In 2007, the new Congregation of St. Joseph was formed with the combining of seven CSJ Congregations throughout America's heartland. The new Congregation had over 35 ministries under its care and within a year of the Congregation’s formation, CSJ Ministries came into being. CSJ Ministries was created as the “sponsorship arm” of the Congregation, the organization that would be completely dedicated to current and future sponsored ministries of the Congregation. Over the past 10 years, CSJ Ministries has worked to support, encourage, help sustain, and provide leadership for the ministry organizations the Congregation of St. Joseph is proud to sponsor.
The sponsorship structures and processes the Congregation has used in relation to their ministries have worked very well over many years. However, in recent years it has become apparent that these structures no longer fit the changing realities. Emerging realities have led the CSJ Ministries board to assess its historical sponsorship model and begin to envision a new model, a new way for the future. For the past two years the CSJ Ministries Board has been in the process of assessing the current CSJ Sponsorship model and determining what is needed going forward into the future. Collective Impact has been assisting CSJ Ministries through this transformational paradigm shift by providing planning, development, stakeholder engagement, and change management services.
Collective Impact continues our work with the CSJ Ministries Board in visualizing the emergence of the CSJ Mission Network, a flexible, nimble, and adaptive structure whereby all current and future ministers and ministerial outreaches are strongly united by the Congregation’s mission and charism for many years to come … “that all may be one.”
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.
“I’ve worked with three communities that have had strategic plans done by Collective Impact. In all three the planning process and subsequent document provided structure for locals to move forward, often with significant projects. It is no wonder that they have repeat business and a good reputation with these folks.” ~ Herk Conner – Executive Director, Doddridge County Economic Development Authority, West Union, WV
