CIFC Background
Connecticut Institute For Communities, Inc. is a locally based community development corporation, serving low and moderate-income families throughout Western Connecticut. Since commencing operations in 2003, CIFC fulfills two unique roles; A) as a "safety-net provider" of social services and B) as an especially qualified "community developer" of programs and projects.As a "safety-net provider" of social services, CIFC steps forward to make sure that needed and valued social services are properly organized, managed, and delivered to the intended recipients. As a community developer, CIFC takes on projects including physical development and/or rehabilitation.
The Federal Government has long recognized the valuable contributions made by community development corporations. For example, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget recently found, as a consequence of its Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART), the growing capacity of community development corporations in relation to the need for “effective organizations that foster community development”. OMB, PART, 2003.
“At its best, community development is a nonlinear enterprise: tackling two or three different but related problems can produce dramatically more results than a single-minded assault on just one target. That’s why the usual itemized inventory of community development corporation activities – an apartment rehab project, small business assistance, a clean-streets program, a workforce development partnership – often gives a poor picture of the organizations’ real mission and potential. These aren’t discrete, or even simply cumulative, activities. They are something like a chemical formula, intended to produce a transforming reaction.” Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), “The Whole Agenda: The Present and Future of Community Development”, 2002, page 8.