Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Happy (belated) New Year!

It’s hard to believe we’re already into the second month of the New Year. The last two years have been very busy for CANI, and 2012 is shaping up to be just the same. We will continue to serve hundreds of children in our Head Start program, help thousands of people who need help with their utilities and child care, and much more. Just maintaining what we do makes for a busy time. But we have several exciting new developments on tap for 2012 as well.

As of February 1st, CANI is now managing the Jobs for America’s Graduates program in Northeast Indiana. This program is focused on helping youth stay in school through graduation, pursue post-secondary education, and secure quality entry-level jobs leading to career advancement opportunities. We will be in nine high schools throughout the region, serving 35-45 youth in each school. We have conducted youth services for some time now, but this program is an exciting expansion enabling us to reach more young people from vulnerable backgrounds.

Also this year, CANI submitted our application to become a certified Community Development Financial Institution. We began lending to businesses and individuals a little over a year ago, and have continued to develop our infrastructure over that time. We have already provided seven small business loans and twenty credit-builder loans, and continue to provide for new customers.  But the CDFI certification would mark a dramatic increase in our ability to serve many, many more customers.

In 2012 we will also see the completion of our Hopewell Pointe housing development. The 35 single-family homes in Waynedale should be completed by June, marking a significant investment in that community. Already, eight families have moved in – a tremendous housing opportunity for them and the other families who will soon live there.

We will see an expansion of our Poverty Simulation in 2012 as well. This event, which gives participants some degree of appreciation for the issues that low-income families face, has become our signature event. We are seeing increasing demand to put this on in our community, and we are working to increase our capacity to do it many more times per year.

We will continue to work on enhancing all of our programs in 2012, just as we do every year. We will be working on internal improvements to help build an even greater organization. We will be working closely with our partners to enhance our community network of service provision. AND, we will continue to seek resources to do more in every county we serve.

Yes, 2012 is shaping up to be another busy year at CANI. When there are so many people in need, we wouldn’t have it any other way.