WEBINAR | Theory of Change to Theory of Influence – Lessons Learned from Chicago’s New Communities Program

The New Communities Program (NCP) began through the collaboration of the Chicago Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC/Chicago), 20 community partners and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. NCP utilized a comprehensive approach to community development through lead community organizations to achieve its outcomes.

Like many programs, NCP was subject to evaluation from its principal funder. While the evaluation fairly identified the program’s strengths and weaknesses, the theory and tools of traditional program analysis were insufficient to adequately capture the essence of the program. The New Communities Program in Chicago had evolved into a neighbourhood “platform”, a network of internal and external relationships that influenced the trajectory of neighbourhood systems through the dynamic agents active in those systems. NCP acted as a platform for investment from public, private, and philanthropic sectors, a program delivery system to get things done, and an information system through which technical resources, innovation, and communication flowed.

This webinar features a conversation with Joel Bookman and Sylvia Cheuy discussing the lessons learned from the New Communities Program in Chicago.