How backbone organizations build civic infrastructure for stronger communities

“So, what do you do?” We’ve all heard this question. Sometimes, our answers are met with nods of recognition; other times, helping someone understand our role requires more explanation. People working to develop their community’s civic infrastructure might need to share a lot of extra explanation. Civic infrastructure isn’t something we can see or touch.…

Two kids in early childhood daycare or preschool

Civic infrastructure paves the way to economic mobility

For more than a decade, communities across the country have been building something more than roads and bridges. They’ve been building a different type of infrastructure: civic infrastructure, which connects people, ideas and resources to make communities stronger. Through civic infrastructure, organizations collaborate with community members, schools, governments, nonprofits, businesses, health care organizations and more. Together,…

Be ignited

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…

Beyond collaboration: The difference between collaboration and building civic infrastructure

Collaboration happens every day. From playgrounds and classrooms to workplaces and boardrooms, collaboration enables people to achieve shared goals. But collaboration alone won’t transform the systems that are failing youth and families of color and youth and families experiencing poverty. To create lasting change so that communities can thrive, we need to move beyond collaboration…

High school students sitting around a table with laptops

Opening opportunities through digital inclusion in Fresno, California

Communities across the country are grappling with the widening educational equity gap exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Black students, Latine students and students experiencing poverty have been most impacted by inequities in access to the internet and devices needed to continue learning. Research shows that middle and high school students with high-speed internet access at…

Changing systems so every child succeeds

Partners for Rural Impact earned the Systems Change designation this month for advancing equitable outcomes. Serving the Appalachian counties of Eastern Kentucky where 127,650 children and young people experience poverty, this cradle-to-career network member shows what systems change looks like in a community. Systems Change communities are shifting policies, practices, resources and power structures that…

Building economic recovery through civic infrastructure

Infrastructure holds communities together: roads, bridges, an electricity grid. But what about the connections that we can’t see? Relationships, collaboration, goal setting and data sharing are part of a community’s infrastructure, too. These pieces are called civic infrastructure. Civic infrastructure joins leaders from across a community — from education, business, health care, housing, philanthropy and…

Q&A: Pathways to change

  Join us in conversation with Colin Groth, StriveTogether’s executive vice president of strategy and development, as he shares how the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network got to where it is today and why he’s passionate about the work. What drew you to this work, and what motivates you to stay in it? In my…

Q&A: Changing systems through collaborative improvement

How can the collaborative improvement approach change the way communities work together to get to better results for every child? Heidi Black, StriveTogether’s senior director of innovation, collaborative improvement, shares what it means to change systems, how to get started in this work and her hopes for the future, including insights she presented at the…