CIBS: Organization. Action. Results.

The Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford-Stuyvesant (CIBS) has pushed some pretty big ideas in the neighborhood – some might even call them lofty – including training residents for jobs in energy conservation; weatherizing each home in the neighborhood block-by-block; helping residents in foreclosure keep their homes.

But as lofty as they may seem, for the past seven years, CIBS has turned nearly all of these ideas into reality. The key to their success might be found in its organizational model – one in which they work almost… backwards.

The system is known as Results-Based Accountability (RBA): a disciplined business-like organizational model, in which the group determines a goal based on specific results indicators and then, works backward to get there.

CIBS formed in 2002 as a coalition of volunteer organizations – Bed-Stuy’s most experienced and influential stakeholders – who wanted to leverage its combined resources and varied expertise to bring significant, measurable improvements to the community.

The coalition included the executive directors of such well known community organizations as Pratt Area Community Council, Cornerstone Baptist Church, Medgar Evers College School of Business, SCO Family of Services, The Brownstoners of Bed-Stuy, Restoration Corporation – 25 member organizations total.

Once formed, the coalition decided, in order to achieve different results, they would have to do things differently. And so, they let go of their individual modus operandi for running their own organizations and instead, as a group, decided to try something completely new.

RBA is a non-traditional approach at solving a problem. But it gets results. And that’s the point.

“I feel that this type of model is right in this climate [in order to] affect large-scale change,” said Melissa Lee, managing director for CIBS. “This can be a national model that can be used across communities to improve the outcomes, particularly communities of color.”

In Bed-Stuy, the CIBS committee identified six areas directly impacting the neighborhood’s community development: jobs, money, housing, health, business and environment.

Then, the CIBS committee looked at Bed-Stuy’s current numbers in each area and matched them against national standards for growth and success. The committee members then set quantifiable benchmarks of how much growth was needed to meet or surpass each standard.

Next, CIBS formed five networks – Workforce Development, Social Services, Asset Building, Business Vitality, Housing & Physical Development. Then, they assigned each coalition member to a network, based on their organization’s area of expertise.

In many cases, they were addressing through CIBS some of the very same issues of their parent organizations. Except now, it was in concert with a team of organizations—increasing the larger group’s overall capacity through additional skills, resources and networks.

The coalition’s work has been steady, moving always toward a measurable goal.

CIBS unparalleled team of experts is turning lives around in Bed-Stuy, one teenaged single mother, one immigrant family, one unemployed executive, one struggling senior citizen and one homeowner at a time.

“Collectively CIBS member organizations have served the neighborhood for over 150 years, running programs people should be aware of,” said Lee. “I would love to see every resident who lives in Bed-Stuy have access to and harness whatever it is they need to empower themselves, whether it is goods and services, job training or just knowledge. That would be phenomenal.”

This article is the first in a seven-part series that will explore the work of the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford-Stuyvesant (CIBS) and the organization's networks.