Happy New Year, OneRouge Family! For Week #137 via Zoom for the first OneRouge Friday call of 2023, we are level setting and talking Collective Impact 3.0.
For the over the last decade, The Walls Project has evolved into an organization that coalesces both form and function. The Public Art and Placemaking, Futures Fund, and Baton Roots programs have provided conduits through which we seek to dismantle the constructs that perpetuate poverty in the Greater Baton Rouge region. And now through a partnership with MetroMorphosis, OneRouge Coalition deliberately and intentionally addresses the Nine Drivers of Poverty by employing the process of Collective Impact 3.0. But what is Collective Impact 3.0 and how are we all involved? Well, that is precisely the conversation we intend to have on Friday 1/6.
Our speaker is Sylvia Cheuy, Consulting Director of the Tamarack Institute’s Collective Impact Idea Area. Tamarack Institute has 15 years of experience leading community change. Tamarack believes that true community change occurs when citizens and organizations adopt a new way of thinking and working together.
Enlight, Unite, & Ignite!
Quick Links: Notes, Zoom Chat, Community Announcements
Notes
Casey Phillips: Awesome, Christian. I said that was when I caught wind about that's such an exciting project. And the reason why I wanted to set the table this way, and I'm going to turn it over to pepper, to intro our very, very significant and distinguished speaker, it's taking all these different pieces, right? All of this work that everyone is already doing and in this collective action framework in collective Impact 3.0. And having, because you know, change comes at a neighborhood level in a sustained, at a neighborhood level, and you have all of the, everybody on this call doing so much different work from re-entry to working with youth, to working with food access to health and wellness and all these different components. They all interlock. We know that they do, but at many times in all of our work over the last decade or plus, you have to resign yourself to say this is my lane and this is what we're going to do. And, there's only, there's a limit to our reach and this whole collective impact the collective impact framework really allows everyone's voice to be heard. Change that comes with boots on the ground systems, working together with foundations, with nonprofits, with the private sector and everyone coming in together and there's no way to have this conversation in the vacuum. That's why we really wanted everyone to be able to share the great work that's right here and coming out the gates and figure out how to piece it all together so we can all support one another for the good of humans, for the good of our community, and for the good of our city. So, thank you all for sharing. Thank you all for the work that y'all do. I am beyond excited for 2023, taking a much more marathon piece over the next decade of our work as opposed to this constant running on a treadmill, but really thinking of this as a marathon together. And I can't think of any better way to kick us off than to really deep dive into the collective impact 3.0 model. So, Pepper, I'll turn it over to you all and thank you.
Pepper Roussel: 2023 is shaping up to be absolutely amazing, this whole six days in and King cake day. But the objective for this first month of calls is really a bit of a level set to bring us back to the pace that we are running. As Casey mentioned sometimes the marathon does feel like a series of sprints, but for collective impact the series of sprints, the marathon is really about making sure that we go farther together. And I could not have found a better person to talk about collective impact than Sylvia Cheuy, who is not only a delightful human being and fun to talk to in general, but knows a lot of stuff. And without further ado, Sylvia, I will step aside and give you your 15 minutes to tell us who you are, what you do, and how we can be involved.
Sylvia Cheuy: Couple of things. Big shout out to the folks of you at Metamorphosis, because I think that's how we first found our way to you. So, thank you for continuing to share learning. Okay. Collective impact. First of all, it's not so new, even if you are hearing about it for the first time. We have the privilege today of having a decade's worth of global practitioners playing with this framework. The thought behind Collective Impact 3.0, which is a paper my colleagues Liz Weaver and Mark Kaba wrote back in 2016, is watching those first five, 10 years of collective impact being experimented with and applied in a whole range of different places at a huge range of different scales, be that neighborhood statewide or even nationally or internationally. What have we learned, right? Why does this work? When does this, when is this a useful framework for you to think about? And as I looked at and got a flavor for some of the stuff you folks are championing around the nine drivers of poverty, I think there's a really great fit here for a couple of reasons. But before diving into that, for those of you who are hearing about collective impact for the first time, it is quite simply a discipline form. of multi-sector collaboration. Okay. The keywords there were discipline and multi-sector. Okay? And therefore, the situations where collective impact is ideally positioned to be useful are situations that are complex. I e there is not just one factor that's driving your issue. There are a multitude of factors that contribute to creating conditions of poverty, for example. And not surprisingly, because of that, there are many valuable and. Viable pathways for how a community gathers together and develops a shared strategy around how to address it. Some communities choose to do it through employment related initiatives. Others choose to do it through, increasing access to affordable housing and more stable kind of relationships with renters and landlords. Some do it through youth success and frankly, all of those things happening together, possibly being championed by different players, if they're loosely connected, have the capacity to make that change that you're talking about. So that's number one. Number two is that rarely, if ever, when you're working on a complex issue, can one sector alone be the. Because every different sector, including, and most importantly, the wisdom of those with lived in living experience needs to be brought to the table if we're going to generate innovative solutions that actually work in your place. So, you