In this episode, we hear from Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, who serves as President and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund. Dr. Wilson reflects on the challenging times that many of us are experiencing, and the ways we can reground ourselves and move forward, so that we can shift from states of languishing, disconnection, and numbness to a place where we can better connect to ourselves, our purpose, and our communities.

Introducing this keynote are  Jennifer Splansky Juster, executive director of the Collective Impact Forum, and Sheri Brady, who is Vice President of Strategy and Programs at the Children’s Defense Fund. Longtime Forum fans wlll also know Sheri, since prior to CDF, she was our colleague at the Forum, and we were excited to have her back. This talk was the closing keynote at the 2022 Collective Impact Action Summit and was held on April 28, 2022.

Resources and Footnotes

Video and Transcript of this talk

Children's Defense Fund

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Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.

The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.

Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? Contact us at: https://www.collectiveimpactforum.org/contact-us/

Parents can be powerful advocates in supporting the wellbeing of children and families in their community. But sometimes collaboratives and organizations that focus on supporting children struggle with building and maintaining parent engagement and authentic power shifting and sharing with parents. 

In this podcast conversation, we learn about the parent engagement work of Child Safety Forward in Hartford, CT - one of five demonstration sites for the federal demonstration initiative Child Safety Forward. In the discussion, we learn about how the Hartford project has worked with parents to become more comfortable owning and exercising their power – all in service of building a Child and Family Wellbeing System where child protection agencies, community partners, neighbors, and families share a responsibility to ensure children thrive. Joining this discussion to share what they’ve learned are Chavon Campbell and Regina Dyton (Child Safety Forward) and parent advocates Georgina Fuentes and Kayla Waters.

Resources and Footnotes

Child Safety Forward

More on Collective Impact

Infographic: What is Collective Impact?
Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.

The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.

Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? Contact us at: https://www.collectiveimpactforum.org/contact-us/

What is “community authority,” and what are ways to authentically build it within place-based collaborative work? In this new podcast discussion, we learn how one group in Northeast Oklahoma City changed course and reset their collective work so that they could better partner with community members and embed community authority as a part of the collaborative process. 

In this discussion, we hear from Matt Biggar (Connected to Place), Vanessa Morrison (Open Design Collective), and naturalist Sean Washington as they share what they’ve learned while working with the Edwards Property Collaborative, a group working together on the future of large tract of land in Northeast Oklahoma City. We learn what happened when the original project process changed directions to better address the community’s history and desires, and how design tools like the BlackSpace Manifesto have served the group in rebuilding community trust.

Resources and Footnotes

• BlackSpace Manifesto
• Sean's Wild World
• Open Design Collective
• Connected to Place
• South of 8th: A Community Vision
• You can connect with Matt on LinkedIn.

More on Collective Impact

Infographic: What is Collective Impact?
Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.

The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.

Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? Contact us at: https://www.collectiveimpactforum.org/contact-us/

How can community anchor institutions, like hospitals, help launch and strengthen community investment initiatives? 

In this episode, we learn about how Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the nonprofit housing organization Healthy Homes worked to support affordable housing and home repair in Columbus, Ohio. Through their work building deeper community connections and accountability, they saw real progress and real community outcomes in their Columbus neighborhoods.

Sharing their experiences and what they learned through this partnership are Nora Bloch of Center for Community Investment, and Patrice Allen Brady and Gretchen West of Healthy Homes. 

If you’ve been wondering how community anchor institutions can be supportive partners in building stronger communities or how to harness new, untapped forms of community investment capital, we recommend listening in.

Resources and Footnotes:

Healthy Homes

Center for Community Investment

More on Collective Impact

Infographic: What is Collective Impact?
Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.

The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.

Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? Contact us at: https://www.collectiveimpactforum.org/contact-us/

What kinds of dedicated skill-building can help prepare system leaders for the monumental job of coordinating complex collaborations? 

In this episode, we learn about Advance Together, a cohort of collective impact initiatives in Texas that focus on education and workforce development. Organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, with support from funders including the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Advance Together cohort members participated in a capacity-building program dedicated to expanding their system leadership skills. 

Listen in as we explore how the program got started, the impact of the program, and the specific system leadership skills that surfaced as most critical for backbone leaders. 

Joining us today to share their experiences as part of Advance Together are Rumeli Banik of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Kseniya Benderskaya of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Chris Thompson of Civic Collaboration Consultants, LLC, and Adrian Vega of Education Partnership for the Permian Basin. Moderating this discussion is Collective Impact Forum executive director Jennifer Splansky Juster.

Resources and Footnotes

• Advance Together
• Education Partnership of the Permian Basin
• Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
• Civic Collaboration Consultants LLC

More on Collective Impact

Infographic: What is Collective Impact?
Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.

