Eleven human service organizations were chosen Tuesday to receive technical assistance worth $15,000 as part of North Hills Community Outreach's Compassion Allegheny program.

The 11 Allegheny County organizations will get help to improve their management, staff, programs and resource development from North Hills Community Outreach and its partners, KEYGroup, a leadership training consultant; Duquesne University's Nonprofit Leadership Institute; Holy Family Institute; and the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management.

"It's a federally funded program in which the outreach aids other programs in areas that will help them become more effective in their services," said Wendy Gordon, director of communications for North Hills Community Outreach, an interfaith nonprofit organization that helps people in need. "The more effective an organization is, the more people can help."

Compassion Allegheny is in the second year of a three-year cycle of disbursement and receives funding from a Compassion Capital Fund grant of $260,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

This year, the selected organizations were Allegheny Youth Development, Bethesda Presbyterian Church, Diakonia Ministries, Faith in Action at Sewickley Valley YMCA, Hilltop Health Ministries Consortium, Lighthouse Memorial Christian Center, New Hope for Neighborhood Renewal, North Suburban Adult Services, Sojourner House MOMS, Sonshine Christian Center and Wesley AME Charities.

The outreach chose them from 29 applicants. Each will receive training and other assistance to develop and expand their programs.

Applications were evaluated first on the plight of the organization, Ms. Gordon said. To be eligible, the organization had to serve the needs of specific populations, including the homeless, elderly, poor, at-risk youth and those in need of rehabilitation.

"[The organizations] also had to be willing to spend the time and commit to this project," Ms. Gordon said. "It is time-consuming on their part to commit to the technical assistance."

Applicants were required to specify what kind of help they needed. Some of those chosen will receive money in addition to the technical assistance North Hills Community Outreach provides. The cash awards will range from $3,000 to $9,000 to be spent on necessities such as software programs, Ms. Gordon said.

Ultimately, she said, Compassion Allegheny's goal is to improve the community. Next year, a final round of applications will be evaluated for assistance.