What's New
Welcome to Forward Thinking
You're receiving this because you're a partner, client, community leader, neighbor, investor, or stakeholder working to make Wisconsin a more equitable place to live, work, and grow. If you have a story to feature, an opportunity, or an important deadline, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@forwardci.org and our team will follow up.
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Moving Forward - Project Updates from Around Wisconsin
OWN IT: Building Black Wealth One Down Payment at a Time
Big smiles and happy tears: Both were in abundance on a recent afternoon when Kelsey Glavee became the first-ever recipient of a $15,000 grant from the new program called OWN IT: Building Black Wealth.
Kelsey, a speech-language pathologist at One City Schools, will use the grant on a down payment for her first home. And Kelsey is just the beginning: OWN IT will be giving six more Madison-area families their $15,000 grants during 2022.
It’s quite an accomplishment for a pilot program that formed just two years ago. OWN IT: Building Black Wealth was created by a group of Madison-area professionals who were concerned about the increasing gap in generational wealth and homeownership between Black and white families in the greater Madison area.
Paying it Forward - Grant Giving Updates
Forward Community Investments' 2022 Health Equity Grant Submission Period is OPEN!
FCI will be offering a total of $500,000 in grants throughout 2022 to Wisconsin-based nonprofit organizations and initiatives that are addressing issues of health equity in 2022. We envision these grant funds will address and support your work in ways other grants deem unallowable. These much-needed funds must be deployed in providing services to Wisconsin residents in the project areas of:
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Expanding access to affordable housing
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Early Childhood Education
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Workforce Training
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Health Services While Revitalizing Neighborhoods and Rural Communities
Growing Forward - FCI Capacity Buildig Resources
FCI Webinar - Recruitment, Engagement, and Fundraising - Oh My!
Building the best Board of Directors for your Nonprofit with
FCI's Community Advisor, Margaret Henningsen
During this presentation, Margaret shared best practices and tips on how to:
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Keep your current board engaged and enthusiastic
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Recruit the best board members for your organization
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Identify the appropriate roles for your Board
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Engage the board in fundraising - No Margin, No Mission
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Incorporate the mission and vision to fit board activities
Prepare and present financial and programmatic reports to the board
Pressing Forward - FCI Partners in the News
Urban League of Greater Madison - Black Business Hub
Congratulations to the Urban League of Greater Madison on the groundbreaking of its new Black Business Hub! FCI utilized our New Markets Tax Credits to partner with ULGM on this amazing project.
Once completed, this beautiful multi-use building will provide unprecedented entrepreneurial support for budding Black and other BIPOC-owned businesses. The Hub will meet an important need—while people of color represented roughly 27% of the Madison population in 2020, they were a mere 3-9% of business owners in the city.
Children's Museum of Eau Claire
The Children's Museum of Eau Claire is
excited to move from their current temporary cramped storefront into the new 25,000 square foot carbon-neutral LEED Platinum facility that will allow them to expand the museum and provide quality classroom experiences to 3–4-year-old children. The expansion of childcare services is made possible through a partnership with the Eau Claire Area School District’s Eau Claire (ECASD) 4 Tomorrow program which uses the Reggio Emilia Approach. Additional family supports in the new facility will be provided by the Family Resource Center (FRC). The goals for this project are to develop a welcoming space that will continue to serve black, brown, and indigenous, LGBTQ+, low to moderate-income, and all children and families in Eau Claire and surrounding rural areas; provide wrap-around services that fully engage families and provide supportive services and resources to parents; and serve as an anchor in the revitalization of Eau Claire’s central downtown area.
Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition
The history of Islam in the United States dates back hundreds of years. Today, more than 800 Afghan refugees are resettling in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Public Radio talks with a religious historian and the Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition founder, Janan Najeeb. about the contributions of Muslims to America.
The Wisconsin Muslim Journal which is a part of the Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition was a previous grantee of FCI.
CDFI Day at the Capitol with Invest in Wisconsin
On Monday, April 11, 2022, Wisconsin-based CDFI's were back at the Capitol to hold Invest in Wisconsin's fifth annual CDFI day! The time we spent together was a great opportunity to speak to the amazing impacts CDFI’s have in the communities we serve, share stories and examples of how those impacts are felt, meet a few new faces, and re-connect with others. We also spoke on behalf of Assembly Bill 900 and Senate Bill 859 which provide incentives to investors that support CDFI's across the state!
Pushing Forward - Opportunities for Partnership
Forward Community Investments is always looking for opportunities to work with and provide financing to nonprofits and current partners who are making an impact in reducing racial and economic disparities in Wisconsin. If you are interested in learning more about our financial products please visit our Lending Products page here for further information, or if you have a project you would like to discuss please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@forwardci.org.
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