The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.

Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? Contact us at: https://www.collectiveimpactforum.org/contact-us/

How can a backbone build structures and processes that can better support and retain its staff?

In this new podcast episode, we’re doing a deep dive discussion to learn about the work of United Way of Salt Lake and the Promise Partnership, a cradle-to-career initiative to support Utah youth. In this talk, we learn about the Promise Partnership’s goals and what the team has learned so far from adjusting their staffing models to build in more peer support and mentorship.

To share their experiences with this new staffing model, we hear from Marisol Pérez González, Stephanie Rokich, and Alexis Bucknam from United Way of Salt Lake. They share what they have learned so far trying out this staffing model, and what they recommend to other organizations considering new ways to support backbone staff. 

Resources and Footnotes

• Promise Partnership
• United Way of Salt Lake
• Resource: Results-Based Accountability Framework
• Article: Embracing Collective Impact at United Way
• Podcast: Embracing Collective Impact at United Way

More on Collective Impact

Infographic: What is Collective Impact?
Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.

The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.

Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? Contact us at: https://www.collectiveimpactforum.org/contact-us/

How can collaboratives build and ensure clarity of purpose as partners work together? In this episode, we’re doing a deep dive discussion into a specific collaboration tool—the project charter—and how this tool can help bring partners together to clarify roles, accountability, and a shared vision.

To share their own experiences using a project charter within their work partnering together, we hear from Staci Anderson, Angie Medina, and Rachel Minnick from PRO Youth and Families, and Keya Bell and Shakeya Bell from IQSquad. They share what they have learned supporting youth in Sacramento, CA, and how tools like a project charter can bring clarity and support mutual understanding within partnerships.

Find a link to access a project charter template and more resources in the episode notes.

Resources and Footnotes

Download a Project Charter Template on our website.

Youth and Family Collective

PRO Youth and Families

Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown 

Impact Networks by David Ehrlichman

More on Collective Impact

Infographic: What is Collective Impact?
Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.

The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.

Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? Contact us at [email protected].

In this episode, Collective Impact Forum senior advisor Junious Williams talks with Erika Bernabei and Theo Miller who co-lead the consulting group Equity and Results. Erika and Theo share what they’ve learned supporting organizations that want to embed anti-racism practices in their collective impact work. They also discuss a set of core principles that can help guide collective impact initiatives that want to go deeper into their racial equity work.

Resources and Footnotes

• Resource: Equity & Results
• Article: Centering Equity in Collective Impact
• Webinar: Centering Equity in Collective Impact
• Article: Interview: Bringing an Anti-Racist Approach to Collective Impact
• Resource: Targeted Universalism
• Article: The Curb-Cut Effect

More on Collective Impact

Infographic: What is Collective Impact?
Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.

The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.

Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? You can send it to our short podcast listener survey or at [email protected].

In this episode, Collective Impact Forum senior advisor Paul Schmitz shares what he’s learned through supporting many collective impact initiatives, including some specific challenges that he has seen repeatedly come up and block progress. We dive into the dangers to avoid and also explore three key lessons that can help navigate through these challenges. 

This chat is jumping off of Paul’s recent article “10 Dangers to Collective Impact,” which was featured online in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and is part of the online series Collective Impact, 10 Years Later. 

Resources and Footnotes

• Article: 10 Dangers to Collective Impact
• Series: Collective Impact, 10 Years Later
• Article: Centering Equity in Collective Impact
• Article: The Culture of Collective Impact
• Book: New Power
• Book: Dare to Lead
• Tool: TRIZ

More on Collective Impact

Infographic: What is Collective Impact?
Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.

The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.

Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? You can send it to our short podcast listener survey or at [email protected].

In our new episode of the Collective Impact Forum podcast, we’re talking with Justin Piff from Equal Measure about his recent article Data in Collective Impact: Focusing on What Matters. This piece was featured online in the Stanford Social Innovation Review and is part of the online series Collective Impact, 10 Years Later. In this chat, we talk about four key strategies for understanding and using data effectively to support collective impact work as well as ways collective impact funders can serve as a valuable data partner for initiatives. 

Resources and Footnotes

Article: Data in Collective Impact: Focusing on What Matters

Series: Collective Impact, 10 Years Later

Resource: OYF Evaluation and Assessment

Report: Equity Counts: Using Data to Increase Equity and Improve Metric Outcomes for Opportunity Youth

Webinar: Evaluating Systems Change Efforts: Where to Start

More on Collective Impact

Infographic: What is Collective Impact?
Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.

The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.

Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? You can send it to our short podcast listener survey or at [email protected].