Marshall
Heights Community Development Organization, Inc.
3939 Benning Road, NE, Washington, DC
20019
202.396.1200 Facsimile
202.396.4106 www.mhcdo.org
PRESS
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
February 21, 2001
Contacts:
Amy Cody, MHCDO
202/396-1201 x163
Dionne Dougall, AECF
301/652-1558
NATIONAL
FOUNDATION BROADENS COMMITMENTS TO COMMUNITY
BUILDING, BASED ON SUCCESSFUL EFFORTS IN DC'S WARD 7
Achievements
of Annie E. Casey Foundation's 5-City Initiative
Will Guide Neighborhood Strengthening Efforts Nationwide
WASHINGTON – A
comprehensive community revitalization initiative in the District of
Columbia’s Ward 7 neighborhoods has brought significant and sustainable
benefits to resident families and children, according to local leaders
involved in the seven-year program.
The Rebuilding Communities Initiative (RCI), sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, culminates its work this month in Washington and four other cities. Successes from the $20 million initiative will serve as lessons for other neighborhood and family strengthening efforts across the nation.
In Washington, the lead agency in Ward 7 was the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization (MHCDO), which was founded in 1979 and dramatically expanded its outreach to families during the life of the Rebuilding Communities work.
“Our community has seen positive and tangible results in seven years through RCI,” said Loretta Tate, president of MHCDO. “Our signature project has been the East River Family Strengthening Collaborative. This work is a model for a neighborhood-based service delivery system for children and families in crisis. It is a key building block needed to transform our communities.” In October 2000, the Collaborative became an independent organization, with MHCDO serving as the fiscal agent.
RCI is a grant program developed by the Baltimore-based Casey Foundation in 1994. It identified and supported well-established, community-based organizations in five demonstration cities to help them revitalize long-neglected urban neighborhoods. The neighborhoods – located in Washington, Philadelphia, Denver, Boston, and Detroit – were chosen because of the severity of the revitalization challenges they faced, particularly high poverty and unemployment.
In Washington, RCI dedicated significant financial and human resources to MHCDO, which used its grant money to make long-term improvements in the Ward 7 area in northeast Washington. Although RCI is at the end of its planned seven-year duration, Casey intends to build on the successes of the program as it expands its commitment to other disadvantaged neighborhoods around the country.
“We are grateful to have learned from the challenges and progress in Ward 7, and admire the steadfast commitment of Marshall Heights to reshape its community,” said Sandy Jibrell, director of community initiatives at the Casey Foundation. “As the program phases out, we will continue to support Marshall Heights this year on a limited basis. And, we remain dedicated to social change and community development in every neighborhood so that children can grow and thrive in safe and productive environments.”
The Foundation’s new initiative, known as Making Connections, was launched in 2000 to stimulate and support local movements that engage residents, civic groups, political leaders, grassroots groups, public and private-sector leadership, and faith-based organizations to help transform tough neighborhoods into family-supportive environments.
In addition to work in the five RCI cities, the Foundation’s Making Connections Network is supporting family strengthening efforts in neighborhoods in Atlanta, Baltimore, Camden, Des Moines, Hartford, Indianapolis, Louisville, Miami, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Oakland, Providence, San Antonio, San Diego, Savannah, Seattle, and St. Louis.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a private charitable organization headquartered in Baltimore dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children and families in the United States. It was established in 1948 by Jim Casey, one of the founders of United Parcel Service, and his siblings, who named the foundation in honor of their mother.
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