promoting philanthropic leadership houston... · many people have responsibility ... •community...
TRANSCRIPT
1
Workshop for:
Upskill Houston
July 1, 2015
Collective Impact
2
Day 1 and 2 Workshop Agenda
Day 1, June 30th
12:30pm—5:30pm
• UpSkill Houston
• Collective Impact Overview
• Mindset Shifts in Collective
Impact
• Leadership in Collective
Impact
• Wrap-up
Day 2, July 1st
8:30am—12:30pm
• Implications of what we’ve
learned
• Key structures of collective
impact
• Readiness assessment
• Next steps and how to move
forward
3
Reflection on Day 1
1. What is standing out to you from
yesterday’s discussion
2. What question would you most
like to see answered today?
Please discuss at your tables; we will
ask a few volunteers to share out
4
Key structures of collective impact
o Overall Organization
o Common Agenda
o Community Engagement
o Shared Measurement
o Backbone
Readiness assessment
Next steps and how to move forward
5
Collective Impact in action looks like this
partner-driven
action
strategic guidance
and support= community
partner (e.g.,
nonprofit, funder,
business, public
agency, parent)Community partners
working on strategies
Backbone
support
• Guides strategy
• Supports
aligned activities
• Establishes
shared
measurement
• Builds public will
• Advances policy
• Mobilizes
resources
Steering
committee
Work
group
Work
group
Work
groupWork
group
ChairChair
Chair
Chair
Chair
Chair
Chair
Chair
Common agenda and shared metrics
* Adapted from Listening to the Stars: The Constellation Model of Collaborative Social Change, by Tonya Surman and Mark Surman, 2008.
6
Many people have responsibility - yet no one single
person makes all decisions
Community
partner
Working Group
• Individual organizations and members of the community
(e.g, nonprofit, funder, business, public agency, student, parent,)
• Partners should have access to a variety of opportunities to
learn about and engage in the initiative, and will be key to
implementing strategies
• Ultimate “power” resides within the community at large
• Comprised of cross-sector community partners targeting
particular element of common agenda
• Designs and implements strategies, involving non-working group
members as needed
Steering
Committee
• Provides strategic direction for the initiative
• Champions the work
• Aligns own work to common agenda
• Some Steering Committee members serve on working groups
Backbone • Provides dedicated staff
• Supports the work of partners by assisting with strategic
guidance, supporting aligned activity, establishing shared
measurement, building public will, advancing policy, and
mobilizing resources
7
CI efforts are structured and unfold over time with
identifiable stages of progress
Phase V
Sustain Action
and Impact
Components
for Success
Determine initial
workgroups and plan
backbone
organization
Launch work groups
“WGs” and select
backbone
organization
Identify champions
and form cross-
sector Steering
Committee “SC” to
guide the effort
Incorporate
community voice -
gain community
perspective and input
around issue
Engage community
more broadly and
build public will
Create common
agenda, clear
problem definition,
population level goal
Develop Blueprint
for Implementation;
identify quick wins
Map the landscape
and use data to
make case
Begin outreach to
community leaders
Develop high level
shared metrics and/or
strategies at SC level
Establish shared
measures
(indicators and
approach) at SC
and WG levels
Building out the
backbone
organization; evolve
WGs to meet
emergent strategy
Continue
engagement and
conduct advocacy
Refine strategies;
mobilize for quick
wins
Collect, track, and
report progress
(process to learn
and improve)
Analyze baseline
data to ID key
issues and gaps
Phase IV
Begin
Implementation
Phase III
Organize for
Impact
Phase II
Initiate Action
Governance
and
Infrastructure
Strategic
Planning
Community
Engagement
Evaluation
And
Improvement
Source: FSG Interviews and Analysis
Phase I
Assess
Readiness
Convene
community leaders
Hold dialogue about
issue, community
context, and
available resources
Determine
community
readiness; Create a
community
engagement plan
Determine if there is
consensus/urgency
to move forward
8
Collective impact example: RGV Focus
In early 2012, FSG, together with Educate Texas, began
working with a small group of district superintendents
and college presidents in the Rio Grande Valley to form
a cross-sector steering committee and launch a
collective impact effort. This group of superintendents,
presidents, funders, and community leaders met
regularly to develop a common vision, align goals, and
determine joint strategic priorities for increasing college
readiness, access, persistence and success in the
Valley. By the end of the 2012, the steering committee
selected Educate Texas to serve as the long-term
backbone of the initiative, and FSG began transitioning
responsibilities to the Educate Texas team. Today, “RGV
FOCUS” continues to thrive as a collective impact effort
focus on ensuring that “all learners earn a degree a
credential that leads to a meaningful career.” As a
recent sign of the progress, RGV FOCUS facilitated a
process for all 37 school districts to agree on a common
definition and course for determining college readiness,
that is now accepted by all five institutions of higher
education in the region.
