As JVA prepares for Year 3 of the Colorado Compassion Initiative (CCI), it’s the perfect time to look back at some of the experiences of Year 2 grantees. Funded by the Compassion Capital Fund (CCF), CCI is a capacity building program through which JVA awarded grants to over 30 faith-based and community organizations for the 2009 grant period. Here are some of the results that Extreme Community Makeover (ECM) experienced as a Year 2 grantee of CCI.
In 2008, ECM targeted its community-building efforts at 156 homes in two neighborhoods while utilizing 1,850 volunteers. ECM—a CCI Year 2 grantee that partners with churches and businesses to assist local residents in home improvement activities—experienced a noticeable increase in its reach and impact in 2009. ECM was able to target 260 homes in four neighborhoods while utilizing 2,600 volunteers. The population ECM connects with includes all community residents, and an estimated 30 percent to 35 percent of these folks are age 55 or over.
Based on feedback given by community residents, homeowners, volunteers and others, ECM is making an impact in the Denver community. In the words of Joe, a homeowner that ECM worked with to paint his house, “I’m finding it difficult to express the extent of my appreciation. This has been really outside of my experience—really quite amazing. Very few people have ever seen me at a loss for words. For the time being, ‘thank you’ will have to suffice.”
One of the unanticipated shifts made in ECM this year relates to the language in which ECM is communicated. Last year, ECM was pitched as a way for volunteer groups to come into a neighborhood to meet the needs of the folks living there. Groups would provide all necessary tools and supplies, not asking much from the homeowners. However, this year, more of an expectation was placed on homeowners’ involvement in the work taking place at their homes. For example, if a group was going to paint a house, the residents would be invited and expected to pitch in their time to work with the group, as well as to provide the paint, if they were able to do that. This shift in expectations put more ownership into the hands of the community.
Through CCI funding, ECM was able to attend an asset-based community development conference in Chicago. The importance of practicing asset-based rather than needs-based community development in order to see the strengths and skills within a community and build upon those was affirmed. This shift has created more of a partnership between community members and volunteers so that the ECM model is truly about working together to impact Denver neighborhoods and communities.
In the coming weeks, JVA will feature information about applying for CCI grants in Year 3 at www.jvaconsulting.com/cci. Organizations that have not previously applied for CCI funding can click here to download an eligibility quiz.
Looking back at CCI Year 2: Impacting Communities
Tags: CCF, CCI, Colorado Compassion Initiative, Compassion Capital Fund, Extreme Community Makeover, JVA
As JVA prepares for Year 3 of the Colorado Compassion Initiative (CCI), it’s the perfect time to look back at some of the experiences of Year 2 grantees. Funded by the Compassion Capital Fund (CCF), CCI is a capacity building program through which JVA awarded grants to over 30 faith-based and community organizations for the 2009 grant period. Here are some of the results that Extreme Community Makeover (ECM) experienced as a Year 2 grantee of CCI.
In 2008, ECM targeted its community-building efforts at 156 homes in two neighborhoods while utilizing 1,850 volunteers. ECM—a CCI Year 2 grantee that partners with churches and businesses to assist local residents in home improvement activities—experienced a noticeable increase in its reach and impact in 2009. ECM was able to target 260 homes in four neighborhoods while utilizing 2,600 volunteers. The population ECM connects with includes all community residents, and an estimated 30 percent to 35 percent of these folks are age 55 or over.
Based on feedback given by community residents, homeowners, volunteers and others, ECM is making an impact in the Denver community. In the words of Joe, a homeowner that ECM worked with to paint his house, “I’m finding it difficult to express the extent of my appreciation. This has been really outside of my experience—really quite amazing. Very few people have ever seen me at a loss for words. For the time being, ‘thank you’ will have to suffice.”
One of the unanticipated shifts made in ECM this year relates to the language in which ECM is communicated. Last year, ECM was pitched as a way for volunteer groups to come into a neighborhood to meet the needs of the folks living there. Groups would provide all necessary tools and supplies, not asking much from the homeowners. However, this year, more of an expectation was placed on homeowners’ involvement in the work taking place at their homes. For example, if a group was going to paint a house, the residents would be invited and expected to pitch in their time to work with the group, as well as to provide the paint, if they were able to do that. This shift in expectations put more ownership into the hands of the community.
Through CCI funding, ECM was able to attend an asset-based community development conference in Chicago. The importance of practicing asset-based rather than needs-based community development in order to see the strengths and skills within a community and build upon those was affirmed. This shift has created more of a partnership between community members and volunteers so that the ECM model is truly about working together to impact Denver neighborhoods and communities.
In the coming weeks, JVA will feature information about applying for CCI grants in Year 3 at www.jvaconsulting.com/cci. Organizations that have not previously applied for CCI funding can click here to download an eligibility quiz.