Vision
“Empower West Side Kids”
CR netWORK was started by a group of people with roots in west side neighborhoods who see opportunities to positively impact the lives of area youth. We seek like minded people to donate their time, skills and monetary contributions.
Background
In September of 2008 Clint Twedt-Ball brought the concept of a giving circle for youth of the west side of Cedar Rapids to Chad Spore and Brian Christoffersen. A few weeks later the three of them had an exploratory meeting where they discussed the concept. The focus of that discussion: There is a huge need to empower youth in many different ways on the west side of Cedar Rapids. By the end of the discussion, the three were convinced that if an organization with this structure and vision existed, there would be a strong demand from people with ties to the west side to contribute. They also brainstormed on potential members to build a team that (1) would be passionate towards the cause and (2) would get it done. A month later, an initial group of eight individuals met for the first official board meeting and got to work.
CR netWORK currently has 10 board members. The group has spent the end of 2008 and the first half of 2009 focused on getting key pieces of infrastructure in place before actively taking on new members. The reason for this is two-fold (1) to make sure the tools are in place to effectively communicate with members and get them involved as much as they would like to be and (2) to make sure we had the internal processes and procedures, as well as legal obligations in line before allowing the general fund to grow past the initial board member donations.
Why the name CR netWORK?: “CR” is for Cedar Rapids. The capitalized “WORK” stands for West Of the River Kids. The word “River” in the acronym is additionally significant in that the group was established in the year of the flood. It is important to note the group was not formed because of the flood. The need was there before and is only greater now. The integration of “net” in “netWORK” describes the reality that this group’s strength will be drawn from a strong network of people as well as their talents and resources.
Non-profit status
We have temporary non-profit 501(c)(3) status with the IRS and will be filing for permanent status by mid 2010. All donations are fully tax deductible.
