ABOUT US
The Greater Detroit Centers for Working Families is a partnership between Detroit Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and United Way for Southeastern Michigan (UWSEM) to advance the financial stability of families and individuals in our community. This partnership created and manages the network of high performing non profit organizations that provide the services. The Annie E. Casey Foundation developed the model for this work.
Detroit LISC and UWSEM bring a robust set of relationships to serve the region. Together, we've developed the overall strategy for the network, including training, communication, outcome tracking and measurement and policy agenda. Most critically, the intermediary provides local and national expertise to each network member including: funding, program implementation assistance, cultivation of network best practices that strengthen integrated service delivery and its impact on clients.
Sites within in the Greater Detroit CWF network and the national LISC network use Social Solutions' Family Financial Tracking-Efforts to Outcomes (FFT-ETO) system - a template that LISC developed. Commitment to data tracking, monitoring and continuous improvement set our model apart. We have learned that this work is both client-focused and data-focused. The performance management data and reports are utilized by sites to ensure successful implementation, locally, to track progress and provide technical assistance and nationally to determine trends and larger policy efforts.
Each site within the Greater Detroit CWF network helps clients address financial concerns and build financial security. Each site brings together a full range of services at one convenient location, including employment services, financial education and coaching as well as access to public/private benefits. Each CWF client gets a coach who helps create a step-by-step plan to achieve personal financial goals. Meet the sites in our network.
LISC, with a track record of bringing together partners to solve community issues, recognizes that in order to turn around struggling neighborhoods residents must be able to move out of the cycle of poverty and into more stable economic situations. Nationally, LISC supports a network of 71 Financial Opportunity Centers (FOC) in 30 cities, based on the Center for Working Families model. Detroit was an early adaptor of the CWF model in 2008, while locally we are known as Greater Detroit CWF we are a part of the national network. Financial Opportunity Centers is the national LISC “brand”.
UWSEM mobilizes the caring power of Detroit and Southeastern Michigan to improve communities and individual lives in measurable and lasting ways. We engage people, communities and organizations focused on meeting the needs of children and their families and creating the conditions necessary for success. We connect people facing crises to the resources they need to survive. We assist individuals and families by providing them with simple, effective ways to get connected to available resources in their area. Partner programs empower individuals with the mindset that they can make the future better than the past. At the same time, partners track the progress these individuals make using a self-sufficiency matrix to show measurable changes to overall well-being.