can be inspired by this great poverty reduction example in Montreal for just as an illustration. And it can give you some sparks and some thoughts and some ideas. But how you take that and then apply it to Baton Rouge is going to look completely different, right? Because you've got different players. And so, I think part of the beauty of collective impact is it's proven, it's known and understood. It has a very clear roadmap for the kinds of things at a high level you need to pay attention to. And at the same time, it needs your wisdom and your leadership to figure out how this makes sense in the context of the work that you're at and where your community is at. Make sense? Okay. So, with that as a bit of a frame, I think the next thing I want to just say is at the 10 year anniversary mark of collective impact, the original authors did a great job of taking some time to share and shift how they describe collective impact. And so, there were some really important evolutions in that definition that I think are important to think about. First and foremost, in the new upgraded definition, equity and the achievement of equity is listed explicitly as the North Star that's driving every single collective impact initiative. I think that's number one. The second big shift in the definition was a simpler. And cleaner definition of who needs to be involved with a real emphasis on the value of folks with lived and living experience in your place, right? That need to be leaders in this process alongside organizations. We need, and we at Tamara call these folks context experts, right? We want those context experts at our table because they bring a knowledge and a sense of urgency that helps hold us all accountable for the work we're doing. So that's number two. And then number three is that the most successful collective impact initiatives don't solely focus on creating new programs or even co-deliver. new programs or existing programs, but a real emphasis on innovation ie what net new things are we contributing to this shared effort to address poverty, for example. But secondly, how much attention are we as the collective impact leaders and drivers paying attention to the systemic barriers that are creating the conditions that are allowing this issue of poverty to be perpetual? And so, if we are very like, let's make an assumption, okay. The best definition of collective impact I think I ever heard was it's a co-created innovation space. So many of you who are leaders of organizations and networks, 99% of your time is probably spent implementing those very needed programs. Yes. And meeting the commitments of your funders, be they grant agencies and or government or whoever is funding your efforts. Number two, we know that the folks that are being supported by those programs and services find them in essential, right? We can't stop delivering those programs. Those programs are important. At the same time, I think we have to acknowledge, and Covid certainly brought this to the fore, so there's a greater consensus, I think now more than ever, that those programmatic solutions, however important, are not sufficient to get us to a meaningful shift in this issue. So that's really a powerful moment for you all in the work that you're doing, that you can seize. Here's the challenge. You all know I can't. I have great staff. Can't work any harder, can't work any faster. of the difference around this issue. We need something more. So now we've got this growing consensus, we got to do more. The time for action is now. Yes. And what are you going to do? The challenge now is we aren't even aligned about what needs to happen. What net innovation can we contribute? What are the systemic changes that need to happen and what's our shared strategy for getting that done? Those are the kinds of questions that if you want to have serious long-term impact, the network that you've pulled together, here is the network that needs to do that thinking. And frankly, it's going to be about safe fail experimentation, right? Nobody's done this before, so how do you know it's going to work? You don't, right? You got to take that first step. You got to try it. and there needs to be a shared commitment to ongoing learning and experimentation and the sharing back of what we learn with all kinds of humility. Okay. So that's a frame. So let's go through, there are five conditions that our friends at FSG really articulated well as the foundation of, and I'll talk about the value, the shifts that my colleagues Ms. Weber and Mark Kaba added to that next. So, the first is, what we are creating here is both a shared management paradigm for advancing this comprehensive strategy. And at the same time, we as the leaders are thinking about how do we do this work in a way that really builds a movement for change. Okay, so what does that say? If we're creating a movement, we can't own it, we can drive it, but a lot of how we do our work has to create the conditions where anyone who feels that this is an issue that matters, feels like they can own it and make a meaningful contribution to advancing it. And furthermore, it also means that we have to shift everybody's paradigm. It isn't just about the service delivery organizations coming up with all the answers and doing for people who are poor. People who are poor are a lot more than their economic status, right? They're smart, really committed, passionate people. How are they being invited to contribute and held accountable and responsible for taking on a contribution to help make this better future a reality? So, we do need a common agenda, which is both a shared. Vision, aspiration for what we want to create, but it's also consensus amongst us around the priority area of areas of focus that we're going to champion to help make that aspiration a reality. So, we there's a Canadian pair of social innovators who are real inspirations to me, husband and wife couple, Alec Mansky and Vicki Mack. And in the book six Patterns to Spread Your Social Innovation, they talk about one of those patterns being act like an organization, but think like a movement. Okay. What does that mean? It means that from an we have to be disciplined and well organized in our collaborative, which means we root in research, we take a look at data, we know that we have to tackle this by, digestible bites of strategy and that. We're not going to find where we want to, we're not going to get to where we want to get to by one single magic, silver bullet solution. Frankly, we make progress by