A place, its people, and its context—from its history to its geography and the current political landscape—play a significant role in shaping the course of a strategy and initiative and the outcomes. Even though funders and evaluators say this all the time, what the place represents is rarely systematically considered in practice and is usually addressed in retrospect to explain the outcomes (or lack therefore). Imagine if we all stopped for a minute to really understand a place before designing and implementing an initiative, including its residents’ readiness to engage in change and tailoring the resources and support needed to strengthen leadership’s capacity to effect change. Now, more than ever, place-based efforts are critical for creating and strengthening bonds among people, bridges between groups of people, and linkages to systems that are meant to respond to their needs and provide them the resources and opportunities to thrive.
The panelists on this webinar will share different aspects of a place that matter in community change efforts, from community identity and history to the policy landscape and leadership capacity. They will provide examples of how such conditions affected initiatives and outcomes, and share tips and tools on what to ask, look out for, and integrate into the design of initiatives and capacity building support.
Kien Lee , Ph.D., President, Community Science, will describe examples of how community identity and geography can sometimes make newcomers to the community feel unwelcomed, and through a strategy that organizes residents around their common needs, people from different backgrounds can build bridges and achieve small wins that benefit everybody.
Corianne Scally, Ph.D., Principal Associate, Community Science, will discuss how misperceptions around groups of people embed themselves in policies and practices, limiting opportunity and well-being for some people based on fears of others. She will share how these perceptions affected a particular project’s development and financing and how a nonprofit organization navigated these barriers to successfully build a tiny home village.
Amber Trout, Ph.D., Principal Associate, Community Science, will describe examples of leadership development programs that use the history of a place to support and enhance the leaders already working there. The outcomes these leaders achieved were meaningful only when they were contextualized within the cultures and assets of the place.
Join us on Monday, March 3rd, at 1 pm EDT.
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