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Planning for the Future

Community First Fund is looking forward to its next five years of supporting strong community and economic development in Central Pennsylvania. Community First recently engaged Adina Abramowitz and Alex Moss of Consulting for Change to assist with the 2012-2016 strategic planning. Adina and Alex have taken a tour of Lancaster to see some of our clients and will next be meeting with Board Members and a select a representative sample of staff to participate in a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis session.

Adina and Alex will be conducting research interviews with key stakeholders throughout Community First Funds market area in October and November to help us better understand the needs of the communities we serve. By February 2011, the new goals and objectives of the strategic plan will be complete and in March or April of 2011, staff will begin the process of developing the first annual operational plan for the new strategic plan. œWe have full confidence in Consulting for Changes ability and have worked with Adina for many years, including on our 2006-2010 strategic plan. We are looking forward to hearing their analysis and working together on plan to expand Community First Funds work with low wealth communities and persons of color, said President and CEO Dan Betancourt.

Planning for Success

Fall training classes offered through the Womens Business Center and open to both male and female participants are well underway. The York œKeys to Success five-week course wrapped up on September 22nd with a brief celebration. œI believe the class was very informative, great for a start-up business to learn about œhow to start and œwhere to start, said class gradate Michael A. Key. The next œKeys to Success will be held in Reading, beginning on October 13th.

Also in October, The Entrepreneurial Speaker Series will be held on Tuesday the 12th in Lancaster and Tuesday the 18th in Harrisburg. The Lancaster event will feature Christine T. Sable, CCIM of Sable & Associates who will speak on œNegotiating for Success. The Harrisburg event will feature Suzanne Yenchko of PA American Water, Una Martone of Leadership Harrisburg, and Gladys Canizares of Canizares Consulting who will speak on œPromoting Your Business Through Networking.

Registration for classes and both speaker series events is now open and can be completed via this our web site.

Planning a Celebration: House of Clarendon

Fabric, Nature, Buildings, and architecture inspire the cakes of the House of Clarendon.  When Martine Cajas took over the cakery and high tea room in March of 2008, via a loan financed by Community First Fund, he inherited a long tradition of fine baking. His unique and chic style has since lent an air of elegance and sophistication to the shop. No one in the world has the House of Clarendons combination of ingredients; each cake is a one-of-a-kind design.

The House of Clarendon keeps four full time employees producing two to three wedding cakes each weekend.  Martine has many plans for the cakery including expansions to his high tea room and greater development of his business model.  With a silver service including seven savories, seven sweets, and an expansive tea collection, the tea room has been compared in food quality and presentation to the Ritz in Philadelphia and London.