ANNIE+E.+CASEY+FOUNDATION+Making+Connections+Initiative


 * ANNIE E. CASEY FOUNDATION: Making Connections Initiative**

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s decade-long “Making Connections” initiative has been deliberately weaving social networks as a core strategy for improving the lives of children and families in many of America's toughest neighborhoods. Built on the belief that a person can get the strongest form of support through family and friends, the initiative seeks to strengthen that web of relationships and use them as a springboard for long-term community growth.

One of the neighborhoods where Annie E. Casey has invested, Louisville, Kentucky, has formed the [|Making Connections Network.] The have created a broad-based community network with over 3200 members that is linking residents from across four Louisville neighborhoods with one another and with opportunities, like jobs and childcare. The results are impressive: over $ 4 million generated in neighborhood salaries from job placements through the network; $1.75 million and $760,000 in Earned Income Tax Credit returned to families from free tax sites; and the numbers can’t begin to capture the power of relationships developed through the network. [i]

[i] [|The Power of We: Making Connections Louisville Slideshow 2008]