Connected Communities Inc.

“Nelson leenhouts, director kimberly russell, director ceo/employee”

“The form 990 is reviewed by the executive director and distributed to all board members prior to filing.”

“The board of directors maintains signed conflict of interest policies and ensures that board procedings are revised to address any identified conflicts.”

“The board of directors reviews and approves the executive director's compensation on an annual basis and determines its reasonableness based on local market data.”

“The organization makes its governing documents available upon request.”

“The organization is committed to the holistic revitalization of disadvantaged neighborhoods in western new york state. The organization, working in partnership with other charitable organizations and governmental agencies also involved in the revitalization of disadvantaged neighborhoods in western new york state, will engage in a variety of activities and programs directed at transforming such neighborhoods into vibrant, sustainable, safe communities in which families live in quality housing, parents work in stable jobs, children are well-educated, businesses thrive and the residents actively participate in and contribute to their communities.”

“The organization is committed to the holistic revitalization of disadvantaged neighborhoods in western new york state. The organization, working in partnership with other charitable organizations and governmental agencies also involved in the revitalization of disadvantaged neighborhoods in western new york state, will engage in a variety of activities and programs directed at transforming such neighborhoods into vibrant, sustainable, safe communities in which families live in quality housing, parents work in stable jobs, children are well-educated, businesses thrive and the residents actively participate in and contribute to their communities.”

“We are still engaged in the strategic planning process and hope to have identified some additional strategic goals by the end of the calendar year. Our community engagement efforts are bearing fruit. We participate monthly with the beechwood neighborhood coalition, attend various neighborhood meetings in emma and have met with the majority of the service providers in the catchment area. Three neighborhood stakeholders serve on our board of directors: kyle crandall, president of the beechwood neighborhood coalition, george moses, head executive director, and chris holdridge, grace church planter and bnc board member. Recognizing that this level of engagement must be organic and ongoing, it will take some time before we are fully accepted as trusted partners in the community. Our capacity building efforts include: hiring lashunda leslie smith as a full time executive director to oversee the day-to-day operations of the organization; building a website that provides information about our mission and goals, links to community resources, area job postings, and informs the community of our progress (www.connectedcommunitiesroc.org). We have established a social media presence to maintain the flow of communication and transparency with the broader community (facebook page: connected communities: emma & beechwood). We have been collecting necessary data from multiple resources including, but not limited to: 2-1-1 call reports, city of rochester catchment survey, ibm smarter cities challenge, and summaries of information gathered at various neighborhood meetings entitled neighborhood voices. In addition, we created a database of resources in the catchment so that we can build upon existing relationships and successes. To ensure the creation of quality educational seats in the catchment, we are actively working with leadership at east high school and #33 school to support/create a cradle-to-career educational pipeline. Our goal is to work with stakeholders to transform each school into neighborhood based, high performing schools that provide quality education and wrap around services to support children's success. Our partner organizations, hillside family of agencies and home leasing, have received funding awards to create 72 units of mixed income, affordable apartments. Sixteen of the units will be reserved for persons with developmental disabilities. Construction is expected to begin early spring 2016 with completion summer 2017. The development will include 2400 square feet of commercial space for service providers, a community center available for the greater neighborhood and a playground also open to the public. Connected communities' community engagement coordinator's office will be located within this townhome community, giving them direct access to residents and providing a hub for community-wide activities. Connected communities sponsored six neighborhood residents to attend the annual purpose built communities conference in birmingham, alabama. In addition to the residents, 3 board members attended, the executive director, and representatives from rha and st. John fisher. All attendees had an opportunity to visit woodlawn, birmingham's purpose built neighborhood to see first hand how community development can transform troubled neighborhoods into communities of choice. All together, the organization has served 355 in the fiscal year of 2017.”