“Building Our Community through Strengthening Partnerships”

Mission

Improve the City of East Chicago by working with organizations to provide funding and leverage of other resources to raise the health, safety, and productivity of the community.

 

Vision

The East Chicago Community Development Foundation envisions economically strong and self-sufficient community working to improve the quality of life; where businesses, nonprofit agencies, and individuals collaborate to create a “village” of support for a safe and active community.

 

Investments

FEC investments range from capital improvement to the betterment of family life. Our funding areas include: family, service, development, safety, business, and career.

 

During 2003, Foundations of East Chicago (FEC) transitioned from working with individual agencies having limited resources, to building partnerships focused on maximizing services through shared resources.

 

Through the strategic planning process, a course of action was defined to realize the potential of the FEC grant-making process. This resulted in the refinement of the grant-making and grantee project reporting procedure.

 

Reflection

In 2003, the Foundations of East Chicago (FEC) held a retreat to reflect on its impact on the East Chicago community. This process resulted in FEC developing community and education strategic plans. Integrated into these strategic plans were activities for the continuation of using FEC funds to maximize their effectiveness in responding to the evolving needs of East Chicago residents.

 

 

Community Awareness

In 2003, FEC was named a bronze award winner for excellence in communications in the esteemed Wilmer Shield Rich Awards Program for its scholarship campaign. The Awards were sponsored by the National Council on Foundations and the Communications Network, recognizing effective communication efforts intended to increase public awareness of foundations and corporate giving programs. The Award of Excellence in Communications was awarded at the 54th Annual Conference of the Council on Foundations in Toronto.