The FREC Concept

The Ford Resource and Engagement Centre (FREC) is an innovative concept, first implemented in Detroit in 2013. Since then, the Ford Fund has launched another centre in South Africa, the second in Detroit, the fourth in Craiova, to be followed by the opening of the Bangkok Centre in the spring of 2019.

The Ford Resource and Engagement Centre (FREC) is a client-directed community center where people can learn new skills, obtain needed services, develop new talents and celebrate community. Made possible with grants from Ford Motor Company Fund, The Ford Resource and Engagement Centre brings together nonprofit partners to serve the surrounding community.

Through FREC, we are looking for social ventures that provide best-in-class, innovative services that fit into the following three socio-economic buckets:

• Basic Needs (stabilize) – Services that stabilize and remove socioeconomic barriers including safety, food, and housing.
• Economic Growth (accelerate) – Services which accelerate and create socioeconomic growth opportunities including education, workforce and entrepreneurship training.
• Quality of Life (thrive) – Services which contribute to the greater good of humankind through a sense of community including arts and culture, mentoring/mentorship and service.

• FREC is Ford's sustainable investment in the global community to develop skills for the future.
• A unique initiative that responds to the basic needs of quality of life.
• FREC forms and creates entrepreneurs and works with them to gain market access. It also provides training services and helps identify market opportunities through a placement center.
• FREC is an innovation of Ford Motor Company to bring together nonprofit services in a collaborative environment.
• FREC Craiova is the first expansion of the FREC concept on the European market.

The Ford Resource and Engagement Centre Craiova (CRAF Craiova)

The only Ford centre of its kind in Europe, FREC Craiova/CRAF Craiova is the result of the collaboration between Ford Motor Company Fund, EDUCOL and Craiova City Hall.

Dedicated especially to students and graduates of the University of Craiova, the Centre will act as a social entrepreneurship hub, where young people in our community can create and develop innovative projects that lead to social and economic growth.

Supporting young people to fully exploit their potential by delivering programmes and grants centred on the areas underlying the FREC Global Concept is our primary concern. CRAF Craiova will bring together non-profit partners, volunteers, mentors and education leaders in order to provide community programmes to build new skills and to develop and integrate new talents to the labour market.