Article
Bringing an Equity Lens to Collective Impact
This article argues for integrating attention to equity into every phase of collective impact initiatives, and outlines backbone organization Urban Strategies Council's approach to doing so.
5 Comments
backbone organization
Thank you so much for writing and posting this piece! My organization serves as the "anchor" intermediary for our local collective impact collaborative the Providence Children and Youth Cabinet, and has served as a critical friend and support in trying to bring a stronger equity lens to the work. Oakland-based activist and consultant Greg Hodge spoke at a recent event about this topic that we hosted with our local community foundation.
I hope this generates much-needed discussion about equity, power, and race in this forum.
Submitted by Angela Romans on Fri, 2014-08-29 13:10
backbone organization
Does anyone have experience in using a collective impact approach around advvancing diversity, equity and inclusion in a community? I would appreciate any models and/or feedback of success or failure (or a little of both) that anyone is aware of. Thanks!
Submitted by Nancy Van Milligen on Sat, 2014-08-30 19:26
Nancy,
My organization has created a process designed to do just that. It was originally developed to improve programs of study that span secondary to postsecondary education but we are now using it to help large scale ed reform initiatives keep track of and improve outcomes for all students. It has been quite successful by showing people how to address problems, collect and analyze relevant dissaggregated data and begin to improve and measure the solution.
It's called Pathways to Results and there are a lot of resouces available at http://occrl.illinois.edu/projects/pathways/
You can contact us any time for more details.
Best regards, Cathy Kirby
Submitted by Catherine Kirby on Fri, 2014-09-12 10:40
backbone organization
I was thinking about your question and came across this post, "Racism, Collective Impact and Systems Change," on the Living Cities blog, which might be a useful jumping-off point for finding initaiteves doing this work. They mention (but don't link to) the New Orleans Livable Claiborne Communities Initative.
Submitted by Sarah Marxer on Mon, 2014-09-15 15:40
funder of initiatives
Nancy - several collective impact cradle-to-career partnerships within the national StriveTogether network might have some useful experience for you to learn from. I've worked with them to capture some of these insights, and have shared them through Living Cities blog. You can read our latest post about 5 ways partnerships can advance equity here. I'm also happy to chat more via email or phone if that would be helpful! Would love to hear what you're trying to do and learning.
Submitted by Juan Sebastian Arias on Mon, 2015-01-05 16:00