Collective Impact Initiative Research Articles

Strategies for Evaluating Collective Impact Initiatives: Lessons Learned from a Community-Academic Partnership

Collective impact (CI) initiatives provide a promising collaborative community-based approach for addressing health disparities, but they are challenging to evaluate. This paper provides a detailed strategy for addressing these challenges through a case study, with the goal of not only of evaluating the CI, but also putting organizations in a position to implement and maintain sustainable self-evaluation efforts over time. A three-phase evaluation strategy was developed and implemented via a community-academic partnership to assess the impact of the CI. Process and outcome data from a CI to address health disparities in a Chicago community were collected and analyzed. The evaluation strategy, following the developmental, formative, and summative phases, helped a CI overcome barriers and build capacity for ongoing evaluative work for its members. Considering the flexible, low-technology approach, this strategy is a valuable resource in assisting individuals seeking to create a successful and sustainable CI evaluation.

Replicating models of collective impact in developing countries. Does the model work in the context of the Brazilian Amazon?

The Collective Impact Initiative (CII) model is a framework designed to address complex social issues through collaborative efforts and emergent solutions. It emphasizes the interdependence of social problems and solutions and discourages predetermined approaches. The model is based on five fundamental principles that provide a coherent set of recommendations to guide collective impact initiatives: backbone organizations, a shared agenda, shared measurement systems, mutually reinforcing activities, and ongoing communication while CII has gained global recognition and increased academic research, its potential in different contexts, such as the Brazilian Amazon, remains uncertain due to varying societal configurations and traditional collaborative models. Critiques of the model highlight its lack of specificity for individual projects, with success depending on historical relationships, differing interests, and participants' perceptions. Some authors also argue that the model oversimplifies the options, focusing primarily on Isolated Impact or Collective Impact, neglecting other community types of coalitions with broader scopes. CII is also criticized for having a top-down approach and failing to prioritize community engagement and incorporate local knowledge. Translating the CII model from the global north to the worldwide south presents challenges, including issues related to institutional capacity, legal frameworks, and governance dynamics. Maintaining long-term collaboration and securing funding in developing countries can be particularly challenging. Despite these challenges, the model's potential for addressing complex social problems remains promising, but it requires careful consideration and adaptation when applied in new contexts, especially those with unique socioeconomic and cultural attributes.

A Case Study to Investigate Factors Influencing the Santa Clara County Getting to Zero Initiative’s Collective Impact Model

Our objective was to explore how factors, such as backbone organization changes and COVID-19, affected a collective impact (CI) initiative’s progression through the five CI phases and its components of success. We conducted a case study using semistructured interviews with 17 representatives from the action committee, community-based organization, and health department between January and February 2023 in Santa Clara County, California. Participants were asked how internal and external factors affected their engagement and experiences with the CI initiative. We analyzed the data using structural and holistic coding. Results showed that the initiative’s progression was impacted by intersecting factors; overall findings supported a reconceptualization of CI whereby progression through each component of success was cyclical, not linear. Specifically, governance and infrastructure and community engagement significantly contributed to a backward shift in progress along the five CI phases. As CI matures as a model, programs implementing a CI framework have an opportunity and responsibility to test the tenets of the approach. Our study provides a test case through which the theoretical foundations of CI can be examined and refined to build the research literature and strengthen other CI initiatives.

Show Me CKDintercept Initiative: A Collective Impact Approach to Improve Population Health in Missouri

Ninety percent of people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) remain undiagnosed, most people at risk do not receive guideline-concordant testing, and disparities of care and outcomes exist across all stages of the disease. To improve CKD diagnosis and management across primary care, the National Kidney Foundation launched a collective impact (CI) initiative known as Show Me CKDintercept. The initiative was implemented in Missouri, USA from January 2021 to June 2022, using a data strategy, stakeholder engagement and relationship mapping, learning in action working groups (LAWG), and a virtual leadership summit. The Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance framework was used to evaluate success. The initiative united 159 stakeholders from 81 organizations (Reach) to create an urgency for change and engage new CKD champions (Effectiveness). The adoption resulted in 53% of participants committed to advancing the roadmap (Adoption). Short-term results reported success in laying a foundation for CI across Missouri. The long-term success of the CI initiative in addressing the public health burden of kidney disease remains to be determined. The project reported the potential use of a CI initiative to build leadership consensus to drive measurable public health improvements nationwide.

