April 2002Vol. 3, No. 3New Center for Community Partnerships in Child Welfare Opens
The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation has created the Center for Community Partnerships in Child Welfare. The Foundation made an $11 million dollar grant—implemented over the next 3 years—to the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) to create the New York City-based center. The new center, managed by Susan Notkin, will be responsible for completing and evaluating the Foundation's Community Partnership for Protecting Children initiative.
The initiative aims to determine the benefits of collaboration between community members and child protective service agencies in promoting child safety. The grant will be used to support State and local agencies leading partnership activities, to provide technical assistance to enhance partnerships' capacity, expertise, and skills, and to assist State and national organizations that encourage informed debate on community-based approaches to child protection.
The grant to the CSSP will enable the continued implementation of the Community Partnerships initiative in the current four sites: St. Louis, Missouri; Jacksonville, Florida; Louisville, Kentucky; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In addition, the grant will allow for evaluation of the impact of this work, being conducted by the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago.
Visit the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation at http://www.emcf.org/ for more information.