Community Renewal International
in honor of Mack McCarter

Shreveport, Louisiana, USA

Community Renewal International “intentionally builds and grows positive, caring relationships,” a mission statement known and advanced by every volunteer and member of the international staff. CRI connects neighbors and residents to restore the foundation of safe and caring communities through three primary strategies — Renewal Teams, Haven Houses and Friendship Houses — turning neighborhoods into safe havens of friendship and support. The result by one measure is that major crime plummets in the neighborhoods in which CRI is present. The result by another measure is that neighbors form caring relationships which often lead to creative ideas and solutions to strengthen the common good. Founder and coordinator, Mack McCarter, a Shreveport native, observed the rapid decline of the once-healthy Allendale neighborhood of his home city leading to a deterioration of behavior. His tenacious conviction that we have in common a capacity to care and are created to be in positive relationship with one another fuels the engine of CRI’s inspiring work and astonishing success. Now working in Shreveport, Washington, D.C., throughout the United States and in Africa, CRI is working to transform the world, one block, one neighborhood and one city, and one country at a time.