Community Youth Risk and Protective Factors, Five Years after a Municipal Youth and Family Master Plan in Pomona, California, USA

This study assesses youth community risk and protective factors, five years after a Youth and Family Master Plan, using an integrated conceptual framework which combines community organizing theory and the risk and protective factors (RPF) approach. Results show overall improvements in RPF. Findings reveal positive trends in prosocial involvement through participation in clubs, organizations, activities, community service, and attendance at church or synagogues; reduced community disorganization, such as decreased unsafe feelings in the neighborhood and social disorganization; and lower community transitions and mobility through changes in homes and schools. There were negative trends in the physical environment such as disrepair, permissive substance use, and lower neighborhood attachment, which is the desire to leave the neighborhood. The findings show a convergence of patterns across all methods of analysis for each measure of community youth risk and protective factors, suggesting reliability and a likelihood that the interventions contributed to observed variations between baseline and follow-up. The data patterns in this study align with the assumptions and explanations offered in the two models that make up the integrated conceptual framework. The persistence of some risk factors after five years calls for transformative and sustained social and economic investments in the Pomona community. The patterns also suggest the need to reconsider community organizing models – specifically, the need to go beyond locality development and social planning models and toward social action approaches. This will address complex causes of risk factors, consistent with transformative collective impact initiatives and democracy-driven governance, which grows from the bottom up. A beginning point would be to build on the increased prosocial involvement among youths in Pomona by reconfiguring the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan (PYFMP) with greater youth and ordinary community members involvement and leadership.

Feeding hungry families: Gulf Coast Community Foundation and All Faiths Food Bank

ABSTRACT Gulf Coast Community Foundation and its donors, in partnership with All Faiths Food Bank, launched a collective impact initiative in 2014 to feed hungry families in Sarasota and DeSoto Counties. By collecting local data, increasing community awareness of the need, and making system improvements, the Campaign Against Summer Hunger (CASH) & Cans campaign raised more than $1.1 million and 766,253 pounds of food in its first year. Long-term, the Feeding Hungry Families Initiative has increased community capacity to distribute nutritious food and improved collaboration between All Faiths Food Bank and partner agencies. While Gulf Coast Community Foundation launched this national award-winning effort, it has now transitioned successfully to community ownership and management. System enhancements have been sustained and positioned the community to provide future hunger relief, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Evaluation of an Integrated Intervention to Address Clinical Care and Social Needs Among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes.

The Providence Diabetes Collective Impact Initiative (DCII) was designed to address the clinical challenges of type 2 diabetes and the social determinants of health (SDoH) challenges that exacerbate disease impact. We assessed the impact of the DCII, a multifaceted intervention approach to diabetes treatment that employed both clinical and SDoH strategies, on access to medical and social services. The evaluation employed a cohort design and used an adjusted difference-in-difference model to compare treatment and control groups. Our study population consisted of 1220 people (740 treatment, 480 control), aged 18-65 years old with a pre-existing type 2 diabetes diagnosis who visited one of the seven Providence clinics (three treatment and four control) in the tri-county area of Portland, Oregon, between August 2019 and November 2020. The DCII threaded together clinical approaches such as outreach, standardized protocols, and diabetes self-management education and SDoH strategies including social needs screening, referral to a community resource desk, and social needs support (e.g., transportation) to create a comprehensive, multi-sector intervention. Outcome measures included SDoH screens, diabetes education participation, HbA1c, blood pressure, and virtual and in-person primary care utilization, as well as inpatient and emergency department hospitalization. Compared to patients at the control clinics, patients at DCII clinics saw an increase in diabetes education (15.5%, p<0.001), were modestly more likely to receive SDoH screening (4.4%, p<0.087), and had an increase in the average number of virtual primary care visits of 0.35 per member, per year (p<0.001). No differences in HbA1c, blood pressure, or hospitalization were observed. DCII participation was associated with improvements in diabetes education use, SDoH screening, and some measures of care utilization.

Teaching Collective Impact Initiatives A Case Study of 15th Night Serving Unhoused Youth

Collective impact initiatives have attracted considerable attention of both scholars and practitioners. Often defined as cross-sectoral collaborations, they seek to address social problems in communities and generate long-term impact. This teaching case provides a literature review on collective impact initiatives, and its critics, and a case study developed with community partners of one collective impact initiative—a collaboration serving young people experiencing homelessness. The paper ends with a list of discussion questions and suggested activities and assignments instructors may find useful.

