Jim is in his 50s and had been homeless on and off for much of his adult life. He was known by many on the street and in our drop-in centre. Our housing first workers began talking to him about getting his own place and he was, to say the least, excited about that. It took a while but it happened and one day our staff person – let’s call him Jack – took Jim to his new place, handed him the keys. Jim said to Jack, “I can’t remember a time when I had keys.”
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I find myself thinking in metaphors a great deal. Its geeky and amusing and how my mind works and wanders. As a partnership broker I get stuck pretty often and when I arrive home at the end of the day I'm not sure how to answer the affectionate question: "How was your day love?" On bad days I summarize it with a grrr and tiger paws and on great days I profess my brilliance. But what do I say on 99% of the time? Well I'm useless and want a nap.
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An emphasis on using "evidence based practices" is stifling experimentation. This was the statement I posed in a poll within my last blog, back in February 2015, just before I got sucked into a vortex of Federal grant writing from which I am only now extracting myself. The results are in and a full 77% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the statement is true.
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Click below to watch Mark Holmgren's video (opens a new window):
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For those of you who have been to any of Tamarack’s workshops you hear great speakers, find new resources and learn lots. You now have the difficult task of communicating what you have learned back to your community and figure out how to implement your learning in your community. I have been in your shoes. I have attended several of tamaracks events trying to find the answer to one question. How do I do Collective Impact in my community? I wanted someone to give me step by step instructions, but at the end of each event I was left with a head full of great tools and ideas but no recipe.
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There is a wealth of innovation underway in communities. Confronted with a range of interconnected and increasingly complex challenges, leaders from every sector are searching for new ideas and approaches. What is most surprising is that often the innovations that show the most promise are those that combine existing resources in new ways. This pattern of social innovation is often referred to as bricolage.
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