Collective Impact is working with the Joint Commission on Sports Medicine and Science (JCSMS) to engage its membership in the Collective Impact approach. JCSMS serves as a convener and catalyst for cooperative ventures. The Collective Impact approach is a commitment of a group of individuals from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem, using a structured form of collaboration. The concept of collective impact hinges on the idea that organizations need to coordinate their efforts and work together around a clearly defined goal if they are to create lasting solutions to social problems on a large-scale. This approach was highlighted in a Stanford Social Innovation Review article titled “Collective Impact”. More recently, with financial support from the Wallace Foundation, the Teachers College of Columbia University engaged in research relating to collective engagement around education reform. Their report (Collective Impact and the New Generation of Cross-Sector Collaborations for Education) describes the development of cross-sector collaborations and presents findings from a scan of initiatives across the United States. With assistance from Collective Impact, JCSMS membership is exploring how the model might be used to address relevant issues facing their member organizations.

Collective Impact worked with First 5 Ventura County (F5VC) to implement a “Research to Action” project funded by the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) involving several EC-LINC communities. The mission of EC-LINC is to support families and improve results for young children in communities across the country with a focus on accelerating the development of effective, integrated, local early childhood systems. Along with several EC-LINC communities in California and Massachusetts, F5VC set out to establish the effectiveness of playgroups in the continuum of care for serving young children (birth to three) and their families, maximize the benefits of playgroups, and demonstrate the impact of playgroups on long-term outcomes. This project included an extensive literature review, interviews and a survey of current practices with participating communities, development of recommended best practice and evaluation frameworks, onsite convening of participating communities, and the development of a final report with key findings and recommendations.

"The City of Shinnston was awarded a Flex-E Grant to increase our community capacity through leadership training.  We once again called upon Bruce Decker and Collective Impact to facilitate sessions on visioning, team building, motivation, cultural competence, and leadership.  The exercises designed for these sessions were challenging, thought-provoking, and highly effective.  I have also personally been through other training sessions led by Bruce at conferences put on by Create West Virginia and the WV Community Development Hub.  I've never been disappointed; Bruce always delivers results."  ~ Debra Herndon - City Manager, City of Shinnston, WV

More and more, innovation is springing not from particular industries or disciplines, but rather across them, says Frans Johansson, author of The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts & Cultures. "When you step into an intersection of fields, disciplines, or cultures, you can combine existing concepts into a large number of extraordinary new ideas."

See the Prime Time Morning interview of Frans Johansson about The Medici Effect.