I think this article is fantastic. I also want to point out that I believe that addressing equity must include having the voices of those directly impacted by collective efforts at the table (and truly empowered to be at the table). The barriers faced are often very nuanced. Empowered engagement of impacted individuals and qualitative approaches to understanding the issue are critical to success.
You’ve mentioned race, gender, ability, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation - but how about “social class”?! Perhaps a re-review of the Studs Terkel classic, “Hidden Injuries of Class”?
Thank you Julie. We absolutely agree that having the voices of those impacted and authentically engaging them in dialogue and decision-making is critical to moving forward effectively. Please feel free to share any suggestions you may have as to how you’ve seen this done well; the more we can learn from each other, the more quickly we can improve our field-wide practice. We appreciate you sharing your thoughts.
Excellent article! Many comments are important to consider by the Fund that I direct, the Grotta Fund for Senior Care, as we launch a new initiative to Create Age-Friendly Communities in Northern NJ.
Thank you, Judy. We would agree that class and economic situations are an important factor when examining why communities are left behind, and these economic factors are often even more intensified when other factors, like race, ability, gender identity or sexuality are overlaid.
Yes, great article. Can someone point me to an equity article that speaks to supporting the collective impact efforts led by non-white organizations? Much of what i come across is based on how white organizations should be “more inclusive or considerate”., of those they want to help.
Excellent article! Kudos on recognizing the need to look within and to be brave and courageous to take those steps at FSG. Working with the most marginalized, disenfranchised populations in our work (those with behavioral health-mental health/substance use, HIV, homelessness, etc.), we see how great the need is to apply an equity lens not only in the aforementioned groups but also to the specific needs of special populations. Thank you again for the introspection and the deep dive into what matters.
This was so interesting. It has given me hope that change can occur using this model. I understand clearly by reading this article all that was missing when you get in a room of well meaning people who want to make a difference but don’t agree on the meaning of what that difference is, why it matters and how to get there together. Using data, having difficult conversations and making sure that everyone is on the same page seems easy but we all have our own way of seeing the world and the “collective impact” approach seems like a way to really change the world. Great article.
I agree. Equity starts at home – within individual selves as leaders and our organizations.
I run the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood in Minnesota. One of our principles of engagement and community building is “parent are the first teachers and greatest assets in a child’s life.” As a place-based education initiative, it’s incumbent upon us to partner very closely with parents in all aspects of our work. One day when we were talking with parents in the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood, they kept hearing staff use the term, “collective impact.” Once explained, they were unsure to how exactly they fit into the “cross-sector” nature of collective impact. They preferred that we shift the frame to “collective ownership,” where we collectively own the issues and collectively own the solutions. Depending on the audience I speak to I still use collective impact, but am increasingly talking about collective ownership. Inclusive language is part of equity, but beyond language it is equally important to move beyond the terminology, whether collective impact or collective ownership, to action, with a laser focus on delivering results.
When I think about action and equity, I agree with Julie DiBari’s comment above, “addressing equity must include having the voices of those directly impacted by collective efforts at the table.” Parents are nearly always co-presenting, doing funder site visits, and hosting influencers with the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood. Our parents developed our 2015 Promise Agenda, which established our policy priorities in the Minnesota state legislature. We believe that those impacted by the issue are those who should lead in speaking to the issues. We had 3 huge policy victories at the state level (you can read about it here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/strive-pn-policy), but more importantly the parents were honored with a House Resolution acknowledging their role in influencing public decision making that impacts their lives. Like many organizations pushing policy, we could have hired a lobbyist to be the surrogate for advancing our policy priorities, but we didn’t. It was vital to not displace the power of parents because they had a role to play. As they kept reminding us and legislatures this past session: if parents aren’t at the table, then they are on the table. We must never leave equity on the table.
Thank you for shining the light on the need for intentional focus on equity and not leaving it up to chance. I’ve always assumed this was an interwoven focus of collective impact and to hear of your learnings is very helpful. The notion of getting your own “house in order” is the right first step. I also believe that data with the voice and thought of those we serve is what truly moves the needle on results. “Nothing about us without us” is the right mantra that gets to empowering communities in a meaningful and sustainable way. Appreciate your article as I will be using this in my work to educate folks in “the house” to build the necessary energy to move results. Thank you!
