TRADE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT:

The CANDO Pilot Project was a legislative initiative of the 89th session [Laws 1989 c328 sl-2] designed to stimulate and strengthen grassroots community-based development efforts statewide and encourage Minnesota's citizens to play a greater role in improving and revitalizing their communities and neighborhoods.

To achieve those goals, the Legislature established a matching grant program for eligible organizations for community improvements and revitalization activities, appropriated $700,000 for grant awards and program administration for the 1990-91 biennium, and placed the program under the auspices of the Department of Trade and Economic Development (DTED). The legislation granted the commissioner of DTED the authority to establish a set of criteria for the certification of eligible organizations pertaining to administrative, fiscal accountability and planning requirements; to certify organizations that met the requirements to initiate their eligibility for grants under this program; to provide leadership and other training to assist eligible organizations in meeting the requirements for certification and developing a CANDO plan; to annually recertify them to maintain their eligibility for grants; and to establish criteria for prioritizing grant applications.

The commissioner also received discretionary authority to develop and maintain an inventory of public and private community assistance programs, to adopt rules for the administration of the grants under the program, and to establish advisory committees to assist in carrying out the purposes of the program.

A CANDO Unit was established within the Community Development Division of DTED and charged with program management. The Unit had a basic staff of three: a program director and two support staff.

The CANDO Pilot Project, as conceived, was to consist of three distinct, but closely interwoven, program components or activities. These comprised a matching grants program, leadership training and certification, and the production of a resource guide for eligible organizations.

The matching grants program was to include a grant program to assist "certified" eligible organizations in undertaking community improvement and enhancement projects. Assistance was to be provided through matching grants that could be used for a wide range of projects, programs, or activities. The requisite features of the grant program established by the legislation were that the maximum grant award in any fiscal year could not exceed $25,000; grants could not be used for any purpose that replaced an existing community program; each dollar of grant money must be matched with at least two dollars of nonstate money or in-kind contributions; eligible organizations must complete training and be certified; each grant application must include a community and neighborhood development organization plan; and each grant application must be approved and supported by the governing body of the city, town, or Indian tribe within whose jurisdiction the eligible organization was located.

Sequentially, the grant program was to come after training and certification. However, the grant program never became operational. The $100,000 set aside for grants during the second year of the pilot project was cut to address the state's projected revenue shortfall for fiscal year 1991.

CANDO was advanced primarily as a leadership and organizational capacity-building training program for eligible organizations. These six training objectives were stated, or implied, in the law:

1. to assist eligible organizations in meeting the requirements established for certification and developing a plan of action to address local problems (both prerequisites for the grant program).

2. to assist eligible organizations in developing and strengthening their capacity to plan and implement self-help solutions to local problems.

3. to assist eligible organizations in developing and expanding their base of community support and level of volunteer citizen participation in planning and implementing local improvement projects or activities.

4. to assist eligible organizations in developing and maintaining a governing body that was representative of their neighborhood's or community's plurality of interests and demographic diversity and which was accountable to its constituency.

5. to assist eligible organizations in identifying and establishing linkages with other organizations or institutions capable of providing support.

6. to assist eligible organizations in identifying and securing financial and other resources to implement their neighborhood or community improvement initiatives.

Turning the concept of training and certification into practice to achieve these training objectives involved the following steps. First came the development and implementation of a statewide competitive application process to select a workable number of CANDO pilot groups from among interested, eligible organizations for training and certification. A program manual was produced by the beginning of May, 1990, which contained general information about the program, the selection process and criteria as well as the required application forms.

The first round in the competitive application process was announced in the State Register on May 7, 1990, and had an application deadline of June 29, 1990. A second round was announced in the State Register on December 10, 1990, but was canceled shortly thereafter due to budget cuts, staff attrition, and a hiring freeze.

The design and development of the training program culminated, in October 1990, with a plan for the delivery of the training, and the completion and printing of the CANDO Training Manual.

The bulk or core of the training was to take place during a 3-day leadership training retreat and was to be done in-house. Three half-day training workshops were planned to follow after the retreat, but only the first two were held. The first one, on "Legal Issues of Concern for Nonprofit Organizations," was developed and led by a program consultant, an attorney at law. The second one, on "Community-Based Planning and Plan Development," was developed and done in-house. The third workshop, on "Managing Your Finances," was never developed or completed.

After completing the training and upon satisfaction of the other certification requirements, the final step was to be the formal certification of pilot groups, thus marking their initial eligibility for grant awards under this program. Annual recertification was to be required to maintain eligibility for the grant program, but the criteria and process for recertification was never established.

The CANDO program was promoted to the general public, along with other Community Development Division programs, through 12 "Enhance Minnesota Seminars" held throughout the state in 1989. The seminars were held in the following communities: Alexandria, Bemidji, Brainerd, Eveleth, Moorhead, North Mankato, Rochester, St. Paul, Thief River Falls, Two Harbors, Willmar, and Worthington. As a result of these early marketing efforts, more than 285 interested persons or parties were identified and placed on the CANDO mailing list to receive future notices as the program evolved. Although the initial response was excellent, once the interested parties discovered that the main focus of CANDO was leadership training and that CANDO would not provide grant money without training and certification, interest waned considerably.

Once the program was developed and was ready to solicit applications, a new wave of program marketing began. A marketing plan was developed that provided for multiple promotion techniques, including a notice in the State Register, direct mailing of the notice to all those on the CANDO mailing list as well as to all mayors, the MIFs and RDCs, a news release through the Communications Office, and an information release to targeted constituent umbrella organizations and intermediaries that published newsletters for their members and the general public.

The pilot project was completed in 1991 and its files were transferred to the Minnesota State Archives.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Minnesota. Department of Trade and Economic Development. CANDO (Community and Neighborhood Development Organization) Pilot Project Files. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 993-29

Processing Information:

Catalog ID number: 990017286370104294

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Community development -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota.

Community development, Urban -- Minnesota.

Economic development projects -- Minnesota -- Evaluation.

Document Types:

Handbooks and manuals.

Proposals.

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