Based on interviews with place-based collaboratives, our brief features three key practices that facilitate systems change―regardless of a collaborative’s size or location.
Equal Measure’s annual analysis for the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions’ Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF) includes documenting evidence of systems change. We track community practice along seven domains of systems change that aim to create more equitable outcomes for young people: program change, narrative change, organizational change, pathway improvement, data use, funding change, and public policy change.
This year, we had an opportunity to dive deeper with four youth-focused collaboratives that consistently showed progress across the domains. Interviews with the Boston Opportunity Youth Collaborative, Hartford Opportunity Youth Collaborative, Bronx Opportunity Network, and Los Angeles Opportunity Youth Collaborative surfaced three practices for funders and collaboratives to accelerate systems change:
- Practice 1: Engage proactively with local leadership to advance collaborative goals
- Practice 2: Promote solutions and evidence to shift perceptions
- Practice 3: Build cohesion among groups and individuals
Our brief provides guidance and examples from each collaborative on implementing the practices.
Client: The Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions
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The Opportunity Youth Forum: Three Practices for Accelerating Systems Change