This was so interesting. It has given me hope that change can occur using this model. I understand clearly by reading this article all that was missing when you get in a room of well meaning people who want to make a difference but don’t agree on the meaning of what that difference is, why it matters and how to get there together. Using data, having difficult conversations and making sure that everyone is on the same page seems easy but we all have our own way of seeing the world and the “collective impact” approach seems like a way to really change the world. Great article.
Dear Mr. Kania, Thank you for your positive feedback on my comment regarding the importance of commmunity/client voice in equity. As you requested here are some examples that are worth looking at:
1. The Women’s Resource Center in Rhode Island: Both the federal Center for Disease Control and the Department of Health in Rhode Island are funding the Women’s Resource Center here in Rhode Island to do some excellent on the ground work related to community voice that has included using Photo Voice with youth to help them articulate issues in their community; holding events such as mural paintings that gather the community together in natural ways to gather feedback; stipending both community members from disenfranchised communities and grassroots organizations to lead community discussions. They are engaged right now in a very deep process of community engagement that includes all of these elements, and more, that is definitely worth checking out. We are supporting their work and they are engaging other organizations with expertise in this area as well such as Creativity Labs (http://ds4si.org/creativity-labs/), an organization that uses design thinking to engage communities in conversations about social innovation.
2. We have also been working recently with Loomio (http://www.loomio.org), an exciting, fast growing international social enterprise that has developed a technology platform solution that has the potential to greatly broaden the number of voices engaged in conversations about community issues and includes a collective decision making platform that can be customized. There is tremendous power is incorporating technology with on the ground engagement to achieve greater scale with community voice.
3. We have also always supported youth groups that are focused on bringing youth voice to the table in authentic ways. We believe this must include helping adults learn how to play the role of supporter in helping youth articulate issues, underlying community factors and potential solutions rather than inadvertently leveraging youth voice as a tool to forward an adult agenda. It takes patience but the results can be amazing! We have worked with many of these types of organizations over time. Our favorites are Foster Youth in Action, Youth In Action and ROCA.
4. We are currently using the Evaluating Complexity framework in our role as outside evaluator for the Newport Public Schools partnership with community agencies to address truancy. We are seeing early successes and I hope this becomes a case study both for collective impact and the role of equity in collective impact. We are using research validated school climate surveys with parents and youth to identify areas they feel need improvement at the whole school level as well as with children, youth and parents experiencing absenteeism and truancy issues. We are also connecting this effort to the efforts of the Women’s Resource Center to work more deeply with the community on feedback and solutions.
1. The Women’s Resource Center in Rhode Island: Both the federal Center for Disease Control and the Department of Health in Rhode Island are funding the Women’s Resource Center here in Rhode Island to do some excellent on the ground work related to community voice that has included using Photo Voice with youth to help them articulate issues in their community; holding events such as mural paintings that gather the community together in natural ways to gather feedback; stipending both community members from disenfranchised communities and grassroots organizations to lead community discussions. They are engaged right now in a very deep process of community engagement that includes all of these elements, and more, that is definitely worth checking out. We are supporting their work and they are engaging other organizations with expertise in this area as well such as Creativity Labs which use design thinking to engage communities in conversations about social innovation.
2. We have also been working recently with Loomio, an exciting, fast growing international social enterprise that has developed a technology platform solution that has the potential to greatly broaden the number of voices engaged in conversations about community issues and includes a collective decision making platform that can be customized. There is tremendous power is incorporating technology with on the ground engagement to achieve greater scale with community voice.
3. We have also always supported youth groups that are focused on bringing youth voice to the table in authentic ways. We believe this must include helping adults learn how to play the role of supporter in helping youth articulate issues, underlying community factors and potential solutions rather than inadvertently leveraging youth voice as a tool to forward an adult agenda. It takes patience but the results can be amazing! We have worked with many of these types of organizations over time. Our favorites are Foster Youth in Action, Youth In Action and ROCA.
