Civic Initiatives Development Center (CRIS)
We have been operating since 2002. Our headquarters are located in Rybnik. So far, we have carried out more than 200 social projects across the country and over a dozen international ones.
Our mission is to foster dialogue, cooperation, and civic engagement by empowering local communities to take an active part in public life. We support residents, NGOs, and local governments in planning, implementing, and sustaining socially impactful initiatives.
We develop and promote innovative tools, conduct social research, and share good practices to strengthen community development. We also support the social economy and social enterprises through advisory services, capacity-building, grant programs, and activities that create jobs and foster social inclusion.
CRIS works across sectors, building partnerships with municipalities, NGOs, and informal groups to create meaningful and lasting change in local communities.
Our organization is open to collaborations within programs such as Erasmus+ and other initiatives that promote innovation, inclusion, and sustainable social development. We are interested in building long-term partnerships with organizations that share our mission and are committed to creating meaningful impact for young people and local communities.
We are currently seeking international partners for youth-focused projects, or in the areas of social economy, social resilience, and community empowerment.
About us
We are not a public office or a company
We are a non-governmental organization made up of 30 people with very different skills, competencies and perspectives. What connects us is our sensitivity to social issues and our attentiveness to the needs of local communities. We are flexible, open to collaboration, and eager to use innovative methods.
We take on challenges
We deal with problems that cannot be solved with standard, routine actions. We look for ideas from all over the world and try to adapt them to the Polish context. We are interested in initiatives that have a real, tangible impact on reality. What we do is innovative, engaging and necessary.
We share knowledge
We conduct trainings, consultation meetings, and organize seminars and conferences. The CRIS team consists of specialists and practitioners with experience in obtaining EU funds, creating strategic documents for local governments, and implementing research and social projects with multi-million budgets.
We support non-governmental organizations
We run incubators where associations, foundations, social cooperatives and active citizens learn how to operate. We carry out grant competitions and financially support the most interesting initiatives in the region.
We energize social communities
We work with local leaders and disadvantaged groups, as well as with children, young people and seniors. We support entrepreneurs, including social enterprises. We teach our partners how to cooperate and motivate them to move forward, build active communities and solve their problems independently.
We cooperate with public institutions
We design and implement projects together with city offices open to social innovation, social assistance centres, county labour offices, universities and schools.overnments, and implementing research and social projects with multi-million budgets.
