The Latest

Contribute. We love to hear your thoughts, your musings and your latest work. Please share with us!
Write a post

What's Love Got To Do With It?

Posted by Liz Weaver on October 27, 2020

Tina Turner is well known for delivering the powerful song What’s Love Got to Do With it? That song was rolling around in my head after a recent webinar call with John Kania about the launch of the Collective Change Lab.

Read More

Collective Impact work sets the stage for Saskatoon’s Inter-Agency Response

Posted by Elle Richards on July 28, 2020

The COVID-19 crisis has undoubtedly intensified vulnerabilities across communities. Saskatoon's Inter-Agency Response was created out of recognizing the unique challenges the pandemic would bring to agencies supporting vulnerable people. Born out of initial discussions through the Safe Community Action Alliance, it emerged into a comprehensive operation with over 65 organizations.

Read More

Harnessing Stories for Shared Wisdom & Community Action in Palm Beach

Posted by Sylvia Cheuy on July 13, 2020

I have long been curious about the different roles that stories and narratives can play in the work of community change. I have seen how one individual story, powerfully told, has the power to instantly engage people and offer clarity and understanding of a complex issue in ways that well-researched data and analysis alone cannot accomplish.

I  know that communities, like individuals, have stories about themselves that can both limit and inspire their hopes for the future. These community narratives – about who we are; how things go; what’s possible for us here – shape collective thinking and can play a role in determining the future. Uncovering current shared community narratives and inviting community members to co-create new, compelling narratives that are rooted in their shared hopes for the future can be a powerful lever for community change.

Read More

Nudging Change Through the Smallest Visible System

Posted by Liz Weaver on June 12, 2020

Tamarack recently hosted a conversation with Cameron Norman, Principal and President at Cense, about the power of individuals to shift systems.  Norman, in a recent blog post, described a way of navigating complex systems by focusing on the smallest visible system. 

Read More

4 Components for Establishing Mutually Reinforcing Activities

Posted by Natasha Pei on March 6, 2020

Does this situation sound familiar? You have a group of people who have committed to reduce poverty using a Collective Impact or collaborative approach. You know what needs to be done to support people to escape poverty in your community. Yet, scaling the initiative to create large-scale impact feels out-of-reach, because everyone is already at maximum capacity and doing their best to participate “off the side of the desk.” So, the work becomes a series of small manageable projects and programs that raise awareness and help alleviate poverty for some individuals and families.

Read More

Applying the Five Conditions of Collective Impact to Poverty Reduction

Posted by Alison Homer on December 18, 2019

Cities Reducing Poverty (CRP) members across Canada apply Collective Impact approaches as they work to move the needle on poverty in their communities. They frame their work under five core conditions, first identified in 2011 by John Kania and Mark Kramer of FSG Consulting, that have been identified as being shared by successful Collective Impact initiatives.

Read More