4. We are currently using the Evaluating Complexity framework in our role as outside evaluator for the Newport Public Schools partnership with community agencies to address truancy. We are seeing tremendous successes and I hope this becomes a case study both for collective impact and the role of equity in collective impact. We are using research validated school climate surveys with parents and youth to identify areas they feel need improvement at the whole school level as well as with children, youth and parents experiencing absenteeism and truancy issues. We are also connecting this effort to the efforts of the Women’s Resource Center to work more deeply with the community on feedback and solutions.
In the comment above my intro was somehow left I out. I meant to thank you for your feedback on my comments regarding the importance of client/community engagement to achieve equity in collective impact (and the comments of other responders as well). In my work at The Capacity Group (http://www.thecapacitygroup.org) we have come across many great examples of this in action, and have been a part of many of them. The above are the examples you requested.
Hi John, Thank you for openly sharing FSG’s efforts to introduce an equity lens to the organization’s internal culture. This is a critical conversation in the sector - not only the focus on equity and inclusion to effect social change but the issue of how internal culture matches external impact on complex social problems. At Community Wealth Partners, we are also learning how to use a race, equity, and inclusion lens and have started having the sometimes “uncomfortable” conversations you describe both with our internal team and with our clients and partners. Needless to say, none of us have all the answers so we need to be open with and learn from each other. We recently shared our thoughts in a blog post at http://tinyurl.com/ohkvebk and would love feedback from any readers of this series. Let’s keep the conversation going!
Rachel, thanks so much for sharing your experiences and journey at Community Wealth Partners with race, equity and inclusion. Great blog with helpful lessons. Wonderful contribution to learning for those of us on this journey. Look forward to continuing the conversation!
COMMENTS
BY Julie DiBari
ON October 8, 2015 05:49 AM
I think this article is fantastic. I also want to point out that I believe that addressing equity must include having the voices of those directly impacted by collective efforts at the table (and truly empowered to be at the table). The barriers faced are often very nuanced. Empowered engagement of impacted individuals and qualitative approaches to understanding the issue are critical to success.
BY Judy Harper
ON October 8, 2015 05:58 PM
You’ve mentioned race, gender, ability, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation - but how about “social class”?! Perhaps a re-review of the Studs Terkel classic, “Hidden Injuries of Class”?
BY John Kania
ON October 9, 2015 05:04 AM
Thank you Julie. We absolutely agree that having the voices of those impacted and authentically engaging them in dialogue and decision-making is critical to moving forward effectively. Please feel free to share any suggestions you may have as to how you’ve seen this done well; the more we can learn from each other, the more quickly we can improve our field-wide practice. We appreciate you sharing your thoughts.
BY Renie Carniol
ON October 9, 2015 08:53 AM
Excellent article! Many comments are important to consider by the Fund that I direct, the Grotta Fund for Senior Care, as we launch a new initiative to Create Age-Friendly Communities in Northern NJ.
BY John Kania
ON October 9, 2015 01:16 PM
Thank you, Judy. We would agree that class and economic situations are an important factor when examining why communities are left behind, and these economic factors are often even more intensified when other factors, like race, ability, gender identity or sexuality are overlaid.
BY Andrew Woods
ON October 9, 2015 04:20 PM
Yes, great article. Can someone point me to an equity article that speaks to supporting the collective impact efforts led by non-white organizations? Much of what i come across is based on how white organizations should be “more inclusive or considerate”., of those they want to help.
BY Marci Ronik
ON October 13, 2015 08:07 PM
Excellent article! Kudos on recognizing the need to look within and to be brave and courageous to take those steps at FSG. Working with the most marginalized, disenfranchised populations in our work (those with behavioral health-mental health/substance use, HIV, homelessness, etc.), we see how great the need is to apply an equity lens not only in the aforementioned groups but also to the specific needs of special populations. Thank you again for the introspection and the deep dive into what matters.
BY Michelle M. Peltier
ON October 16, 2015 03:03 PM
This was so interesting. It has given me hope that change can occur using this model. I understand clearly by reading this article all that was missing when you get in a room of well meaning people who want to make a difference but don’t agree on the meaning of what that difference is, why it matters and how to get there together. Using data, having difficult conversations and making sure that everyone is on the same page seems easy but we all have our own way of seeing the world and the “collective impact” approach seems like a way to really change the world. Great article.
