, mental health, and substance abuse treatments, maximizing opportunities for an early intervention, and increasing the number of partnerships.
Farnam Associates prepared the grant under the Justice-Mental Health Collaboration Program of the US Department of Justice. It was awarded in September 2017.
Client: Alliance for Bloomfield’s Children
Client: Workforce Alliance
The Ready To Work grant, a U.S. Department of Labor grant funded through federal H1B visa revenues covers the cost of On the Job Training (OJT) for long term unemployed persons with some smiles. This program provides regional employers an incentive when they hire and train workers with a 50%-75% reimbursement of the portion of the employees’ wages. The program was created under the partnership of The Workforce Alliance (WA) and Eastern CT Workforce Investment Board (EWIB) to address the President’s initiative in assisting long-term unemployed workers to reenter the workforce using strategies to remove particular barriers to reemployment.
Farnam Associates led the preparation and development of the grant. The 2014 grant helped fund provisions of On the Job Training and other paid work experiences to 375 or more long-term unemployed workers in South Central and Eastern Connecticut regions and assisted skilled workers seeking to transition into permanent, full-time employment in new or related fields.
Client: The Justice Education Center, Inc as an agent for the Office of the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut
Farnam Associates prepared two grants PSN Youth (2014) and PSN Opportunity (2016) for The Justice Education Center (TJEC) and their initiative Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).
The $300,000 grants designated the center as the USAO’s Fiscal Agent and program developer to implement programs that target youth ages 14-17 with interventions to reduce gun crime in the New Haven. Both grants have helped break the cycle of at-risk and gang behaviors through PSN’s youth-focused programs to provide highly targeted, personalized case management support, counseling, referrals and follow-up. Through PSN Youth and PSN Opportunity, TJEC has built a roster of programs and strategies to address teens’ needs, including: substance abuse, mental health and family issues, lack of services, remediation in math and English, and the lack of opportunities available to build career pathways.
Client: The Connection, Inc.
Farnam Associated provided extensive research and writing support on this proposal to the Connecticut Judicial Department Court Support Services Division to continue The Connection’s program offering treatment to sex offenders around the state through its Center for the Treatment of Problem Sexual Behavior.
The proposal was successful and generated a state contract for services valued at $5.7 million.
Client: Tow Youth Justice Institute
The State of Connecticut’s Office of Policy and Management was awarded a federal grant for strategic planning on improved community supervision and reentry practicesfor youth after incarceration.
Farnam Associates prepared the application as a contractor to the Tow Youth Justice Initiative at the University of New Haven.
Client: Workforce Alliance
In 2015, the Workforce Alliance, in partnership with the City of New Haven, applied for and was awarded a grant for a pilot Department of Labor program aimed at reducing recidivism. The grant funds the opening of an American Job Center inside the New Haven Correctional Center—the first of its kind in the state—to provide area residents job training and job readiness skills in preparation for returning from incarceration to New Haven and surrounding towns.
In December 2015, Governor Dannel Malloy visited the New Haven Correctional Center and announced the launch of the Job Center as a part of his Second Chance Society initiative. This was reflected in a January 4, 2016 lead editorial in the New York Times on Connecticut’s leadership in prison reentry work.
Farnam Associates assisted in the project design and prepared the federal grant application.
Client: City of New Haven
In 2014, the City of New Haven was awarded a highly competitive Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program grant to support the Newhallville Safe Neighborhood Initiative. These funds support a partnership between the City, neighborhood leaders and residents, the New Haven Police Department, and several social service agencies to reduce violent crime in Newhallville through enhanced community policing, youth programming, and enhanced support for residents coming back to the community from prison.
Farnam Associates supported the project design, prepared the full application, and assisted in recruiting the project partners that signed on to participate.
Client: City of New Haven
The federal Second Chance Act funds programs for supporting residents returning from incarceration. The City of New Haven, along with partners at Easter Seals Goodwill Industries, Community Action Agency of New Haven, and Project MORE, applied for and was awarded a $1 million Second Chance Act grant in 2015 to expand Project Fresh Start. This initiative allows case managers to work inside state prisons to help New Haven residents prepare for their release, connect with job training and health care services, and return home able to reintegrate successfully into life in New Haven.
