Collective Impact has been working with the Northern West Virginia Center for Independent Living to help the organization develop a strategic plan for the future as well as engage in succession planning for the planned departure of its founding Executive Director who has lead the organization for nearly 30 years.
During this engaging and productive process, Collective Impact is becoming more educated about the variety of needs of people with disabilities as well as the numerous services, resources, and supports available to the disabilities community. Did you know that in the United Stated, 12.6% of adults have some type of disability? Did you know that in West Virginia, the number is even higher, with 19.4% of adults having some type of disability? And in West Virginia, adults with disabilities are more likely to smoke (21.9%) and be obese (43.3%).
The challenges facing people with disabilities is overwhelming, but many of these challenges are being met daily by organizations like NWVCIL. A BIG shout out to the good folks at NWVCIL for your passion, tenacity, and strong work on improving the lives and communities of people with disabilities in the mountain state!
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 landed my current position by making connections through the internship program with Collective Impact. This is an amazing program and was exactly what I needed to progress into the working world. Not only was I able to grow in professional development, I was also able to grow personally through my experiences in this internship. Every single person I met was supportive, enthusiastic and really expressed their want in me to succeed. I would recommend this program to anyone who has graduated college and or is graduating in order to provide their next step into a career. Thank you Bruce Decker and your Collective Impact team for providing this wonderful opportunity!” ~ Ryan Jefferson-Director, Lincoln County Green Wastewater Project and Former Affordable Housing Intern, Hamlin, WV
The Teachers College of Columbia University was the first and largest graduate school of education in the United States and is perennially ranked among the nation’s best. With financial support from the Wallace Foundation, the Teachers College engaged in research relating to collective engagement around education reform. The report describes development in the new generation of cross-sector collaborations for education and presents findings from a scan of initiatives across the United States. In this report, Collective Impact, LLC is identified as the first entity to coin the term "Collective Impact" in the early 2000's (page 6, footnote 7). This is an instructive example of how cross-sector collaborations have been bubbling up for several decades. Read the article by clicking here!