what we call silver buckshot. Lots of individual strategic efforts that are loosely coordinated and created tipping point, right? And so, we need to really do that research. We need to do the kinds of things that you are doing today, which is bringing in funders as not just contributors of dollars, but thinking partners and learning partners with you. And we need to think about how we continue to build out our network of both committed allies and unusual partners to help drive this work. Movement building means that we need to continuously build networks of connection between diverse organizations, networks, and sectors. And we need to let go of this being a focus group where your collaborative are the owners of the solution, the implementers of the solution, and you just consult key stakeholders, right? What we want to do is champion a shared learning and action process. So, we are upfront, this is about innovation. None of us have the answers. And so, we are actually going to the community and key stakeholders more with questions. So, we're sharing what we know, we're sharing what we don't know, and we're asking for them to think with us. As much as people want to be included in decision making, they actually will probably get really pissed off that you are not coming to tell them how you are going to fix this for them. And so, you need to be ready for that. And so, you really need to be planning well, managing that momentum, those networks, those relationships and the very practical stuff you need to keep this work moving forward. But you always also need to bring that un-like willingness to take the next why step when the whole future doesn't look completely nailed down. That's a challenge. Shared management really also talks, that's the mindset of improving existing programs and shifting systems where we can movement building that's about what's our shared story, what's our reality, but also what's the shared. It's a commitment for big, it's a commitment that thought thinks about. I love this phrase creating the adjacent possible. We aren't fighting what's wrong with the existing system. We're creating such an inspiring and demonstrated evidence that are ideal system that we see is actually possible. And we're moving towards it and using that as a, as an attractor to bring in more and more people who want to do that kind of work. So, I think the second condition of collective impact written after that continuous the common agenda and shared measurement rooting in data is this sense of mutually reinforcing activities. So, what do we mean by that? What we mean is that it highlights that the work of your collaborative is about. championing something that's greater than the sum of the individual parts that each of you contribute to making this, to addressing this issue. But it cannot. But the challenge for us is because we want to collaborate, because we have tension to show short-term impact and results, we as service delivery folks may have a temptation to focus on those areas where it's easiest to collaborate, but those may not be the energy efforts and activities we need to be paying attention to that will guarantee us the highest impact. Does that make sense? And so, there's this inherent tension we have between short-term results and long-term impact. And that's a tension we are going to be dancing with throughout this work. So, what is high leverage and system focus change that only our network can champion? Let me give you an example of what I need. many collaborative efforts, collective impact initiatives that get together really often put a lot of energy into co-locating services and enhancing case management between your various D programs and initiatives. And while that's popular because it's easy to implement and frankly doesn't require our organizational partners to actually surrender any kind of turf, it actually over, from many other tried efforts at this from other places we know it actually has low impact on the individuals and families we're hoping to serve. Because it doesn't fundamentally change issues related to inflexibility of eligibility, cookie cutter, inadequate programs and services. And by inadequate, I mean there may just be insufficient programs and service capacity for us, right? Given the number of folks affected. And thirdly, even. So even if we can go to one place to get access to these programs or learn more about them, doesn't necessarily mean they'll be well coordinated. So, my kids are eligible for these services, but I as their parent are eligible for others. So, I'm getting a one-minute signal. Thanks. So let me give you like, quickly run through the last two. One is about shifting from thinking about continuous communication, which is the fourth of the five conditions to really thinking about authentic engagement. Not limiting ourselves to periodic events and sharing results, but also engaging people in thinking and learning alongside us. And lastly, the backbone infrastructure shift. So, it is an infrastructure. You do need an infrastructure to support effective coordination, but don't create this as an organization. And we do this all the time because the organization is the dominant framework we're used to working within. What we need is a different mechanism for existing collaboratives to work existing organizations to work together on those bigger change issues. So, it also means. As we move toward a strong container for change, we have cross-sectoral leadership. We've facilitated support participants in that inner journey of change, which for us means letting go of your own assumptions and uncertainties that you have the answer. It also means suspending blame and or guilt around how we may have contributed to our current reality and putting our energy into learning and finding new ways to address our shared issue, which means you as hosts, creating environments of safety, trust, and empathy for one another so that we can freely have shared and fierce conversations about what needs to happen next. And then also we need to recognize, and this is the tension that we are working with paradox. Is, which means how can we inspire creativity as opposed to fear when we think about navigating short-term wins and long-term solutions, not framing them as either or lots here. Hope that helps. And if there's questions, and Tom, I'd love to hear them. So many, we haven't quite popped up a lot in the chat, but Sylvia, that was remarkable. Absolutely remarkable. There was something and I want to segue into the q and a