Farnam Associates led the effort to prepare the grant application and secure the commitments to a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding that was the basis for the federal award.
Farnam Associates has also consulted on the implementation planning for the project.
The initiative has since been renamed the Warren Kimbro Reentry Project after iconic community leader Warren Kimbro who led Project MORE for more than 20 years.
A temporary web site for the project has been set up here.
Client: United Way of Greater New Haven
Jim Farnam led teams under the United Way of Greater New Haven to apply successfully for funding to operate Early Head Start Programs in 2005 and again in 2014. See their program overview here. The 2014-15 annual report for the first grant (annual federal budget of $571,000) is here. The second grant contract is for $851,816 per year.
Early Head Start provides support for parents of children 0-3 to ensure their children’s healthy development and in preparing their children for success in preschool and school.
Once awarded, the federal funds are renewed each year indefinitely as long as program goals are met.
Client: URU, The Right to Be, Inc.
Changing the Face of Medicine is an initiative of New Haven non-profit URU The Right To Be, Inc., made up of a documentary film, a photo-essay book, and educational events about African-American women trailblazers in medical professions. Local filmmaker and activist Crystal Emery, Executive Director of URU The Right To Be, created the film and book and designed the educational tour.
The project’s tour is being piloted at area schools and community organizations, and aims to launch nationally in 2016. The goal of the project is to increase the number of students of color entering into medical and STEM fields.
Farnam Associates has advised on the design of the tour and supported fund development efforts for the project.
Client: City of New Haven / Elm City Communities
Farnam Associates supported the preparation of complex federal applications for implementation funding under the Choice Neighborhood program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The project was the redevelopment of the Church Street South housing development site across from Union Station by Northland Properties into a 1,000 unit neighborhood with a new public square and 40,000 s.f. of ground floor commercial space.
The application involved a 50 page narrative and 63 technical attachments. The project was not funded.
Client: Workforce Alliance
$3.42 million received to support manufacturing training program driven by local employers under the CT Department of Labor American Apprenticeship Program (bond fund)
Client: Circle of Care, Inc. , Wilton, CT
Circle of Care provides financial and social supports to families with children who have bee diagnosed with cancer. Farnam Associates is conducting a comprehensive assessment of the needs and financial stresses faced by these families i order to inform planning for strategies to improve and expand the reach of Circle of Care services.
Work will involve focus groups with hospital personel and families, survey of families, literature review, and collection of data on childhood cancer in Connecticut.
Client: Charter Oak Group for the U.S. Department of Labor
The web portal developed by Farnam Associates, LLC New Media Specialist Eudald Lerga (http://www.scseped.org) provides Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) grantees access to information about the number of SCSEP authorized positions, enrollment numbers, and the variances in each county. Users are able utilize the web portal and view data through the three methods: tables by state, tables by grantee, maps.
Farnam Associates designed a companion web portal for the bidding process through which grantees input detailed bids for the number of available national grantee positions in each state and county they propose to serve.
Client: University of New Haven for the CT Department of Correction
Commissioned as part of the Statewide Recidivism Reduction Strategic Plan, this 2016 report outlined key recommendations for reducing recidivism in the young adult (18-25) criminal offender population after research and thorough examination comparing how young adults differ from mature adults and juveniles psychologically, developmentally, and socially. Some important recommendations proposed include: regular assessment the risk posed by criminogenic factors and psychosocial maturity, separation of low-risk offenders and moderate or high-risk offenders to overcome peer influence, and provision of individualized case planning to remove barriers of intervention (substance or mental abuse).
Farnam Associates conducted empirical research and prepared the report. The report was prepared with the help of contract Associate Lauren Ruth, at the time a candidate for a PhD in Psychology at Yale who is now a researcher at Connecticut Voices for Children in New Haven, CT.
Client: City of New Haven
In January 2016, the City of New Haven released the City Transformation Plan (CTP) to improve outcomes for all city residents that addressed eight platforms: Job Creation and Workforce Development, Economic Activity and Private Investment, Early Childhood, Education and Youth Development, Adult Literacy and Life Skills, Community Health and Mental Health, Community Cohesion and Safety, and Housing and Physical Environment.
