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Social Innovation: Lessons for Communities

“Disturbers are never popular – nobody ever really loved the alarm clock in action – no matter how grateful they may have been afterwards for its kind service.” - Nellie McClung

Those of us working in communities recognize the need for greater innovation and experimentation if we want to accelerate our ability to advance positive change in neighbourhoods, municipalities and regions.  Whether the focus of our work is: citizen engagement, belonging, community safety, poverty-reduction, housing, or community economic development, there is a growing recognition that wiser and bolder approaches are needed to effectively meet the complex challenges before us.  So, where do we begin?  The robust field of social innovation offers important insights, lessons, patterns and practices to consider.

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Hammers, Saws and the Work of Deepening Community

Remember the old adage that cautions, "Just because you have a shiny new hammer, doesn't mean that everything you see is a nail?"

Renowned community builder John McKnight uses the analogy of hammers and saws to highlight an important distinction between the "tool" of community and the "tool" of service delivery organizations in the building of strong communities. He emphasizes that, "both tools are important but they each have specific uses. You don't use a hammer to cut wood or a saw to hammer nails. The trick is discernment."

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Small Actions, Big Change: Pathways for System Impact

Scaling Out, Scaling Up, Scaling Deep is a new paper by Darcy Riddell and Michele-Lee Moore that dives deeply into an a key question that is top-of-mind for many community change agents and funders: How do we scale up the impact of a promising social innovation?   The impetus for this report, jointly commissioned by the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation and the Tamarack Institute, grew from the realization that highly successful local projects too often fail to demonstrate meaningful impact on the broader social and/or environmental systems they are operating within. 

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Chocolate Chip Cookies and Holiday Wishes

Fresh, home-made chocolate chip cookies are the culinary equivalent to a warm hug from someone you love at the end of a tough day. They are best savoured and shared - warm from the oven - along with some good conversation, a laugh and a glass of cold milk.

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Rural Health Hubs Framework & the Collective Impact Opportunity

Developed and endorsed by a multi-sector rural health hub advisory committee, the Rural Health Hubs Framework for Ontario was finalized in January 2015. A central recommendation within the framework calls for the development and implementation of local Community Health Plans in rural communities in collaboration with local health and social service providers and community members.

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Thinking Differently Together

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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