BY Muneer Karcher-Ramos
ON October 16, 2015 03:27 PM
I agree. Equity starts at home – within individual selves as leaders and our organizations.
I run the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood in Minnesota. One of our principles of engagement and community building is “parent are the first teachers and greatest assets in a child’s life.” As a place-based education initiative, it’s incumbent upon us to partner very closely with parents in all aspects of our work. One day when we were talking with parents in the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood, they kept hearing staff use the term, “collective impact.” Once explained, they were unsure to how exactly they fit into the “cross-sector” nature of collective impact. They preferred that we shift the frame to “collective ownership,” where we collectively own the issues and collectively own the solutions. Depending on the audience I speak to I still use collective impact, but am increasingly talking about collective ownership. Inclusive language is part of equity, but beyond language it is equally important to move beyond the terminology, whether collective impact or collective ownership, to action, with a laser focus on delivering results.
When I think about action and equity, I agree with Julie DiBari’s comment above, “addressing equity must include having the voices of those directly impacted by collective efforts at the table.” Parents are nearly always co-presenting, doing funder site visits, and hosting influencers with the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood. Our parents developed our 2015 Promise Agenda, which established our policy priorities in the Minnesota state legislature. We believe that those impacted by the issue are those who should lead in speaking to the issues. We had 3 huge policy victories at the state level (you can read about it here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/strive-pn-policy), but more importantly the parents were honored with a House Resolution acknowledging their role in influencing public decision making that impacts their lives. Like many organizations pushing policy, we could have hired a lobbyist to be the surrogate for advancing our policy priorities, but we didn’t. It was vital to not displace the power of parents because they had a role to play. As they kept reminding us and legislatures this past session: if parents aren’t at the table, then they are on the table. We must never leave equity on the table.
You can read the resolution here: http://tinyurl.com/sppn-parent-res
BY Sandra Gasca-Gonzalez
ON October 16, 2015 08:41 PM
Thank you for shining the light on the need for intentional focus on equity and not leaving it up to chance. I’ve always assumed this was an interwoven focus of collective impact and to hear of your learnings is very helpful. The notion of getting your own “house in order” is the right first step. I also believe that data with the voice and thought of those we serve is what truly moves the needle on results. “Nothing about us without us” is the right mantra that gets to empowering communities in a meaningful and sustainable way. Appreciate your article as I will be using this in my work to educate folks in “the house” to build the necessary energy to move results. Thank you!
BY Michelle M. Peltier
ON October 17, 2015 09:20 AM
This was so interesting. It has given me hope that change can occur using this model. I understand clearly by reading this article all that was missing when you get in a room of well meaning people who want to make a difference but don’t agree on the meaning of what that difference is, why it matters and how to get there together. Using data, having difficult conversations and making sure that everyone is on the same page seems easy but we all have our own way of seeing the world and the “collective impact” approach seems like a way to really change the world. Great article.
BY Julie DiBari
ON October 19, 2015 07:58 AM
Dear Mr. Kania, Thank you for your positive feedback on my comment regarding the importance of commmunity/client voice in equity. As you requested here are some examples that are worth looking at:
1. The Women’s Resource Center in Rhode Island: Both the federal Center for Disease Control and the Department of Health in Rhode Island are funding the Women’s Resource Center here in Rhode Island to do some excellent on the ground work related to community voice that has included using Photo Voice with youth to help them articulate issues in their community; holding events such as mural paintings that gather the community together in natural ways to gather feedback; stipending both community members from disenfranchised communities and grassroots organizations to lead community discussions. They are engaged right now in a very deep process of community engagement that includes all of these elements, and more, that is definitely worth checking out. We are supporting their work and they are engaging other organizations with expertise in this area as well such as Creativity Labs (http://ds4si.org/creativity-labs/), an organization that uses design thinking to engage communities in conversations about social innovation.
2. We have also been working recently with Loomio (http://www.loomio.org), an exciting, fast growing international social enterprise that has developed a technology platform solution that has the potential to greatly broaden the number of voices engaged in conversations about community issues and includes a collective decision making platform that can be customized. There is tremendous power is incorporating technology with on the ground engagement to achieve greater scale with community voice.