In 2017, the City of New Haven Community Services Administration launched an effort to document and appropriately measure the community’s efforts and outcomes of the CTP using objective indicators.
The City contracted Farnam Associates in collaboration with Data Haven to complete the first phase of the data project by June 2017. Farnam Associates is creating a comprehensive data management system to measure and evaluate past progress and current improvements across CTP platforms, design and create an interactive Community Dashboard and social media platform to communicate outcomes with the public and partners, and create a plan for key CTP partners to increase their usage with data to better assess goals and results of research.
Client: Tow Youth Justice Institute
One of the duties of the Tow Youth Justice Institute (TYJI) is to release comprehensive reports on the state of the juvenile justice system in Connecticut and next steps for forwarding juvenile justice reforms.
The first of these reports, prepared by Farnam Associates under contract to the Institute, was released in March 2016. Download here.
Client: Shoreline Village, Inc., Branford, CT
Farnam Associates was initially retained to support a strategic planning process for Shoreline Village, Inc., an organization that is part of the national village movement through which seniors come together to form a community of seniors that support each other to age in place in their familiar neighborhoods and homes. The scope changed when the organization faced an urgent need to recruit new members and raise funds to sustain their work. We shifted our work to provide technnical assistance to a membership campaign and support fund development.
Client: Branford Community Foundation, Branford, CT
Farnam Associates played a key role in developing the strategic and operational plans for the Branford Community Foundation by conducting empirical research, facilitating planning sessions, and preparing the Strategic Plan.
Client: Guilford Foundation, Guilford, CT
Farnam Associates played a key role in developing the strategic and operational plans for the Guilford Foundation by conducting empirical research, facilitating planning sessions, and preparing the Strategic Plan.
Client: Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance (SINA), Hartford, CT
Farnam Associates supported the SINA board and staff in developing a strategic plan in 2018 and then was selected to conduct the plan update in 2022.
Client: Greater New Haven Green Fund
The Greater New Haven Fund (GNHGF) was created in 2006 to support environmental and public health initiatives in Greater New Haven. The Fund offers grants for organizations committed to promoting environmental sustainability, justice, and restoration. Farnam Associates was engaged to facilitate the process of starting up the fund, including developing a first Strategic Plan and developing grant making protocols. Strategic directions included increasing funding capacity and infrastructure amid proposed budget cuts to environmental programs at the state and federal level.
Farnam Associates played a key role in developing the strategic and operational plans for the Greater New Haven Green Fund by conducting empirical research, facilitating planning sessions, and preparing the Strategic Plan.
Client: University of New Haven for CT Department of Correction
Farnam Associates provided technical assistance to the Connecticut Department of Correction as part of a University of New Haven team from the Henry C. Lee College of Criminology and Forensic Sciences in the planning process to develop a Statewide Recidivism Reduction Strategic Plan.
The plan focused on targeting six categories of actions by the Department of Correction: Risks/Needs Assessments, Case Management, Promotion of Quality Programs, Direct Services, Supervision Practices, and Operations. The plan specified project goals and activities for each category and also emphasized short-term and long-term outcomes with indicators to measure the outcomes. The multi-pronged strategy also highlighted the sustainability of the projects involved so the state will continue to maintain the investments even after project implementation. The comprehensive plan tackled many barriers of intervention by utilizing risk and/or needs assessment, integrated case management and data support across community facilities, providers, and partners, and quality programs and services to reduce statewide recidivism.
Client: Tow Youth Justice Institute
The Tow Youth Justice Institute (TYJI) was launched at University of New Haven as a research and advocacy group to support reform in Connecticut’s juvenile justice system. Farnam Associates helped prepare TYJI’s three year plan to expand the Institute’s capacity in youth advocacy, leadership development, course offerings, and research.
Farnam Associates recently embarked on a strategic planning process with Literacy Volunteers, organizing focus groups with key stakeholders, helping to identify opportunities for growth, and researching best practices to support the organization’s future success.
Client: City of New Haven
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Client: City of New Haven
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Client: City of New Haven
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Client: Housing Authority of the City of New Haven
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Client: New Haven Public Schools
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