Site Profiles & Contacts
Ten cities and selected neighborhoods within them are participating in the Casey Foundation’s Making Connections initiative. They were chosen because their leaders and residents demonstrated the capacity, energy, and will needed to achieve concrete results in improving the lives of vulnerable children and families. These sites are working to:
- connect parents to good jobs and opportunities to build assets;
- ensure that their young children benefit from better health care, quality early childhood services, and more intensive supports in the early grades; and
- substantially increase opportunities for civic engagement and resident leadership in the initiative neighborhoods.
This ongoing focus on families, communities, economic opportunity, and school success in early grades embodies the core components of the community change approach that Casey is advocating and advancing through Making Connections.
Listed below are the Making Connections sites, a sample of strategies being implemented and results achieved, and local contact information.
Denver
Des Moines
Hartford
Indianapolis
Louisville
Milwaukee
Oakland
Providence
San Antonio
Seattle/White Center
Denver’s four multi-ethnic Making Connections neighborhoods – Baker, La Alma/Lincoln Park, Sun Valley, and Cole – have a total population of roughly 20,000, and are home to many of the city’s most economically isolated families. At roughly 45 percent, child poverty rates in these neighborhoods are double those for Denver as a whole. Making Connections Denver works with an array of local partners, including the Piton Foundation, Metro Organizations for People, the city government, schools, community colleges, and credit unions to coordinate efforts to improve workforce opportunities, strengthen early childhood education, and help families build assets.
Making Connections Denver has partnered with a broad coalition of neighborhood groups, city officials, and local businesses to secure a community benefits agreement as part of the redevelopment of a former manufacturing plant near several of these neighborhoods. The agreement promises to provide jobs and more affordable housing for hundreds of low-income families in exchange for government tax subsidies.
By 2010, Making Connections Denver aims to “close the gap” in employment for neighborhood residents by helping almost 900 people attain good jobs that lead to self sufficiency. The site took a major step toward that goal in 2006 by placing 193 people in jobs, which exceeded its target by 117 percent.
For more information:
Making Connections Denver
2980 Curtis Street
Denver, CO 80205
Web: http://www.makingconnectionsdenver.org/
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Making Connections Des Moines has helped focus the work of community groups, local business, human service agencies, foundations, and nonprofit organizations on two inner-city neighborhoods where family poverty rates are among the highest in Iowa. Working with the United Way, workforce training providers, local businesses, city government and others, the site helped more than 550 low-income residents secure full-time employment in the regional construction trade and health care sectors in 2006.
The Des Moines site is also working to promote success in early grades among children in these two neighborhoods. Efforts include a partnership with a local foundation to increase enrollment in the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program. Thus far, the effort has increased countywide participation rates of eligible children from 58 percent in 2002 to 89 percent in 2006, with more than 1,400 children from these neighborhoods newly enrolled in the program.
For more information:
Making Connections Des Moines
1111 Ninth Street, Suite 290
Des Moines, Iowa 50314
Web: http://www.makingconnectionsdm.org/
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Hartford, Connecticut is the second-poorest city in the nation. The Making Connections neighborhoods of Upper Albany and Frog Hollow are among the poorest in the city, with half of all families living in poverty. Given these trends, developing workforce strategies that reach each neighborhood is a fundamental priority.
In 2007, local partners are helping Making Connections Hartford expand a center for young working families that connects parents to coordinated employment, social services, and family supports. In addition, community partnerships will help families increase savings through better access to mainstream financial products, credit repair, consumer education, and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The Hartford Asset Building Coalition, which is supported by Making Connections and runs the city’s EITC campaign, has generated a 132 percent increase in EITC refunds during the past three years, resulting in nearly $7.5 million in refunds to more than 3,200 residents citywide in 2006.
To help ensure that children are healthy and prepared for school success, Making Connections Hartford is forging partnerships in 2007 that link family, friend and neighbor child care providers to resources and supports offered by child care centers across the city. A group of community residents who provide parents with information on preparing their children for school already has engaged many families from the two neighborhoods in this process.
