Cultivating Community Engagement Project
Goal Statement of the
Cultivating Community
Engagement Panel
The Project
The Cultivating Community Engagement Project was launched to uncover, document and promote practices among community foundations and other community philanthropy that support stronger resident engagement in shaping the community’s future.
The Panel
The Cultivating Community Engagement (CCE) Panel, made up of 34 researchers, community foundation professionals, and “community democracy practitioners,” was recruited and has met twice.
View List of Panel Members
Seated, from left to right:
Kathleen Annette, President & CEO
Blandin Foundation
Sandra Vargas, President & CEO
The Minneapolis Foundation
Grace Cainoy Weltman
Executive Director & Co-Founder
Institute for Community Expansion
Nancy Van Milligen, President & CEO
Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque
Steve Clift, Executive Director
E-DEMOCRACY
Deborah Ellwood, Executive Director
CFLeads
(Resource Team)
John McKnight, Professor of Education and Social Policy
Co-Director, Asset-Based Community Development Institute
Institute for Policy Research
Northwestern University
Standing, middle row:
Ivye Allen, President
Foundation for the Mid-South
Carleen Rhodes, President & CEO
The Saint Paul Foundation and Minnesota Community Foundation
Lucy Bernholz, Managing Partner, Arabella Advisors
Visiting Scholar and Practitioner, Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society
Stanford University
Clotilde Dedecker, President & CEO (Panel Chair)
Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
Gloria Rubio-Cortes, President
National Civic League
Lauren Casteel, Vice President, Philanthropic Partnerships
The Denver Foundation
Ian Bautista, President
United Neighborhood Centers of America
Janis Foster Richardson, Executive Director
Grassroots Grantmakers
Paula Ellis, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Roque Barros, Interim President
Jacobs Family Foundation
Carolyne Abdullah, Director of Community Assistance
Everyday Democracy
Alandra Washington
Deputy Director
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Back row:
Michael M. Howe
Howe & Associates
(Resource Team)
Peter Pennekamp, Executive Director
Humboldt Area Foundation
Mike Huggins, Retired City Manager
Eau Claire, WI
Garland Yates, Interim Executive Director
Neighborhood Funders Group
Stuart Comstock-Gay, President & CEO
Vermont Community Foundation
Jeffrey Yost, President & CEO
Nebraska Community Foundation
Linda Nguyen
Director, Civic Engagement
Alliance for Children and Families
Matt Leighninger, Executive Director
Deliberative Democracy Consortium
Peter Peterson, Executive Director
Davenport Institute, Pepperdine University
Joseph Hoereth, Director
Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement (IPCE)
College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
University of Illinois at Chicago
Christopher Gates, Executive Director
PACE - Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement
Not pictured:
Derek Barker, Program Officer
Kettering Foundation
Dudley Cocke, Director
Roadside Theater
Nick Deychakiwsky, Program Officer
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Antonia Hernández, President & CEO
California Community Foundation
Darryl Lester, Founding Partner
Community Investment Network
Kelly Ryan Lucas, President & CEO
Incourage Community Foundation
Next Steps
The project’s next steps include refining and disseminating the Panel’s findings and recommendations and testing identified practices through a Community Leadership Network (CLN) in which participants adopt and adapt the new practices.
Community Leadership Network (CLN)
The CLN is a tested and successful program to improve practice and increase community impact. For a description of prior CLNs and an evaluation, click here.
Apply today to be part of the next Resident Engagement CLN. Nine community foundations made up of senior staff and board members with an interest in improving their community engagement practice will be selected to participate.
For more information, contact Caroline Merenda, CFLeads Program Director, at cmerenda@cfleads.org or 800.292.6149 ext. 610.