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Program Services Annual Report,
July 1, 2008 thru June 30, 2009:
Board of Trustees: Vern Hegg, Chair; Barb Mathison, Vice-Chair;
Greg Owens, Treasurer; Theresa Stenstrom, Secretary; Michelle
Bollenbeck, Trustee; Liz Dodge-Hanson, Trustee; Ray Hoheisel,
Trustee; Gail Genin, Trustee; Arlo Sanvick, Trustee; Sara Jayne
Treiber, Trustee; Heidi Gemuenden, Trustee; Dennis Tollefson,
Trustee.
Staff:
Stefanie Schroeder, Executive Director
(July 1-Nov.1) Matt Mathiasen, (Nov.1-June 30) (1 FTE) Kerry
Fridstrom, Ways to Work Program Coordinator (1 FTE) Julie Barstad,
Car Donation Program Coordinator (1 FTE) Julie Starnes, VISTA Staff
– Financial Literacy/Budget Preparation (1 FTE) Cathy Bouley,
Bookkeeper (1 FTE)
FY '09 Budget: $431,765
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 were occurring in these counties.
2008-2009 Program Services Summary
Communities
Investing in Families provided the following services during FY ‘09:
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 ’09, 29
families received low-interest loans to purchase, repair, refinance,
or lease a reliable vehicle for work.
Ways to Work: Innovation Funding:
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.
In FY ’09,
61 individuals were
provided with needed transportation-related resources to help them
maintain, insure, and register vehicles needed for work or for
job-seeking activities.
Car Donation
Program:
The Car Donation Program is a partnership of area faith, business,
and social service organizations accepting donations of 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 ‘09, the Car Donation Program processed
42 vehicles, helping rural families to improve their employment
options or to attend school.
Integrated
Services Project:
The
Integrated Services Project improves the stability of families who
have serious and multiple challenges to self-sufficiency and
employment. The project identifies specific challenges for
families’ participating in the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP),
working 1-1 with adults and children, providing or arranging for
integrated services that are accessible and cost effective. Staff
members also document policy/system challenges that can interfere
with the delivery of services for lower-income families. During FY
‘09, this project provided ongoing supportive services for 269
low-income adults and 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. 790 persons attended 71
More Money-More $ense and /or Budget for Life classes during
FY ‘09.
Operation
Community Connect:
This
event 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 “at-risk”
housing situations. In FY ’09, these efforts reached and supported
1,501 individuals in the five-county service area.
From July 1, 2008 through June 30,
2009, Communities Investing in Families provided support to
approximately 1,700 low-income individuals living in rural East
Central Minnesota. This is a 34% increase from the previous year’s
services.
Click here for Fiscal Year End June 30, 2009 Annual Financial Report
Please see
accompanying chart for service details - click here for printable
pdf.
Click here for FY2007-2008 info and report |
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