section and the comment section of the program, but there was something that you said that really did resonate with me around the pace that organizations that participate and frustrated because they're not being told what to do, that it's not strictly action based. That is really comforting to me because we. We seem to hurry up and wait and hurry up and wait. And we're not moving as quickly as I think we're all accustomed to. Or, you know what, I'll just, yeah. I, we are not moving as quickly as I am accustomed to moving. And so that can be a little frustrating. So, the first thing I want to know from you, or to have you to tell us about before I, I do enlist Kelly Rogers to speak on her, their experience, her experience with the collective impact is, tell me more about how do we get past this feeling of inertia if that is a possibility. Or is it really just an acceptance that, that is a feeling that is going to come with collective impact because the work that seems almost invisible at the front end? Can you still hear me? I'm just, you pause. You clicked out for a sec. I'm having internet issues. Can you hear me? Somebody nod. Tell me, you can hear me? Yeah. Yes, we can hear you. Sylvia. My very first international guest calling in from Canada. So, we're working through some things. Sorry. And I will dial in by phone if this, if this keeps up or I may for now just flip off my video just to help out a little bit so it's not glitchy. So, in answer to your question, your tension that you name pepper's really real, right? That tension between short term, long term. I think we in North America, and I'm learning this a lot from our indigenous friends that we've been doing, has the pleasure of working with recently quite a bit. We need to really think in terms of, they think in terms of the impact of seven generations, right? The three generations that came before us and we're making decisions to impact the four, ourselves and the three generations going forward. So, these issues have been with us forever. We have lots of programs and services and we need to keep them going. But no, but our work really will be about how are we experimenting to create that adjacent possibility and being able to demonstrate it. So, ways you can help navigate that tension that is really real. Can we commit ourselves to short term innovation short term innovation prototypes, right? So, pick a couple neighborhoods, try something, document that, learn from that. Then you've got something really concrete and real that you can lift up that others can either replicate, invest in, right? We take it in. It's that expression about how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, right? So, what are the chunks we can take on that we can experiment with to prove proof of concept? Because if you really think about it, and I've got this great example I wish I could share visually and maybe I can share it afterwards. Big shifts in equity occurred in a poverty reduction effort in Edmonton through loosely coordinated set of efforts that different groups were championing, including things like equity education for the police, who then, and our municipal leaders who then shifted their own policies around equity representation in a number of their committees, which then starts to shift the very culture of the conversations that are happening around the table. Is it quick work? No, but if you can show demonstratable progress, that's critical. Not only to inspire you all to keep going, because this is tough work, but it allows you to point to. Really positive steps that you are learning and making a difference. Does that help?
Pepper Roussel: It does indeed. And I see my lovely assistant to the right. Casey Phillips is deep in thought. So, we'll leave him sitting in thought to give us some pearls of wisdom. But Kelly, you dropped that there are some lessons learned that you can share from Geaux Get Healthy.
Kelly Rogers: Yeah. So, I've done the Collective Impact Forum conference several years. Great information from you guys. I've loved being a part of that. So, we started Geaux Get Healthy around this collective impact model back at the end of 2018. in, in a couple of different ways. One was we had two joint funders, Humana Foundation and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation who joined forces on the funding side, which was unusual and something that really hadn't happened before. To have two of those organizations partner with us on the collective work that we would be doing in that first year we put together organizations. And I think the most important aspect of that was that we were all tied to collective metrics with those funders. So as partner organizations, we had a shared set of numbers that we set and that we to meet. That's changed a lot over the years. And we have seen a lot of success around innovation and collective innovation working together to deliver programs that brought us more fully towards those shared metrics. I had a lot of thoughts around this, and I wish I had more time to organize them because we really do have a lot of learnings around this. We've had a lot of programs that haven't been so successful, and we've been able to pivot, I think, collectively and share all of our strengths to continue to move forward to do the work that we're doing. I'm just going to pop the kind of Geaux Get Healthy's little mission statement or what we do in the chat. So, we just at its basis is a group of partner organizations who work together to create, co-create a thriving local food system that ensures equitable access to affordable, fresh food and wellness education for everyone in our city. And that's like keeping that in. In our minds as our collective goal has been really important, I think, in keeping us on task and on track with how we work together. In this now fifth year that we're going into we're a little bit more focused on sustainable programs and how we all work together to create new programs. I think. So, I know that's not really cohesive and there's a lot more I'd like to say. I guess if anybody has questions, let me know about how we've all worked together. But this collective impact model has been really successful for us. think the backbone organization support is really important. Did you, and I'm not sure that that was touched on a whole lot, but just that, somebody is the wrangler or some organization is the wrangler to drive everybody towards those collective goals and to help. To help organizations shift collectively as they need to.
