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Program Services Annual Report,
July 1, 2007 thru June 30, 2008:
Board of Trustees: Barb Mathison, Chair; Beth Fraser-Nelson,
Vice-chair;
Sara Treiber, Treasurer; Mary Schwartz, Secretary; Dick Williams,
Trustee;
Michelle Bollenbeck, Trustee; Liz Dodge-Hanson, Trustee; Vern Hegg,
Trustee;
Ray Hoheisel, Trustee; Roseann Wiltsey, Trustee; Arlo Sanvick,
Trustee;
Greg Owens, Trustee; Sue Schoon, Trustee; Theresa Stenstrom,
Trustee.
Staff: Stefanie Schroeder, Executive Director (1 FTE)
Matt Mathiasen, Development/Special Projects Director (1 FTE)
Kerry Fridstrom, Ways to Work Program Coordinator (1 FTE)
Sharon Prahl, Car Donation Program Coordinator (.5 FTE)
Julie Barstad - VISTA staff – Financial Literacy/Tax Preparation (1
FTE)
Cathy Bouley, Bookkeeper (.5FTE)
FY '08 Budget: $490,492
Communities
Investing in Families (CIF) began as a task force consortium
responding to national welfare reforms in 1997. Originally funded by
the McKnight Foundation, CIF
incorporated as a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization in December
2002.
The mission of CIF is “to help communities promote and sustain
economic self-sufficiency for families in Mille Lacs, Isanti, Pine,
Chisago, and Kanabec Counties.” The agency addresses rural
communities’ roles in ensuring that low-income families in Greater
Minnesota have equitable access to education, counseling,
transportation, and employment opportunities that provide livable
wages. CIF coordinates these efforts through several regional
advisory committees. Together these committees identify regional
needs and develop programs to eliminate barriers to economic
self-sufficiency.
CIF’s service
area includes two North Metro counties (Isanti and Chisago), and
three rural counties (Pine, Kanabec, and Mille Lacs). Together these
counties are known as Economic Development Region 7-E. Region 7-E is
an area experiencing very high unemployment rates. Poverty rates
increase significantly in the three northern counties. According to
the report, 2008
Foreclosures in Greater Minnesota,
the highest numbers of mortgage foreclosures as a percentage of
households are occurring in these counties.
2007-2008 Program Services Summary
Communities
Investing in Families provided the following services across a
five-county region during FY ‘08:
Ways to Work: Car
Loan/Repair Program:
This program offers working families with damaged or no credit the
opportunity to purchase a used vehicle, or repair a vehicle through
a low-interest loan, and to receive financial literacy training and
budgeting assistance throughout their loan period. In FY ’08, 37
families received low-interest loans to purchase, repair, refinance,
or lease a reliable vehicle for work.
Ways to Work: Innovation Funding:
Provides emergency funds for transportation-related expenses such
as: car insurance, licensing fees, driver’s training, transit
passes, gas vouchers, car or lease payments and repairs. Clients can
only be assisted by this funding one-time.
In
FY ’08, 58 individuals were provided with needed resources to help
them maintain, insure, and register automobiles needed for work or
job-seeking activities
Car Donation
Program:
The Car Donation Program is a partnership of area faith, business,
and social service organizations seeking donations of quality used
vehicles. This partnership receives, inspects and cleans donated
vehicles, makes any needed minor repairs, and distributes the
vehicles to the neediest families in our region, increasing their
employment stability. In FY ‘08, the Car Donation Program received
and processed 31 vehicles, helping 18 families improve their ability
to maintain employment or to attend school.
Integrated
Services Project:
The
Integrated Services Project improves the economic stability of
families who have serious and multiple challenges to
self-sufficiency and employment. The project addresses specific
challenges for families’ participating in the Minnesota Family
Investment Program (MFIP), working 1-1 with adults and children
within the family, and providing or arranging for integrated
services that are accessible and cost effective. Staff members also
identify and document policy/system challenges that can interfere
with the delivery of services for adults and children. During FY
‘08, this project provided ongoing supportive services for 217
adults and 331 dependent children.
More Money More $ense
- Financial Literacy:
CIF’s newest project, More Money-More $ense, offers two hour
money management classes to the public covering topics such as:
Understanding Your Credit History and Credit Score; Preventing
Personal Identity Theft; Credit Do’s and Don’ts; Tips for Smarter
Shopping; Personal Budgeting Tips. Classes are offered
free-of-charge to anyone ages 15 and older. 325 persons attended 43
More Money-More $ense sessions which began in mid-January
2008.
Operation
Community Connect:
is a
one-day, one-stop collaborative outreach event offering resources
and services to people and families in Pine, Isanti, Chisago,
Kanabec, and Mille Lacs Counties who are “living on little,”
including the homeless and those who are in precarious housing
situations. In FY ’08, these efforts reached 296 families in the
five-county service area.
Please see
accompanying chart for service details - click here for printable
pdf. |
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About CIF
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