For those of you about to head off to visit family and friends on this holiday weekend the Improve Group wishes you all safe and happy travels. In the spirit of thankful giving I am highlighting the following federal opportunity that may be of help to the many organizations that assist low income individuals and families.

This week’s pick: The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Community Services (OCS) is looking for applicants for the Assets for Independence (AFI) projects. “Grantees provide an array of supports and services to enable individuals and families with low incomes to become economically self-sufficient for the long-term. A primary feature of each AFI project is that project participants are given access to special matched savings accounts.” As a condition of their Federal AFI grant, grantees must provide non-Federal funds to support their AFI project in an amount at least equal to the Federal AFI grant amount.

There are 3 due dates for applications: Jan 15, March 25 and June 25, 2009. Applications are submitted electronically using www.grants.gov. 65 awards will be given out. To see the full announcement, click here.