What is the Lake Superior Initiative?
The Lake Superior Initiative completed its final round of capacity building assistance as of December 2010 and is no longer accepting applications. The Initiative was a 3-year, $2.25 million federally funded program designed to empower community-based organizations by helping them manage their programs effectively, train staff, expand programs, and work towards their mission in providing services to those in need. Our capacity building work was made possible through two federal grants, Demonstration and Communities Empowering Youth, that provided technical assistance and financial awards to help community organizations build on their strengths.
What is Capacity-Building?
Capacity-building is the development of an organization's core skills and capabilities, such as leadership, management, finance and fundraising, programs, and evaluation, in order to build the organization's effectiveness and sustainability. It is the process of assisting an organization to identify and address issues and gain the insights, knowledge, and experience needed to solve problems and implement change.
Contact Us
If you have questions regarding the Lake Superior Initiative or our capacity building work, please see the Contact page.
Impact Report and Presentation
At the conclusion of the three year initiative, the Lake Superior Initiative hired an independent evaluator, the Improve Group, to review program materials and document the impact of the Initiative on organizations and the community. The evaluation consisted of a review of materials collected during the three year Initiative from federal progress reports, pre/post surveys (“perception scales”) and phone survey data
Findings from this evaluation can be found in the following documents:
2011 LSI Impact Report
Improve Group Report on LSI Findings
Improve Group Presentation on LSI Findings
