A Look Back at the Third Cohort of Community Progress Makers
On November 3, 2023, the Citi Foundation hosted the final convening for its third cohort of Community Progress Makers. First launched in 2015, this initiative supports visionary organizations that are working to connect low-income communities to greater social and economic opportunity. Through trust-based, unrestricted funding, technical assistance and a cohort-model learning community, Community Progress Makers works to catalyze and expand impact in communities across the U.S. The Foundation’s longtime partner, Urban Institute, facilitated an afternoon of virtual panels, brainstorming and feedback sessions where the third cohort’s participants reflected on the transformation and growth they have achieved over the two-year grant period.
We heard about the unparalleled value that flexible funding had on each organization’s ability to respond to challenges and to iterate solutions to ever-changing organizational and community needs. We learned that it pushed organizations to set and achieve new standards and become even more visionary in their goals. Participants also talked about the importance of facilitating community building among change agents so that their efforts do not take place in a vacuum. From knowledge sharing to networking and even the formation of new programmatic partnerships, we know that greater impact can be achieved when leaders work together. That is why, with the input and feedback from past participants, we will be establishing a Community Progress Makers alumni network to ensure that this incredible community continues to connect and thrive.
We are proud of all that this cohort has achieved and are excited for their continued impact to come. As they join the alumni network of community change agents, we also look forward to announcing our next cohort of Community Progress Makers – more to come in 2024! In the meantime, let’s take a look back at the third cohort’s reflections, in their own words:
In Their Words: Reflections from Six Community Progress Makers
“It has been such an incredible experience being a Community Progress Maker. Specifically, this program helped us launch our Technology Transformation. Excitingly, we’ll also now be partnering with America on Tech – another grantee – and this is going to launch us into a whole new level of programming.”
“When I think about what we’ve been able to achieve as Community Progress Makers, we’re really proud of building a data system that’s allowing us to better measure our outcomes and connect people across our programs. We also got a great analysis of our finances which helped us identify where our strengths lie and where we need to improve in the future. We also learned about enterprise capital campaigns, and we’re excited to launch one in the coming months.”
"As a Community Progress Maker, the highlight for the Foundation was without question our participation in the People’s Institute Undoing Racism technical assistance workshop series. This experience broadened the entire staff’s understanding of the roots and effects of structural racism and truly helped the team as we deepened the Foundation’s relationships with grassroots social justice organizations in our community. Since the workshop, we have invested in capacity building and leadership development support for Black led organizations and leaders who we had not previously been supporting. Beyond that, we made several meaningful investments in Black communities including a health and prosperity partnership and a community-based violence intervention program. Community Progress Makers made a lasting impression on the Foundation and every member of our team.”
“Being a Community Progress Maker to us means being an agent of change. This grant assisted us in initiating several new programs, including a small business training program, mental health program and job search training program to assist immigrants and refugees in Los Angeles. It also helped us to expand our general case management and immigration services. The unrestricted nature of this grant empowered us to be more nimble, innovative, and responsive to the evolving needs of the refugee community in Los Angeles.”
"The Community Progress Makers experience was game-changing, enlightening, engaging, and very timely for the nonprofit SELF organization. Our small but fast-growing green bank-CDFI was elevated to a national stage and provided much-needed technical assistance and generous support for capacity building (e.g., staff and fintech platform) and more. Community Progress Makers resources helped SELF scale and diversify our lending programs and services, network with and learn from national thought leaders in Climate Equity and Racial Equity, build and expand relationships in South Florida, and help meet the burgeoning needs of LIDAC communities during and after the Global Pandemic.”
"Being a part of this community meant a lot because it brought together like-minded, action-oriented change agents, who understood that having a meeting in and of itself is not enough. To move the needle toward our common goal of effectively servicing marginalized communities we must have space for hard conversations where our insights, experiences and skills can become a think tank of action.”