Pepper Roussel: So, Sylvia quickly there was something that you've mentioned about moving from a shared goal to a shared vision, as in we, we may have an objective that is similar, but the outcome may be very different across organizations. Do you have any suggestions on how it is that we can get to cohesion? And is tying the metrics for funding? Is that the answer?
Sylvia Cheuy: Great question. The quick five second sort of snapshot answer, which we could certainly unpack further, is for a collective impact effort, appreciating the richness and value of all the different sort of strategies and missions of the respective organizations. What is the thing that you're championing together that is a rooted in community voice, values and priorities? So let that be your driver first and foremost. Because there's so many ways you could tackle this work, right? The ones that you choose to champion need to be the ones that really speak to community and where communities at right now. Cause communities are living things they're always changing. So, you got to put a stake in the ground there. The ones that your collaborative needs to champion shouldn't duplicate what any of your partner organizations are doing, but should be things that are soon. Sufficiently ambitious that no one organization alone could achieve them, first of all. And secondly, if and when you do achieve them collaboratively will make the environment better and more effective for all the collaborative partners. If not all, but certainly a majority. They, your collaborative needs to champion things that also are innovative enough that no one organization would ever take them on. Because the risk of failure is too high, right? But you can all, so there's a unique spot of value that you're contributing. And it should really emphasize opportunities for very diverse sectors to work together on something, right? And, as I said before thinking of that prototype kind of mindset, are there, if you think about it from the metaphor of planting a garden, you want to sew a lot of seeds, right? Not every plant is going to root and thrive and you know that going in, right? So, what you got to do is be watching for and helping each other to look and see. We are the ones where we're getting some traction, where we're getting momentum, where we're seeing energy move, right? And then let's simplify. If we started with six different things and four of them really started to take off, let's just, if there's nothing wrong with pausing the other two, maybe that the timing's not right, maybe they're not the right approach for us right now, that's okay. And then put our energy into continuing to nurture and expand the stuff that is growing. and then writing it up and shining a light on it and telling anyone and everyone, Kelly, you just did such a brilliant job of sharing practically what you did, right? So yes, you need metrics in terms of how many people are engaged, what progress are you making, the number of dollars you've attracted, the number of contributors that have been involved. And the process stuff is usually what at the get-go. But then what you want to do is you want to have qualitative data as well. What are the stories of how this has shifted for people? How are we now thinking differently about our issue? How are we understanding this issue in a richer, much more realistic way? That's another whole set of metrics, right? Not just letting our funder drive the metrics, how, how many people served, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Pepper Roussel: Wonderful. So, there is one question in the chat. Rachel, I don't know if you want to come off chat, come off mute and explain the question, or if you just want me to read it, let me know the which one there, here she
Rachel Landis: I'm just lurking in the background learning and observing and then awe of all the energy and effort going on here. So, thanks for letting me stand in and learn. Yeah. My name's Rachel. I work with the Good Food Collective. We're located in southwestern Colorado and we don't have any king cake, but we have hash green chilies and blue corn mush. That's another big one down here. We work, we have a collective impact initiative going on also around health equity and food security. And I was really struck, Sylvia, by your comment about really rethinking how backbone the backbone structure can look and not necessarily starting a new organization. And was just curious if you could color in the lines a little bit and give some examples of what some of those alternatives might be. Thanks, all. Great question, Rachel. I love it.
