Connecting Communities in the Americas

Connecting Communities in the Americas is sponsored by CFLeads. An initiative to inspire and strengthen community foundations and partners for local impact across North, Central, and South America.

Connecting Communities in the Americas - CFLeads At CCA, we inspire and strengthen community foundations and partners across the Americas for local impact as they address issues that transcend borders. Para ver esta página en español, visite Conectando comunidades en América .

Launched in 2016, Connecting Communities in the Americas (CCA) provides the unique opportunity for community foundations and support organizations to connect around issues and concerns that affect us all but may look different in each place. Since 2016, Over 200 organizations have participated in CCA, including 150 community foundations from 11 different countries.

Together, we offer several ways for leadership and staff to build relationships across borders and broaden their imagination of what is possible, including: Mapping and Action Project Grants A natural way to connect across the Americas has been on the topic of migration.

People who come to live in our communities are still very connected to their places of origin, so building relationships with community foundations in countries of both destination and origin makes sense. Since 2016, we have supported 18 community foundations to engage in a “Mapping Project” and gain a deeper understanding of their transnational communities. You can find their project reports on the CFLeads Mapping Project web pages.

Ten of those foundations have received additional funding to continue this work and engage with their transnational communities more deeply. Based on feedback from CCA participants, we began offering monthly virtual sessions on a variety of topics to our wider network in April of 2021, inviting organizations to share their best practices.

These sessions are on the third Thursday of each month and can be found on the CFLeads calendar, as well as through the CCA mailing list. This is a great way to get your staff connected with others for shared learning! CCA periodically supports community foundations with small travel grants to visit each other and share resources on topics of shared interest.

You can read about these experiences on the CCA Learning Exchanges page. Our participants have also emphasized the importance of meeting in person for relationship building and site visits of local work. Since 2016, CCA has partnered with local community foundations to offer convenings in El Paso, Chicago, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Malinalco, San Antonio and Guadalajara.

CCA is funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the Inter-American Foundation , with additional financial and in-kind contributions from community foundation participants. If you are a funder and would like to discuss how to support Connecting Communities in the Americas , please contact Caroline Merenda at cmerenda@cfleads. org or Lisa Schalla at lschalla@cfleads.

org . CFLeads hosts and manages CCA, while a Steering Committee guides its mission.

Current Steering Committee members are: Andrea Dicks, President, Community Foundations of Canada Tatiana Fraga, Executive Director, Comunalia Caroline Merenda, Chief of Staff, CFLeads Felipe Insunza Groba, Instituto para o Desenvolvimento do Investimento Social Lisa Schalla, CCA Project Director CCA also seeks the advice and input of community foundation representatives, researchers, funders, and philanthropy serving organizations committed to CCA’s mission.

For a full list of our committees, visit CCA Committees . By working together, we can establish meaningful relationships among community foundations across the Americas and foster international collaboration. If you are interested in learning more or becoming involved — as a community foundation, an expert, a hometown association or a funder — please contact CCA project director Lisa Schalla at lschalla@cfleads.

org .

January 2024 / Enero 2024 November 2023 / Noviembre 2023 August 2023 / Agosto 2023 Connecting Communities in the Americas: 10-Year Reflection Building meaningful partnerships with our Latine communities This guide reflects the experiences of 19 Latine professionals working with or within community foundations across the U.S. Embracing Our Transnational Communities A case study of five community foundation grant recipients working to meaningfully engage with their transnational communities and the local nonprofits that support them.

Download Report: Spanish | Portuguese An updated Directory of CCA organizations with contact information, relevant information about organizational activities, and each organization’s specific characteristics and strengths. The Case for Transnational Work Provides context around the CCA Mapping Project and our community foundation participants’ recommendations for moving forward with the initiative.

Mapping our Transnational Communities A thoughtful reflection of eleven mapping research projects carried out by seventeen community foundations in Mexico and the United States. The CCA Mapping Project is an ongoing initiative available to any community foundation in the United States, Canada or Latin America and the Caribbean. Learn more about the five foundations that completed CCA Learning Exchange projects.

CCA Committees / Comités CCA We encourage Connecting Communities in the Americas participants to become involved in our committees. We are excited to have the next CCA Gathering in Cedar Rapids-Dubuque, Iowa, hosted by the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque on September 16-17!