9
Key structures of collective impact
o Overall Organization
o Common Agenda
o Community Engagement
o Shared Measurement
o Backbone
Readiness assessment
Next steps and how to move forward
1010
Common agendas must draw boundaries for the
work
• “What’s in” and “what’s out”: Establishing boundaries for what issues, players,
and systems to engage in the project is essential to its successful execution
• No set playbook: Determining boundaries is a situation-specific judgment call
• Loosely-defined and malleable: Boundaries change over time and subsequent
analysis or activity may draw in other issues, players, or systems
• Apply to geography: Discerning geographic boundaries requires same type of
judgment (e.g., city, state, national or global engagement)
Setting Boundaries Example: Teen Substance Abuse in Staten Island, New York
Youth Unemployment
Domestic Violence
Parental & Youth Social Norms
Prevention Activities
Treatment Activities
School Completion
Advocacy
State Level
Local Level
Alcohol
Mental Health
Parental Neglect & EndangermentAccess
Prescription Drugs
Methamphetamines
Tobacco
11
All RGV learners will achieve a degree or credential that leads to a meaningful careerWe will achieve this by strengthening each step of the educational pathway; better connecting our
education system; and aligning community resources to provide the supports learners need to succeed throughout high school and postsecondary in order to pursue a meaningful career in the RGV and beyond.
OurVision
All RGV students graduate high school
college ready
All high school graduates transition
to postsecondary within a year
All postsecondary students can achieve a
degree or credential on time
OurGoals
Why This Work Will Succeed
The strategies we pursue are
transformational both for individual
institutions and the RGV at large
We collaborateacross institutions and sectors, and
invest the resources to ensure this
collaboration will be sustained
We are evidence driven in our
approach and use shared data and metrics to drive
constant improvement
across the region
Our work is community
centered and depends on the voices of many
organizations and individuals across
the RGV
All postsecondary graduates can be
employed within 6 months
We are focused on students
and their experiences,
strengths, challenges, and
aspirations
RGV FOCUSCommunities united for educational success
12Source: Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work, 2012
Shared Data and
Information Driven
Decisions and Policy
System Governance
and Coordination
Youth OutcomesCommunity Outcomes
• Community quality of life and safety are enhanced
because youth are held accountable in a fair and
just manner, and the system itself is held
accountable for positive outcomes
• Fewer delinquent acts are committed, both in initial
offenses and in reoffending
• Victims are given an opportunity to have a voice in
the process, and efforts are made to remedy harm
when possible
Effective Continuum of
Diversion, Supervision,
Treatment, and
Confinement
Accountability of
System and
Organizations Within
the System
Strategies for System Excellence1 2 3 4
Effectiveness Fairness Safety Accountability
Principles
• Youth are held accountable in a fair and just manner
that is consistent with adolescent development
• Youth are objectively assessed and receive timely,
effective services that build upon their strengths and
meet their needs
• Youth are successfully reintegrated into appropriate
education settings and the community when they
exit the system, supporting ongoing positive youth
development and reducing reoffending
Vision: Across New York State, the juvenile justice system promotes
youth success and ensures public safety
13
Key structures of collective impact
o Overall Organization
o Common Agenda
o Community Engagement
o Shared Measurement
o Backbone
Readiness assessment
Next steps and how to move forward
FSG.ORG
14
Community engagement – who is the “community”
we are engaging?
The person with the lived experience of the problem:
He or she wakes up each day in the midst of the problem,
and deals with its impact on his or her daily life,
and its impact on the lives of the people around him or her
Source: Adapted from Tamarack Institute
FSG.ORG
15
Why engage those who have the lived experience
of the problem you are trying to solve?
1) Understand pressing systemic community challenges
o Begin a process of understanding the issue
o Clarify questions that arise during the process
1) Co-create solutions
o Spark innovative problem-solving rooted in the “lived-experience” of the community
o Identify and spread unique solutions that exist within the community
2) Verify the direction
o Get feedback on specific strategies and indicators from selected communities
3) Expand the reach of involvement
o Expand the reach of adoption of initiative strategies
o Evoke and sustain the will to take aligned action
1) Build community capacity to lead and sustain change
o Train stakeholders in skills of effective collaboration and strategy execution (e.g.,
shared measurement)
o Share resources, and learning across the community to support scaling best practices
1
2
3
4
5
Source: Adapted from Tamarack Institute: Community Engagement Continuum
16
Design thinking can be a powerful way to engage
community
Design thinking is a deeply human process that
taps into abilities we all have but get overlooked by
more conventional problem-solving practices. It
relies on our ability to be intuitive, to recognize
patterns, to construct ideas that are emotionally
meaningful as well as functional, and to express
ourselves through means beyond words or
symbols.
