Center for Citizen Initiatives
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The Center for Citizen Initiatives (or CCI) is the brainchild of Sharon Tennison, who founded the nonprofit organization under a different name (the Center for U.S.-U.S.S.R. Initiatives) in 1983.
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[edit] Origins
CCI's original mission was to foster cultural exchanges between citizens of the United States and the former Soviet Union. In 1989, CCI began to implement programs designed to provide economic assistance and business training to Soviet citizens.
These efforts continued after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and were eventually encapsulated in CCI's spearhead program, the "Productivity Enhancement Program" (or PEP). Under PEP, delegations of Russian entrepreneurs pay to visit U.S. communities (see Funding "Reinvention" section below), where they live with American families and attend training seminars offered pro bono by local businesses. Ms. Tennison refers to her company as "perhaps the most important 'open door'" between Russia and America today."[1]
The flagship Productivity Enhancement Program was phased out in November 2007, although the center still runs many other programs. The center will celebrate its 25th anniversary in September, 2008.
[edit] Funding
Initially, CCI received its funding from private individuals and various foundations. From 1993 until mid-2005, the U.S. Federal Government funded the majority of CCI's activities (CCI summarizes its state funding on its website.) Russian delegates themselves now pay the lion-share of the program's expenses.
Since the end of subsidization, the target entrepreneur clientele has shifted from small and medium-sized businesses to large and already-successful companies.
[edit] People
San Francisco Office PEP Staff