3. We have also always supported youth groups that are focused on bringing youth voice to the table in authentic ways. We believe this must include helping adults learn how to play the role of supporter in helping youth articulate issues, underlying community factors and potential solutions rather than inadvertently leveraging youth voice as a tool to forward an adult agenda. It takes patience but the results can be amazing! We have worked with many of these types of organizations over time. Our favorites are Foster Youth in Action, Youth In Action and ROCA.
4. We are currently using the Evaluating Complexity framework in our role as outside evaluator for the Newport Public Schools partnership with community agencies to address truancy. We are seeing early successes and I hope this becomes a case study both for collective impact and the role of equity in collective impact. We are using research validated school climate surveys with parents and youth to identify areas they feel need improvement at the whole school level as well as with children, youth and parents experiencing absenteeism and truancy issues. We are also connecting this effort to the efforts of the Women’s Resource Center to work more deeply with the community on feedback and solutions.
BY Julie DiBari
ON October 19, 2015 08:00 AM
1. The Women’s Resource Center in Rhode Island: Both the federal Center for Disease Control and the Department of Health in Rhode Island are funding the Women’s Resource Center here in Rhode Island to do some excellent on the ground work related to community voice that has included using Photo Voice with youth to help them articulate issues in their community; holding events such as mural paintings that gather the community together in natural ways to gather feedback; stipending both community members from disenfranchised communities and grassroots organizations to lead community discussions. They are engaged right now in a very deep process of community engagement that includes all of these elements, and more, that is definitely worth checking out. We are supporting their work and they are engaging other organizations with expertise in this area as well such as Creativity Labs which use design thinking to engage communities in conversations about social innovation.
2. We have also been working recently with Loomio, an exciting, fast growing international social enterprise that has developed a technology platform solution that has the potential to greatly broaden the number of voices engaged in conversations about community issues and includes a collective decision making platform that can be customized. There is tremendous power is incorporating technology with on the ground engagement to achieve greater scale with community voice.
3. We have also always supported youth groups that are focused on bringing youth voice to the table in authentic ways. We believe this must include helping adults learn how to play the role of supporter in helping youth articulate issues, underlying community factors and potential solutions rather than inadvertently leveraging youth voice as a tool to forward an adult agenda. It takes patience but the results can be amazing! We have worked with many of these types of organizations over time. Our favorites are Foster Youth in Action, Youth In Action and ROCA.
4. We are currently using the Evaluating Complexity framework in our role as outside evaluator for the Newport Public Schools partnership with community agencies to address truancy. We are seeing tremendous successes and I hope this becomes a case study both for collective impact and the role of equity in collective impact. We are using research validated school climate surveys with parents and youth to identify areas they feel need improvement at the whole school level as well as with children, youth and parents experiencing absenteeism and truancy issues. We are also connecting this effort to the efforts of the Women’s Resource Center to work more deeply with the community on feedback and solutions.
BY Julie DiBari
ON October 19, 2015 08:03 AM
Dear Mr. Kania,
In the comment above my intro was somehow left I out. I meant to thank you for your feedback on my comments regarding the importance of client/community engagement to achieve equity in collective impact (and the comments of other responders as well). In my work at The Capacity Group (http://www.thecapacitygroup.org) we have come across many great examples of this in action, and have been a part of many of them. The above are the examples you requested.
BY Rachel Mosher-Williams
ON October 21, 2015 06:00 AM
Hi John, Thank you for openly sharing FSG’s efforts to introduce an equity lens to the organization’s internal culture. This is a critical conversation in the sector - not only the focus on equity and inclusion to effect social change but the issue of how internal culture matches external impact on complex social problems. At Community Wealth Partners, we are also learning how to use a race, equity, and inclusion lens and have started having the sometimes “uncomfortable” conversations you describe both with our internal team and with our clients and partners. Needless to say, none of us have all the answers so we need to be open with and learn from each other. We recently shared our thoughts in a blog post at http://tinyurl.com/ohkvebk and would love feedback from any readers of this series. Let’s keep the conversation going!
BY John Kania
ON October 21, 2015 07:41 AM
Rachel, thanks so much for sharing your experiences and journey at Community Wealth Partners with race, equity and inclusion. Great blog with helpful lessons. Wonderful contribution to learning for those of us on this journey. Look forward to continuing the conversation!