- IDEO Website
17
Key concepts of design
Empathy
Optimism
Experimentation
Demonstration (show, don’t tell)
Storytelling
Pattern recognition
FSG.ORG
18
Community engagement can raise tricky questions
• Who in the community is particularly important to engage?
• How can we co-create solutions with stakeholders impacted
by the target issue as part of the Collective Impact process?
• How do we meaningfully engage new stakeholders in and on-
going initiative?
Balancing
Efficiency and
Effectiveness
Overcoming
Obstructive
Norms
Understanding
Who to Engage
and How
• How do we get historically isolated or combative sectors
speaking to each other?
• How do we overcome well entrenched, but misguided
(inconsistent with data) community perceptions that hinder
adaptive change?
• How do we balance speed of work with level of engagement?
• When are the right times to invest in broad-based
engagement?
• How can we ensure that community engagement is productive
for the initiative? How do we measure its success?
Source: Adapted from Tamarack Institute: Community Engagement Continuum
19
Key structures of collective impact
o Overall Organization
o Common Agenda
o Community Engagement
o Shared Measurement
o Backbone
Readiness assessment
Next steps and how to move forward
FSG.ORG
20
What is shared measurement?
Shared Measurement is not:
× Meant to measure the
impact of a single
organization or intervention
× Simple data collection
× Focused only (or mostly) on
programmatic measures
× Meant to be punitive
× Meant to foster competition
× A once-a-year report
× A retrospective evaluation
Shared Measurement asks
the questions:
WHAT progress are we
making?
HOW does this information
help us make better
decisions?
FSG.ORG
21
Shared measurement is “tough but necessary”
“Shared measurement systems encourage local organizations to align their
efforts on shared outcomes, enable them to collectively track and evaluate their
collective progress (or lack of) and offer organizations opportunities to
benchmark their results against – and learn from – their peers”
But establishing a shared measurement system is easier said than done due to:
Agreement: getting diverse organizations tackling complex issues to agree
on a set of indicators that are shared and also reflect the nuances of their
work
Funder and policy silos: individual organizations have narrowly defined target
groups and guidelines for tracking and reporting data, driving inefficiencies
Cost: developing shared measurement systems is expensive – both in
terms of IT solutions and the data collection process
Qualitative data: many success measures cannot be quantified – proxies and
stories must be used to track shifts in systems change
Source: “Collective Impact and Shared Measurement: Tough but Necessary”. Mark Cabaj, The Tamarack Institute.
http://tamarackcci.ca/files/collective_impact_shared_measurement_-_m_cabaj.pdf
FSG.ORG
22
The Road Map Project
Seattle
“The Road Map Project’s goal is to double
the number of students in South King
County and South Seattle who are on track
to graduate from college or earn a career
credential by 2020.
We are committed to nothing less than
closing the unacceptable achievement gaps
for low income students and children of
color, and increasing achievement for all
students from cradle to college and career.”
FSG.ORG
23
Groups were formed to just choose indicators
Identify
Indicators
Develop Work
GroupsTrack Progress and
Refine over Time
• Each group used criteria
to identify and prioritize
indicators
• Work group chairs met to
calibrate indicators
across cradle-to-college
continuum
• Short-list of top-level
indicators were selected
to set time-bound targets
• Additional supporting
indicators are also
tracked over time
• Four work groups
formed in early learning,
K-12 / in-school, K-12 /
out-of-school, post-
secondary)
• Groups were charged
with identifying
indicators of student
success for their part of
the cradle-to-college
continuum
• The Road Map
backbone (CCER)
issues baseline and
annual reports to track
progress on all indicators
where data is available
• A team of data experts
advises on indicators
over time so the list can
evolve as warranted
FSG.ORG
24
Final indicators
Healthy and ready for
Kindergarten
Supported and successful in
school
Graduate from high school college and
career-ready
Earn a college degree or career
credential
• % of students proficient in:
- 3rd grade reading
- 4th grade math
- 5th grade science
- 6th grade reading
- 7th grade math
- 8th grade science
• % students triggering Early Warning indicators
• % of students who graduate high school on-time
• % of graduating high school students meeting minimum requirements to apply to a Washington State 4-year college
• % of students at community and technical colleges enrolling in pre-college coursework
• % of students who enroll in postsecondary education by age 24
• % of students continuing past the first year of postsecondary
• % students who earn a post-secondary credential by age 24
• % of children ready to succeed in school by kindergarten
Readiness AttainmentAchievement
Source: http://www.roadmapproject.org/
FSG.ORG
25
Their baseline report helped them better
understand student success in the region
FSG.ORG
26
The annual report revealed some surprises, and
illustrates how to use traditional data in new ways
Students Meeting Standards: 3rd Grade Reading
27
Key structures of collective impact
o Overall Organization
o Common Agenda
o Community Engagement
o Shared Measurement
o Backbone
Readiness assessment
Next steps and how to move forward
28
And now, the backbone...
