Collective
Impact
Collective Impact is the commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem. Key ingredients of
successful community efforts to move “from fragmented action and results” to “collective action and deep and durable impact” include a common agenda, shared measurement, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and backbone support.
Eight Principles of Practice for Collective Impact:
- Design and implement the initiative with a priority placed on equity
- Include community members in the collaborative
- Recruit and co-create with cross-sector partners
- Use data to continuously learn, adapt, and improve
- Cultivate leaders with system leadership experience
- Focus on program and system strategies
- Build a culture that fosters relationships, trust, and respect across participants
- Customize for local context
As a backbone support organization, JI’s role is to guide vision and strategy, support aligned activities, establish shared measurement practices, cultivate community engagement and ownership, advance policy, and mobilize funding.
Racial
Equity
Overview
Racial equity is realized when race can no longer be used to predict life outcomes, and outcomes for all groups are improved. The aim of JI’s work is to eliminate racial inequities and improve outcomes for all children and young people of all races in the Pikes Peak region.
Strategies + Goals
Over the past year, JI has engaged in developing and implementing a Racial Equity Action Plan. This plan outlines four goals focused on internal strategies, including internal dialogue, infrastructure, policies, and training/ education. This is followed by five goals focused on external strategies, including community dialogue, education/advocacy, restorative practice, individualized support, and support for families and early childhood education programs.
Culture + Progress
REAP addresses culture and has established measures for incorporating an evaluation process that will gauge the effectiveness of the overall strategies. For racial equity work to be transformative, JI’s work needs to cut across multiple institutions and practices, and the focus should be on changing policy and organizational culture to alter the ways institutions operate. JI believes in continuously learning from its practice as well as advances in the field that are then applied to improve the quality of our services and the increase of our impact.
Multi-Agency Support
Children need strong families and communities who work together to keep them safely at home, whenever possible.
An Integrated Network of Services
Overview
One of the strategic focus areas of Joint Initiatives is to develop an integrated network of community-based services and supports for children, youth and their families.
Why integrate services?
The ultimate and ongoing goal is to improve services for children and their families that result in positive and measurable outcomes for the child, the family and the community.
A secondary goal of integrating services is the cost savings to both the community and the individual service providers in the face of deep and continuous budget cuts.
How do we achieve integrated services?
Service integration is an on-going process that begins by:
- Building trust and exploring common interests among JI member agencies
- Understanding programmatic and fiscal mandates
- Identifying both redundancy and gaps where member agencies serve children and youth
- Engaging families in the process
When do we know that we have been successful?
Effective service integration results in:
- A common vision for the community
- Effective communication between partners
- Improved and/or expanded services
- A reduction in duplication and fragmentation of services
- Results based accountability that includes performance and outcome measures
Examples of the JI approach to
integrating services:
CASA
CASA, Community Partnership for Child Development and the El Paso County Department of Human Services (EPCDHS) worked together to help meet the needs of children in the EPCDHS child welfare system. They implemented early childhood assessments for children, birth to 5 years old in foster care. This information is provided to the courts and helps determine how to best meet their developmental needs.
Tesa
TESSA, the Fourth Judicial District Attorney and Teller County Department of Social Services are collaborating to address rural domestic violence in Teller County through grant funding. This effort is also occurring in eastern El Paso County with partners working with the El Paso County Department of Human Services.
JI's COLLABORATIVE STRUCTURE
JI BOARD
JI is guided by a Board made up of community stakeholders, including representation from each of JI’s program oversight groups. The Board includes an Executive Committee, Finance Committee, and Juvenile Assessment Committee. Additional ad hoc committees are formed as necessary.
PROGRAM OVERSIGHT
Foundations’ oversight group is the Alliance for Kids Council, with subcommittees of Learning + Development (LD), Health + Well-Being (HWB), and Family Support + Education (FSE). The AFK Council includes an Executive Committee, Legislative Working Group, and El Paso County Early Childhood Workforce Taskforce. There is an annual process for filling open positions on the Council.
The Voices program is guided by the FSE subcommittee.
Pathways’ oversight group is the REACH Committee. Pathways, a combination of two initiatives, the Colorado Youth Detention Continuum, and the REACH Collaborative Management Program, joined their respective oversight groups, the Juvenile Services and Planning Committee (JSPC) and the Interagency Oversight Group (IOG), to form the REACH Committee. Pathways also includes the REACH School Committee and a Policy Committee.
COLLECTIVE IMPACT MEETING
A quarterly Collective Impact Meeting brings together representatives from the JI Board, REACH Committee, AFK Council, and additional community members.
Integrated Services System Committee
This committee takes a leadership role in community initiatives that develop an integrated and seamless system of services for children and young adults, prenatal – 21 years old, and their families.
Legislative Advocacy and Public Policy Committee
This committee supports legislation and public policy that provides for integrated, high quality services for children and their families.
Executive, Finance and Audit Committees
Three other board committees support the infrastructure of the organization and include the Executive, Finance and Audit Committees. Additional, ad hoc committees are appointed as necessary.