The Center for Neighborhood Enterprise was founded in 1981 to help the residents of low-income neighborhoods address the problems of their communities. CNE provides effective community and faith-based organizations with training and technical assistance, links them to sources of support, and evaluates their experiences for public policy. The Center has provided training to more than 2,000 leaders of community organizations in 39 states. Funds contributed to CNE’s programs have been used to leverage many times their amount for the Center’s grassroots affiliate organizations.

Societal problems addressed by CNE’s grassroots network include youth violence, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, homelessness, joblessness, family dissolution, poor education, and deteriorating neighborhoods. Because civil order is fundamental to economic revitalization, CNE has a major focus on youth violence intervention and prevention. The Center’s Violence-Free Zone initiative is significantly reducing youth violence in high-risk middle and high schools nationwide—with VFZ sites in; Atlanta; Baltimore; Dallas; Milwaukee; and Richmond, VA.

The strategies developed through the firsthand experience of grassroots leaders working in the trenches have proved to be adaptable models that have had nationwide impact. Major national initiatives rooted in the work of the Center include resident management of public housing; Violence-Free Zone solutions to youth violence; empowerment of neighborhood leaders in Indianapolis and Milwaukee; and a national focus on community-based programs to address societal problems through Charitable Choice and other public policy initiatives.

Robert L. Woodson, Sr. founded the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise in 1981. The name was streamlined in early 2006 to Center for Neighborhood Enterprise. Often referred to as the godfather of the movement to empower neighborhood-based organizations, Bob Woodson's social activism dates back to the 1960's, when as a young civil rights activist, he developed and coordinated national and local community development programs.

Biography