The Annie E. Casey Foundation – Making Connections

Started in 1999, Making Connections is a ten-year investment by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to improve the outcomes for families and children in tough or isolated neighborhoods. The Casey Foundation’s research has shown that children do better when their families are strong, and families do better when they live in communities that help them to succeed. The Foundation believes these three premises are essential to successful outcomes for these families: 1) creating the opportunity to earn a decent living and build assets (including affordable housing and access to jobs); 2) building close ties with family, neighbors, faith communities and civic groups; and 3) having reliable services close to home. There are currently 10 Making Connections sites around the country.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation also believes that the ideas and programs implemented at each site require resident and stakeholder engagement to be sustainable. With this in mind, the Foundation engaged the LGI team to research the appropriate framing, language, and messaging for engaging local/national business executives in family strengthening and sustainable communities.

Building on its existing body of community economic development research with business executives, the LGI team designed, created, implemented and analyzed a series of focus groups with business leaders around the core premises of the Making Connections approach, relevant messaging, and appropriate language for engaging these stakeholders.

As a result of the research, the Foundation and the local sites refined their approach to messaging for business executives and created a glossary of terms that should be used to maximize engagement. The research findings also identified specific programmatic considerations and capacity-building issues which needed to be addressed prior to credible engagement and outreach to local stakeholders. Lastly, the Foundation came away with a better understanding of the power of its brand (as well as its intellectual capital) in creating the credibility that drives engagement and sustainable communities.

Other LGI success stories in research, framing, and branding include the Ford Foundation Corporate Involvement Initiative, the PRI Makers Network, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.