One of the first actions of the Power of We Consortium was the creation of the Investors Steering Committee (ISC). The charge given to the ISC was to coordinate and leverage community investments (with external resources) in order to expand utilization of our five community practices. The ISC was also asked to assist the Consortium in addressing the following challenge. How can we prompt community organizations, groups, and neighborhoods to see the resources of public institutions as community assets, and how can we encourage our public institutions to see community assets as a resource for achieving their goals?
Participating Organizations
- Capital Region Community Foundation
- City of Lansing
- Community Mental Health Authority of CEI
- Ingham County Health Department
- Ingham Health Plan Corporation
- MI Dept of Human Services, Ingham County
- Mid-South Substance Abuse Commission
- MSU Extension – Ingham County
- MSU Ctr for Community & Economic Development
- MSU Outreach & Engagement
- Power of We Consortium, Co-Chairs and Coordinator
- Prima Civitas Foundation
- Public Policy Associates
- R.E. Olds Foundation
- Tri-County Regional Planning Commission
Initiatives and Accomplishments
Neighborhood revitalization: the Power of We Consortium and its Investors Steering Committee (ISC) has continuously supported neighborhood organizations with the engagement and mobilization of their residents (in neighborhood-building activities) and with the provision of non-traditional health and social services. ISC has assisted in stabilizing their core operating budgets by organizing capacity building resources, providing bridge funding, and coordinating community investments.
Capacity Building: the ISC is in its 5th year of organizing community and external investments to assist faith- and community-based organizations with their capacity-building. To date, 74 faith- and community-based organizations have received direct assistance with their capacity-building and over a 100 organizations benefited from training sessions organized by the initiative. Our community invested approximately $.5 million (cash and in-kind), leveraged with $2 million from the Compassion Capital Fund.
AmeriCorps*VISTA: on behalf of the Power of We Consortium, and with support from the ISC, Ingham County Health Department was awarded a five-year grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service for a community pool of Americorps*VISTA members. During each of the 5 years of the grant, the federal contribution exceeds $.2 million annually to support the living costs, education, and incentive payments for up to 18 VISTA members. VISTA members are developing services and capacities under the supervision of host organizations and with staff development support from VISTA Coordinator Peggy Roberts, 517 887-4691.
AmeriCorps State: on behalf of the Power of We Consortium, and with support from ISC, Ingham County Health Department was awarded a 3-year grant from the Michigan Community Service Commission for a cadre of AmeriCorps State members to work in community and governmental organizations on environmentally focused initiatives. Up to 15 members are working to create and maintain community gardens, improve access to healthy foods, create and maintain trails and greenways, remove invasive plant species, etc. Program Coordinator Katie Ellero can be reached at 887-4596.
Infancy to Innovations (i2i) (formerly called Birth To Work Framework): the Power of We Consortium in conjunction with Michigan State University was awarded a planning grant in 2006 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to develop a multi-year proposal for strengthening collaboration between our community and the University and towards a community-driven improvement agenda. In 2011 the Kellogg Foundation awarded a grant of $946,000 over 3 years for the implementation of the Lansing Equity Project, with a focus on birth to eight year olds. The Capital Area’s i2i was created with a goal that by 2020 children, youth and young adults in the Capital Area will grow up with the skills and abilities to actively participate in the global knowledge economy. i2i is a systems change framework employed across community sectors and coalitions to improve developmental outcomes for all children, youth and youth adults, with a focus on low-income children of color, and combines community and university resources to promote positive transitions through three critical transition periods of development: 1) early childhood, 2) middle childhood/early adolescence, and 3) late adolescence/early adulthood. Visit the Birth To Work web portal.