Sylvia Cheuy: So, this is one of the most frequent stumbles one organization goes after the funding, right? And so, they start thinking this is their money and they're inviting everybody else to the table, right? To help them implement their strategy That that's organizational thinking. What we want is movement building thinking, which is we, the collaborative, are stewards of this money, right? We're stewards of this money to mobilize community impact. And so we all own this money. We all have a say in the choices we make about strategic investments. So that would be one dimension. So, in the same way that you, the collaborative, go out to community with questions, not answers. The collective the container for change or the backbone helps facilitate and mobilize that shared leadership and shared decision making, but its decision making for all around our shared issues. So that would be number one. The second thing, and I'll tell you this from my own shared experience. So, I learned about Tamarack first as a learner. And I got coaching from the then CEO of Tamarack and I was leading a regional initiative in my rural community about community wellbeing. So, we actually defined for us what community wellbeing meant, healthy people, dynamic economy, sustainable environment, vibrant arts and culture, and engaged citizenry. That was our five. So then how do you take that broad amorphous thing and translate it into initiatives? So, we went out, we did about a year of consultation where we were asking people what are the practical projects that if you saw them happening, you would see us as making positive progress on this juicy agenda. Took it back, shared out with a hundred people through a network of database that we built through every consultation we did. We said, ta-da. There are six, eight projects that we kept hearing again and again from all kinds of different people. What do you think? Have we got it right? The consensus in the room was you nailed it. Like these are six initiatives. Interestingly, they were all initiatives that many sectors saw as critical to their success, but wasn't explicitly nested in their mission or mandate. So, no one was stepping into the gap to own and drive solutioning around them. And then what happened was they gave me the most important piece of advice I've ever had, which is, please remember that half your work is establishing credibility as a collaborative. Nobody has ever seen a collaborative work. So, half your work is always demonstrating your value and progress in how you work. And having said that, when we look at the six areas, you could put energy, pick one, pick two. Don't try to drive them all, all together. At first, I'm terrified because I have some key strategic partners whom I know are committed to one or two of them, much more than the others. And what happens if the community chooses a different one? Do I lose those strategic partners? And then does the collaborative fall apart? So, I'm not wanting to make a choice, so I keep dancing around, figuring out how might we advance all six. And my dear funder friend said, Sylvia, if you don't pick one or two and get going, you're going to lose everybody. So put a stake in the ground, however hard and say, this is where we're starting, not, this is the only things we're going to do. And the group in the room, the hundred actually said, if you were to pick one or two, the one that we would suggest you pick first is to connect our local trails into a coherent system. Got to tell you. Given all the juicy options, that would've been the last one I would've picked personally. And I go, oh really? I didn't say anything. But this is what started to happen. We had the tourism folks in the room and they said, holy comely, if it's trails I'm in to help lead this. Did you know that the number one call we get from the Toronto area, which is about a hour south of us, is where are your local trails? And we have about a hundred different little maps of trail adventures. We don't have a coherent, regionally wide picture of all the trails and we can't tell them, we can't answer. Oh, that's a problem, right? If it's trails, I'm in. One of the key leads that I was dependent on was our local hospital CEO. I'm thinking he's not going to want to go for trails. He puts up his hand. Who knew? Personally? Avid. Avid cyclist. Totally annoyed that anytime he wants a great cycling experience, he has to put his bike on the back of his car and drive out of our community that we love. He says, listen, if it's trails I'm in, I'll help lead it. I'm going, really? Okay. We had a representative from our Ministry of Health promotion at the time and she said, look, there are, there's a grant called right now for community health promotion grants. This one would absolutely fit if it's trails, I can help find funding. And then our local conservation authorities said, this is part of our mission and mandate. If this is part of it, we're in local public health, one of our strategic priorities, healthy and active living, if it's trails, I'm in. Wow. Okay. So, because the passion came out of community, because it wasn't rolling a boulder up a hill, that's the one you go with, even if it's not the one you want to go with first. Even if it means some of the key players in your. Network have to step back because it's not immediately relevant to their and their work. They got to pick it. So, I guess I hope that kind of goes at the container. The container, the strategy is owned by everyone you do need. But the other piece I was going to tell you is in the fear of having to choose and my funders saying, if you don't pick something, you're going to lose everybody. What did we want to do? Our default is we got to show we're doing something. Why don't we create terms of reference? Why don't we create a board? Why don't we incorporate, why don't we get charitable status? Frankly, here's why not. You don't want to create another administrative monster to feed. You don't want people passionate around making the community better, having to lose all this energy in administer. You've got lots of organizations that can flow through for you can be your fiscal host and sponsor. You need to stay way nimbler, way more agile, and way less administratively burdened and leverage the strength that you already have around those things. Does that make sense?