For more information:
Making Connections Hartford
221 Main Street, 3rd Floor
Hartford, CT 06106
860-293-0097
Web: http://www.mchartford.org/
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Making Connections Indianapolis focuses on strengthening families in two neighborhoods – one predominantly African-American, the other white and Latino – through a range of strategies. Local partners including resident leaders, the Central Indiana Community Foundation, United Way of Central Indiana, faith-based groups, city government, and schools are working together to close persistent gaps in employment, assets, reading scores, and other indicators of child and family well-being between these two neighborhoods and the surrounding areas.
Making Connections Indianapolis has helped more than 400 families open savings accounts and connect with financial education and homeownership opportunities. Workforce initiatives are focused on connecting residents to manufacturing, logistics, and health care jobs. The site is working closely with the United Way’s Success by Six initiative and local elementary schools to promote success in early grades through quality preschool, parent involvement, and kindergarten transition efforts,
For more information:
Making Connections Indianapolis
846 North Senate Ave., Suite 216
Indianapolis, IN 46202
317-423-1770
Fax 317.423.1780
Smoketown, Shelby Park, Phoenix Hill and California -- the four Making Connections Louisville neighborhoods – all have rich histories of civic engagement and play an important role in the city’s cultural life. But many families who live in these neighborhoods are disconnected from opportunity and support. Poverty rates range from 39 percent in Shelby Park to almost 80 percent in Phoenix Hill, and unemployment rates in all four neighborhoods are more than three times higher than the metro Louisville average.
In response, Making Connections and local partners are connecting the neighborhoods to major city employers, including Norton Health Care and the UPS Air Hub. As a result, more than $1.5 million in new income from employment has been generated for families living in the four neighborhoods. The site is working to close the employment gap between its neighborhoods and the metro area by 2010, helping more than 1,000 residents move into jobs that enable them to support their families.
In 2007, residents and county health department workers are increasing access to prenatal care through improved neighborhood outreach. The goal is to ensure that by 2010 85 percent of the women living in the Making Connections neighborhoods receive care in the first trimester of their pregnancies. In addition, the site is working closely with a local elementary school to provide intensive early literacy supports to a group of highly vulnerable children and their families, with the goal of expanding to other schools during the next several years. An expanding network of 2,200 residents assists residents with job opportunities, quality childcare, school success, and asset building.
For more information:
Making Connections Louisville
334 E. Broadway, 3rd Floor
Louisville, KY 40202
502-583-1426
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Making Connections Milwaukee is working to increase rates of employment and school success in seven inner-city neighborhoods that are home to about 30,000 residents. Working with local partners, the site helped to place more than 325 residents in jobs last year within construction, allied trades, and other regional labor sectors. In 2007, Making Connections Milwaukee is increasing outreach to residents returning from prison as well as expanding services for the neighborhood’s large and growing Hmong population.
In addition, Making Connections Milwaukee is working with the city and a local foundation to change state policy on driver’s license restrictions that may prevent low-income residents from getting to work. To support its workforce and early school success efforts, Making Connections Milwaukee has developed a cadre of 175 residents who have participated in a leadership institute and work as partners in reaching out to other residents to advance the site’s work.
For more information:
Making Connections Milwaukee
2819 W. Highland Blvd.
Milwaukee, WI 53208
414-344-3933
Web: www.mcmilwaukee.org
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Oakland’s Making Connections work is based in the Lower San Antonio neighborhood, home to a large number of Latino/Hispanic and Southeast Asian families. The neighborhood’s proximity to the city’s rapidly redeveloping downtown creates substantial opportunities for revitalizing a community where a third of families are poor and residents face significant housing-cost inflation.
In response, Making Connections Oakland worked with local partners to create hundreds of units of affordable housing through a $10 million development pool supported by a program-related investment from the Casey Foundation. In addition, the site helped residents secure an agreement with the city and developers of a commercial, retail, and housing center in Lower San Antonio to set aside construction jobs for low-income residents and provide apprenticeships for immigrant and refugee populations, as well as men and women returning to the community from prison.
