Center for Neighborhood Enterprise:
Transforming Lives, Schools,
and Troubled Neighborhoods
from the Inside Out...

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 2,600 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 Baltimore; Chicago; Dallas; Milwaukee; and Richmond, VA.