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The Story of City Connect Detroit
“We are not the makers of history. We are made by history.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
In December 1998, a number of Michigan grantmakers, Detroit city officials, management service and non-profit organizations formed a working collaborative whose purpose was to help solve the problem of chronic under-funding of Detroit area human service programs by the federal government. There are many explanations for this problem, but significant factors include the need for greater understanding and trust among local nonprofit organizations, foundations, and departments of city government; the comparative lack of cross-sector collaborations; the need for easier availability of timely information about federal and national foundation grant opportunities; and a perceived lack of organizational capacity of southeast Michigan’s nonprofit organizations to successfully compete for dollars at the national level.
The collective began to lay the groundwork for City Connect Detroit, encouraged by an earlier successful model in New York City. Local foundations assisted by committing necessary resources to start and sustain City Connect Detroit during its initial five years in existence. Particularly, the Council of Michigan Foundations worked with local Michigan foundations to assemble initial funding for the organization, and served as its fiduciary prior to launching.
Although, initially constructed in 2001 as a demonstration project, City Connect Detroit has proved to be an invaluable resource to the metropolitan Detroit area, filling voids and deconstructing barriers that previously prohibited any significant federal and national foundation funding from supporting local governments, nonprofits and faith-based organizations. The climate in southeastern Michigan has evolved into one that encourages capacity building through funding, and where the flow of dollars from local and national foundations and the federal government has allowed organizations to grow and flourish, thus increasing their capacity to serve Detroit and its people.
City Connect Detroit has created a successful collaboration model that has been implemented and improved through years of experience convening foundations, community leaders and stakeholders, nonprofits, and governments around community issues. Our collaboration model has proven successful in developing strategies that achieve substantial community impact.
Following an independent evaluation by Moore and Associates, City Connect Detroit’s demonstration phase - from 2001 until 2006 - was deemed a success by all parties involved. Now during the current, ongoing sustaining phase, City Connect Detroit continues to have a powerful presence and cross-sector impact in the metropolitan Detroit area as we solidify our role leading collaboratives, as a philanthropy intermediary, and a catalyst for new investments.
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