In 2007, Making Connections Oakland is working intensively with teams of parents, administrators, and teachers at a local elementary school to close the gap in third grade reading proficiency between Lower San Antonio and the city as a whole. Supports include helping to reinforce children’s social, emotional, and cognitive skills as they transition from kindergarten and through early grades.
For more information:
Making Connections Oakland
San Antonio Neighborhood Network
900 Alice St., Third Floor
Oakland, CA, 94607
Web: http://www.sannoakland.org/
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Making Connections Providence focuses on the Elmwood, South Providence, and the West End neighborhoods. The community also serves as the Rhode Island headquarters for Casey Family Services, the Casey Foundation’s private, licensed child welfare agency. This connection has led to additional collaboration among local service providers and government agencies.
Making Connections Providence launched an initiative with the health care sector that focuses on career advancement and job placement for neighborhood residents. Up to 65 residents will be placed in secure jobs in 2007, with a goal of 50 percent retention for the first 12 months of work. A partnership that includes the United Way of Rhode Island is working at the neighborhood level to help increasing numbers of residents connect to good jobs and good wages. Together with local partners and state officials, Making Connections Providence is accelerating efforts in 2007 to help men and women returning to the community from prison find housing, employment, social services, and other supports.
Making Connections Providence’s efforts to ensure that young children are healthy and prepared to succeed in school continues to benefit from a strong partnership with Ready to Learn Providence, a citywide school initiative that has garnered substantial support from Rhode Island leadership and state government.
For more information:
Making Connections Providence
1268 Eddy St.
Providence, Rhode Island 02905
401-781-3669
Web: www.mcprovidence.org
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Making Connections San Antonio works in a large, contiguous set of Texas neighborhoods known as the Westside, with a population of 134,000. Westside has a poverty rate among the highest in the nation, but the community has a strong base of resident leaders, faith-based organizations, non-profit organizations, businesses, local colleges, schools, and city officials. The Westside’s civic strength contributes to one of the most effective Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) campaigns in the United States, which returned more than $14 million in tax and child care credit refunds to neighborhood residents in 2006, up 50 percent from 2005.
Making Connections San Antonio is partnering with the city government, Alamo Community College, Project QUEST -- a nationally recognized job training program -- and others to help more than 2,000 residents acquire full-time jobs by 2010. The partnership also aims to increase by 6,000 the number of Westside families earning above $20,000 a year. A newly opened employment and training center provides a range of job skills, higher education, asset-building, and social service supports for adult students as a key part of this strategy.
In addition, Making Connections San Antonio works with schools, child health programs, social service providers, and residents to ensure that more children are healthy and prepared to succeed in school. In 2007, the site is accelerating collaboration with two neighborhood schools to not only help children be ready for school, but to prepare schools for children and to ensure children acquire better reading skills by third grade.
For more information:
Making Connections San Antonio
118 N. Medina, 3rd Floor
San Antonio, TX 78207
Email: szertuche@makingconnections-sa.org
Web: http://www.mc-sa.org/
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White Center/Boulevard Park, an unincorporated area of King County near Seattle, is one of the most ethnically diverse Making Connections sites, home to multiple immigrant groups drawn to the area by close ties to family and friends.
In 2007, a strong group of residents including employers, community-based organizations, and Trusted Advocates -- a team of local leaders who help connect families to opportunity and support -- is expanding their efforts to close employment gaps between the neighborhood and the region as a whole. Connecting residents to jobs at the Seattle-Tacoma airport is central to this strategy, as are stronger connections to health care and construction trade job sectors. More than 250 residents attained job placements in 2006.
White Center Making Connections is expanding its work to assure all children are healthy and prepared to succeed in school. The site launched a partnership with Mt. View Elementary School that will provide a wide variety of supports and services to the families of nearly 100 new kindergartners. In addition, the site is intensifying work with the White Center Early Learning Initiative, an eight-year, $80 million effort spearheaded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
For more information:
Making Connections Seattle
1615 SW Cambridge St.
Seattle, WA 98106
206-579-7022
Web: http://www.mcskc.org/
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