What is the most strategic way to transform poor communities? That question has stimulated a variety of initiatives from philanthropists since the days of Jane Addams’ Hull House and the advent of the Carnegie Libraries. Is the best approach to build key institutions, to promote model programs, to create jobs by revitalizing the physical infrastructure, or to invest in the potential of individuals? In the 1990’s a number of large foundations rejected categorical, program-focused approaches in favor of a more ambitious strategy that has come to be known as Comprehensive Community Initiatives or CCIs.

While they may differ from each other in some respects, CCIs tend to share a number of characteristics, including a focus on neighborhoods over an extended period of time. They also typically employ a multi-component, cross-disciplinary approach that might simultaneously include direct services, advocacy and public policy, leadership development, strategic communications, research and evaluation. At their heart, CCIs have sought to enhance individual and community capacity through a variety of efforts to promote civic engagement and build social capital. Their goal has been an audacious one: to “move the needle” on key community-wide indicators of well-being.

After nearly 20 years of experimentation and the investment of hundreds of millions of philanthropic dollars in CCIs, this is a good time for all of us to reflect on the lessons we are learning. It’s particularly appropriate that this inaugural issue of The Foundation Review is devoted to this topic. Teri Behrens and her editorial colleagues have done the field a tremendous service by bringing together in one place this collection of reports on an excellent cross-section of CCIs, both past and present. My intent here is not to provide an in-depth scholarly analysis of these papers, but to share my personal reflections on the themes they raise and some of their implications for the day-to-day work of philanthropy.

Tom David