Tools & Resources
[Tools & Resources]
At CIL, we believe in the power of community and the role it plays in ensuring everyone thrives.
Luckily, CIL isn’t alone in these beliefs. Our community partnerships were key to the development of the new Atlantic Works Conference Center (AWCC): a shared workspace for nonprofit organizations and participating lessees at the adjacent Atlantic Works office complex, also owned by CIL.
"With the closing of The Connecticut Nonprofit Center, we wanted to be able to provide an alternative space for organizations at the Atlantic Works Campus to be able to use [and] the more we thought about it, the more it made sense for us to move our office to share that space as well.”
- Maria Green, CIL CFO
When the closure of the Connecticut Nonprofit Center left a gap in technology services and meeting spaces for the mostly nonprofit tenants at Atlantic Works, a creative and collaborative solution was needed. With the generous support of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, a move of CIL headquarters, and enthusiasm for the concept from the community, CIL was able to retrofit vacant office space into a state-of-the-art conference center aimed at servicing community nonprofits.
Prospective members take a technology tour of the new space!
“As providers of confidential services to victims of domestic violence, we are thrilled to utilize CIL’s innovative conference center for gatherings with colleagues we cannot invite into our own space. This partnership enables us to collaborate freely with others without compromising the safety of our clients.”
- Amanda DeLaura, Interval House
The AWCC is about 5,400 square feet and offers members the use of seven conference rooms of various sizes, all outfitted with internet and conferencing equipment for presentations and hybrid meetings. Additional amenities include shared copier services, kitchen space with tables and seating for up to 30 people, as well as multiple open-office touch down spaces for members to work from on a first-come, first-served basis.
“Each of the organizations within this community are working hard to make people’s lives better every day and now with the Atlantic Works Conference Center, we can improve our abilities to do that.”
- Bryan Garcia, Connecticut Green Bank
The AWCC launched in August 2023 with the goal of establishing a cooperative working space that caters to the needs of its members while also sharing the cost of operations. So far, 18 organizations have joined and we hope to continue to grow that number.
“Hartford was really just hitting its stride, and then Covid hit…We want to try to remain as a beacon of hope, something that is working in the City, where people are in a community where they are helping each other to get by.”
- Kent Schwendy, CIL CEO
Originally, membership for the space was exclusively offered to lessees at the Atlantic Works, but now CIL is accepting membership applications from nonprofits in the Greater Hartford area who may also have a need for this type of space.