Pepper Roussel: So much. So, you have totally started this year off with a bang. Thank you so much. And I will absolutely say thank you so much Sylvia. And oh, before we go, if you want to plug your webinar on the 27th, please do and welcome. Then I'll ask one last time if there are any outstanding questions, and leave Casey Phillips to give our last words and close this up.
Beautiful. So, if those of you who want to learn more, we have tons of open source resources, tools, and knowledge stories on our website, which I can put into the chat www tamarackcommunity.ca. But we also host paid learning events and these are now because of Covid more virtual. And the next one is strengthening the mindset and skills for leading a collaborative in partnership with my dear colleague Chris Thompson, based out of Cleveland, Ohio. And it's a three it's runs from 1:00 PM till four 30 Eastern. And it's an opportunity to learn alongside a huge network of diverse players doing this kind of work on a range of issues and teaching some real practical program skills and approaches to help you move this kind of work forward. So hope you can join us. It's brilliant.
Casey Phillips: So Sylvia, echo the thank you and I can't help but think that everybody on the call has heard a lot of your words and been like I've heard that before. In the words that Raymond and Sherreta and Judy have been and in the Walls team, we've been putting forth into the community over the last couple of years. This is truly a framework, right? We didn't invent it. As our Folks at the Tamarack Institute have been an invaluable resource for training to do this mind. It's a mindset shift. And that's what we're talking about the health and viability of an equitable outcomes for our community. And Sylvia, thank you so much for the time today, but more importantly, thanks for the work that you do all year round and what the movement that you all are spreading in this work. Because again, if we continue as organizations and just delivering programs we're going to continue just to throw pebbles into the ocean. And I don't think that anybody on this call wants to live a life that, is spending their heartbeats on something that's going to be futile. We're all called to this work and we, and none of us feel like we have all the answers. And I think the collective impact model is really a framework that's going to serve. Continue to serve this community really well. So, thank y'all for the time. Sylvia did say there is so much information to see at Tamarack. There are so many videos. There are so many white papers that can be read. If you would like to deep dive on it, I really encourage you to do that and to engage in this work around one route for years to come because that's my lasting point, right? Folks? It is a marathon. We're embarking on a decade worth of work, right? This is not going 400 years is not going to be reversed in the calendar year 2023, but we can think about that seven generations mindset of what has been done before us, and then of what is to come behind us. And I would like to take that forward on this Friday. I wish you all a peaceful, prosperous, and healthy 2023, and thank you for sharing time with us today. Thank you my friends.
Zoom Chat
Community Announcements
Dr. Flitcher Bell: Good morning everyone. There is a housing form going on January 18th. It's going to be at the Holiday Inn on Airline and being backed by One Touch Ministry Verna's group. But it's going to be addressing some of the issues we are having in housing in our parish.
Judy Touzin: We as a city are getting ready to relaunch our Baton Rouge chapter of the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative certified by the Obamas in 2014. Our kind of like first step is partnering with the mayor's office as they do their citywide MLK day. We're actually going to be capturing videos of either black men, young black men who are leading in different ways in the city and doing work that directly impacts young black men in the city. And if you are interested, I'm going to put my email in the chat box. I will be working with a videographer and the content that we gather will help to support a, we are MBKBR social media campaign that will run throughout the month of February. So we're looking for people doing the work, a young men themselves, so we can help to change the narrative around who black men and boys are and who they get to be. So if you're interested, just please shoot us an email and we'll work to get you on the schedule for that day. It'll be at Expressway Park during their kind of block party.
Marcela Hernandez: Good morning everyone. So happy to see you again. I have one thing and one question. So, we are super excited because about a year and so I go, we launch a program here it's called Woman's Wing, which is a program where we're trying to empower immigrant women in just try to address certain challenges that immigrant women face in this country. We're going to start meeting on a monthly basis, and I want to extend this invitation. Do you know any woman who would like to be part of this initiative who are immigrant or from immigrant descent? Please feel free to call me. We are going to have an in-person meeting with an absolutely amazing panel discussion of a super powerful immigrant woman on January the 14th. So, if you guys know anyone who would like to be interested in this platform, please let me know. And I have a question. I was going to put it on the chat, but my question is, does any organization right now is organizing anything? For Martin Luther King Day? We are looking for an organization that is doing something for that day. Maybe we can partner with you guys, support your effort. So, I'll be more than happy to get your contact and your information and see how can Laurie help your organization and support what you're doing.
Helena Williams: From Friday, Saturday, and Monday, we are doing a whole bunch of projects with the city of Baton Rouge and the mayor's office. So, we have things going in District two, district seven, district six. In five and a couple Baton Roots projects as well. Everything's getting updated on the website. But yeah, we're doing a whole bunch of stuff and you can register now. It’s through Eventbrite and we'll check you in or you can always come, and we'll check you in in person.
