This guest blog was written by Ryan Lugalia-Hollon, Ph.D., CEO at UP Partnership. To lead is to navigate tension. Performance under pressure is the essence of an executive director or CEO’s job description. Often that pressure comes from the need to make high-quality decisions that may initially thrill few people but will ultimately support as…
This guest blog was written by Ryan Lugalia-Hollon, Ph.D., CEO at UP Partnership. One beautiful thing about collective impact is how it softens hierarchies. When done well, the work of the collective creates space for great ideas and practices to rise, independent of people’s titles. It helps systems to become more alive, to better connect…
This guest blog was written by Jamilica Burke, Stacy Wall Schweikhart and Teresa Wilke Technical assistance, or TA, is a powerful tool for organizations to advance equity and a game-changing catalyst for organizational growth. But it can be difficult to compare TA offerings or predict how much time you will need to engage with TA…
This guest blog was written by Jen Tolentino, director of local practice at Results for America. Communities across the country — particularly communities of color who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic — have committed to an equitable recovery that will not only address the impacts of the pandemic, but decades of racially motivated…
This guest blog was written by Rebecca Parshall, Ph.D., director of strategy at Learn4Life. In it, Parshall shares research she did during her dissertation, focused on how collective impact can improve education outcomes. Hard questions As we are inundated with study after study describing the pandemic’s devastating impact on learning, it is important to ground…
Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside, looking into the shining world? Because, properly attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion. Can one be passionate about the just, the ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit to no labor…
The city of Chicago is home to over 1 million youth ages five to 24 — 69.3% of them identify as Black or Latine. Of those, more than 20% live at or below the poverty line. When politicians, advocates and other adult experts develop programs, they fall flat and fail to achieve the long-term social…
StriveTogether is partnering with Walmart.org to support the Retail Opportunity Network, which is a community of leaders focused on upskilling and learning, job success, and economic mobility for all people working in frontline roles across America. Orlando Cazarez, a senior program manager at the Center for the Future of Arizona shares some of his learning…
Guest post by Kristin Todd, executive vice president at the Daniels Fund In the world of philanthropy, we’re all striving to invest limited financial resources in ways that will yield the highest social impact, to achieve the “biggest bang for the buck,” so to speak. And I can speak from experience when I say that…
Guest post by Erica Valliant, an organizer, activist and mother in Saint Paul, Minn. I am a mother of three sons in Saint Paul, Minn. My children are 7, 10 and 17. I do not have a bachelor’s degree, so I have only secured jobs that do not require a college degree. I began working…
Guest post by Cecilia Muñoz, vice president for public interest technology and local initiatives at New America One of the many lessons I learned working for President Obama comes from his insistence that cynicism is one of the biggest threats our democracy faces. We believe that the system is broken so we back away, taking…
Guest post by Ta’mya Davis, communications chair for the Teen Advisory Committee at Step Forward. My name is Ta’Mya Davis and I am a junior at Benton High School in Benton, La. I serve as the communications chair for the Teen Advisory Committee (TAC) at Step Forward, a member of the StriveTogether Cradle to Career…