Guide Vision and Strategy
Build Public Will
Support Aligned Activities
Mobilize Resources
Establish Shared Measurement Practices
Advance Policy
Source: FSG Interviews and Analysis
29
It is not always easy to see the value of backbone
support work
The Role of Backbone Support Is Often Described with a Metaphor…
“(They are) kind of like the quarterback- doesn’t end up in the end zone,
but they’re the ones handing it off, making a pass or
calling a different play if the defense looks different.”
“I’m at a lot of events with people in the know who don’t understand what
these backbones do. But they are doing what they are supposed to do-
the work behind the scenes. They fill a role that, if it weren’t for them, no
one would be pushing certain items.”
“They are an umbrella that can say, ‘this is an
issue, let’s address it together.’”
“(The backbone) has also formed a bridge between
early childhood agencies, corporate leaders, and funders.”
Source: FSG Interviews and Analysis
30
The backbone needs to fulfill the following functions
Source: FSG Interviews and Analysis
Admin Support• Schedule meetings, provide logistical support, manage overall timelines
• Set agendas for SC meeting
• Prepare presentation materials for SC meetings
• Run and facilitate SC meetings
• Communicate regularly with SC members
• Plan for SC leadership
• Support co-chairs in leading meetings
• Manage executive committee
• Data collection
• Analyze indicators to evaluate progress
• Manage process of defining and refining common
indicators
• Monitor and communicate baseline data
• Develop measurement capacity of partners
• Set agendas and prepare material
• Identify information needed to make decisions
• Conduct research to support decision making
• Connect WG to others in community
• Provide progress updates on shared indicators
to the WG
• Create WG reports to SC and identify areas of
overlap/coordination between WGs
• Create communications plan
• Develop communications collateral
• Support development of major progress reports
• Support SC and WG members in communicating
publically
• Support SC/WC community engagement plans
• Develop plan for furthering policy agenda
• Track all funding and potential funding sources
Steering Committee Leadership Shared Measurement
External Communications and
EngagementWorking Group Support
31
Backbone leaders need the following major skillsets
Skillset Function
Strategic Skillset:
• Identify, research, and analyze information
needed to make decisions
• Recognize patterns and challenges to
achieving big-picture goals
• Find areas of coordination or gaps to fill
Servant Leadership Orientation:
• Seek to serve the community, not your
individual organization
• Perceived as neutral, listening, and
reflective
Community Organizing Mindset:
• Identify any and all partners and work with
all them to achieve goals
• Equip fellow partners with tools and
information
Steering Committee Leadership
Shared Measurement
Working Group Support
Steering Committee Leadership
External Comm. and Engagement
Working Group Support
Steering Committee Leadership
External Comm. and Engagement
Source: FSG Interviews and Analysis
32
Key structures of collective impact
o Overall Organization
o Common Agenda
o Community Engagement
o Shared Measurement
o Backbone
Readiness assessment
Next steps and how to move forward
33
Preconditions for Collective Impact
These preconditions create the opportunity and motivation to bring people together and
hold them in place until the initiative's own momentum takes over
Influential
Champions
• Credible leaders who can inspire people from various
organizations to work together
• Focused on solving problem but willing to allow
participants figure out answers for themselves
Urgency for
Change
• Critical, complex problem in the community
• Frustration with existing approaches
Availability
of Resources• Committed, potential funding partners with
sustained funding for at least 3 – 5 years
Basis for
Collaboration
• Trusted relationships among cross-sector actors
• Presence of existing collaborative efforts
34
Readiness assessment
Form groups based on existing
collaborative efforts, and complete
the separate, “readiness
assessment” worksheet.
Discuss what key dimensions
need to be strengthened, and
which dimensions are strong
assets to build on.
We will return to the large group
and ask some groups to share
the results of their readiness
assessment.
FSG.ORG
35
1. Where is momentum/readiness the highest?
2. What areas most need to be strengthened?
3. What is most needed to help accelerate UpSkill
Houston’s work?
4. What steps can you commit to for helping move the work
of Upskill Houston forward?
Full group discussion
An Initiative of FSG and Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions36
© 2014 FSG
Supporting the Growing Collective Impact
Movement at www.collectiveimpactforum.org
Forum Partners
Co-Catalysts
The Collective Impact Forum communities features:
• 8,800 members and growing
• 200+ resources on collective impact, including articles, case studies, videos,
and tools, all free to access
• Community discussion forums where members engage on topics and
queries related to collective impact
• Multiple communities of practice, with over 25% of the membership from
backbone organizations
• News from the field, including RFPs, job postings, workshops, conferences,
and webinars