Rev. Anderson: Just a couple of things. One is our super amazing library system. A couple of really important Seminars and wanted to let everybody know about that. One is on the rights of those under the Americans with Disabilities Act in job search, which is really super important. And then second one they're doing in January is job search techniques for those that are reentering that are reentry folks. So that's an important one. The other one I wanted to make sure that people knew about, I'm sorry, there's actually two, is on February, on January the 23rd Baton Rouge will be participating in what's called the point in time count. It's a survey of all of those that can possibly be identified as unsheltered added. Duval with Stark Corporation is our lead on. But it's a very important thing and we actually need the entire community's help on that. So, it's not just our shelter programs, it's everybody who may be impacted, may know where people are currently operating. Our school districts, everybody. So that's an important one. And then last but not least the Louisiana Behavioral Health Advisory Council is hosting a joint zoom conversation on the impact of substance abuse on women and families. This is a joint partnership between the subcommittee on Youth and Children and our subcommittee on women. And so it'll be on January the 10th. It'll be assumed, there'll be a flyer that'll be coming out by the end of today, and it's from 10 30 to 1130, I believe. But the reason I really want people to get involved in this is because sometimes when we talk about substance abuse, we assume people are only talking about opioids. And that conversation is about everything from alcohol to prescription drugs, to people participating in all sorts of things we don't necessarily think around substance abuse. So, it's an important conversation.
Kelly Rogers: yes, there's a lot coming up. Some of which will be announcing, I'm not quite ready to make official announcements about all of that but doing a lot of work that we had planned in 2022 and we'll be doing some official press conferences and stuff. We are working with Baton Rouge on some of the MLK Fest stuff is go get healthy specific one project that we're working on collectively at Pennington, YMCA. So, we'll be doing some painting and cleaning over there. And then of course at the Baton Rouge Gardens as well. So yeah, look out for us. We're just not quite ready to make an official announcement on some things yet.
Verna Bradley-Jackson: I want to just announce that we are doing a Reentry housing, round table discussion, which is very important to be in the reentry space because we consider housing as a foundation to go along with the basic needs for people to, as exiting incarceration to be successful. So, we're going to be addressing reentry housing. The who's the house, and the what, and the who's is, who's in the room, who's at the table, the how is, how you doing it, and the what is, what do you need us to do to partner, to link together to make this more successful? And everybody gets the information that can help each other along this journey. And it's going to be January the 18th. At the holiday end south from 8:00 AM to four, we have participants from DOC, we have reentry housing providers that's going to be there. And we also have bureau institution that's going to be there that's going to share some information about h reentry housing from around the country. And so, I think it's going to be exciting. So, we need your voices in the room that's doing this work or that's a part of it, or contributing in any way to the reentry space. So, feel free to check out the link that we have in the chat box and looking forward to a great discussion, but not only a great discussion, how we move the needle a little higher to improve the quality of life and the success of people coming out of prison.
Dominique Dallas: Yeah, so the Future Fund will be jumpstarting or reigniting. Its CBC coding Bootcamp for adults. Orientation is January 21st and applications are due January 18th. And the Tech Academy will also be starting the very beginning, the first Saturday in February with applications also due January 18th. So, if you know anyone that is interested or wants to upscale with their coding skills or just understanding and learning like the fundamentals of HTML, CS S and JavaScript, which is a very basic stack. For those of you that may not know HTML, CS S and JavaScript are the key languages for a website, a basic mobile app. And then upon that you learn multiple languages. So, Java C Plus, those are called a and all those languages together are called a stack. And so, we are teaching the fundamentals of coding and that is available for adults and teenagers. Even if you want to get your whistle wet, I recommend anyone join, get involved. It's super intimidating, but once you coach your first line of code, you'll never go back.
Christian: I know some things have been alluded to and the best kept secrets are the ones that, you never tell anybody. So, some of the stuff has been out, but we actually finalized this morning, which is why I was late getting on the call. So, we'll be hopefully signing paperwork next week. But we're going to be bringing a brand new YMCA to Mid City that will be also a part of a n apartment complex as well. We've been working with the Office of Community Development and our board and the Y of course, but that was all finalized yesterday afternoon and this morning. And so hopefully next week we'll be signing paperwork. And so, we'll be making official announcements over the next several weeks, but exciting time. And then yes, outside of, yeah, outside of Baton Rouge, we have two other projects we're going to be announcing soon as well. But that's the one specific to this area, so we're excited.
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