SDG localization: Mobilizing the Potential of Place Leadership Through Collective Impact and Mission-Oriented Innovation Methodologies

ABSTRACT The wellbeing of people, places and the planet relies upon our collective ability to resolve the grand challenges framed in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper focuses on opportunities for place leadership theorizing and practice to progress localization as one pathway to advance the SDGs. It seeks to bridge the theory-practice divide that currently limits the utility of place leadership research by highlighting two implementation methodologies – Collective Impact (CI) and Mission-oriented Innovation (MOI). These methodologies have gathered momentum amongst practitioners but received comparatively little academic attention. We argue that both methodologies have potential to support place leaders to address key barriers to SDG localization, particularly, centring equity, enacting multi-stakeholder partnerships, generating data and stories, and contributing to systems change. This paper suggests that future place leadership theorizing should learn from and support CI and MOI practice and contribute to collective efforts to localize the transformational change envisioned by the SDGs. MAD statement Drawing upon practitioner and theoretical literatures this paper identifies critical opportunities to advance both SDG localization and place leadership theory by leveraging and learning from the rapidly growing body of Collective Impact (CI) and Mission-oriented Innovation (MOI) initiatives globally. An analysis of these relatively under-studied methodologies is offered and opportunities to apply or learn from them to overcome key barriers to SDG localization are identified. The paper also offers suggestions as to how place leadership theory could, in turn, enhance the continued maturation of CI and MOI and advance SDG localization.

Emerging Role of Universities in Collective Impact Initiatives for Business and Community Benefit: the Tripple Helix Model

Universities are increasing their efforts to more clearly demonstrate their social value. For instance, Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff (2011) argue that the Triple Helix framework argues that three types of institutions, universities, industries, and the government, play crucial roles in the innovation process of a knowledge-based economy. This paper illustrates how Universities can incorporate collective impact partnerships in their community benefit strategies for both business and government. Further, the paper explores the Tripple Helix Model for community/business, government benefit. The study has analysed the economic and social benefits of knowledge and skills from competencies acquired from university education which is a critical source for transforming society – which can foster discussions on significant planning areas that are necessary for developing strategies for completion, where job creation, developing skills, cultivating informed citizenship, and disseminating knowledge are core concerns. The purpose of this discourse is to examine the impacts of universities on economic development and social responsibilities at all aspects, including social and economic benefits that can lead to improvement of living standards of individuals and society. The paper, however, looks at literature that is pertinent to the usefulness of universities in relation to transformation of individual and society/business. University education is a determinant of income and one of the most important investments a country should choose to make in its citizens because it provides workforce with professions, technical, and managerial skills – creating attitudes and changes necessary for the socialization, modernization, and the overall transformation of the societies.

Social media use and body image issues among adolescents in a vulnerable Louisiana community.

Widespread concern has been expressed regarding unrealistic body image and adolescent eating disorder promoting content on social media (SM) platforms. Numerous research studies have examined the impact of SM on body image as well as social vulnerability on negative mental health outcomes. Despite this, few previous studies have examined the impact of SM on body image specifically in vulnerable, underserved, or predominantly minority communities. This study examines the impact of SM on body image issues (BII) in adolescents in a public school system where greater than 50% of the students live in impoverished households. In late 2019, high school student leaders in Northwest Louisiana developed a survey alongside Step Forward, a collective impact initiative. Questions investigated adolescent SM use and mental health in Caddo Parish, namely BII. Teachers within Caddo Parish Public School System administered the survey. Out of the 11,248 total high school students in the school system, nearly 50% were sampled for a sample size of 5,070. Hypotheses included: (1) females were more likely to use SM than males, (2) increasing time spent on SM would correlate with females reporting BII, with males remaining largely unaffected, and (3) highly visual social media (HVSM) platforms would be associated with greater reports of BII than non-HVSM platforms. Results showed females were more likely to use SM (p < 0.001) and report BII (p < 0.001) compared to males, while both sexes reported BII with increasing time spent on SM (p < 0.001). A diversity of platforms were associated with increased BII among SM users compared to non-users (p < 0.001): Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. This conclusion is tempered by the omission of race as a variable in the study design, the use of self-report, and the use of an unvalidated instrument. These findings suggest that the harmful association between SM use and BII may transcend culture and socioeconomic status for a broadly deleterious effect on adolescent mental wellbeing.

Hepatitis C Elimination During a Global Pandemic: A Case Study of Resilience in Action.

Until the COVID-19 pandemic, San Francisco's hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination initiative, End Hep C SF, was expanding and refining HCV testing and treatment strategies citywide, making progress toward local HCV elimination goals. Although a shelter-in-place health order issued in March 2020 categorized HCV testing as an "essential service," most HCV testing and treatment immediately stopped until COVID-19-safe protocols could be implemented. During the 14 months of pandemic-related organizational closures, End Hep C SF transitioned to a 100% virtual model, maintaining regularly scheduled meetings. Community-based HCV antibody testing decreased 80% from February to April 2020, and HCV treatment initiation also decreased, although both services started to rebound in mid-to-late 2020, partially as a result of End Hep C SF collaborations. End Hep C SF service providers, clinicians, and advocates reported that the continuous communication and common agenda of End Hep C SF-2 principles of the collective impact initiative-served as a familiar touchpoint and helpful source of information during this isolating and uncertain time. Ultimately, End Hep C SF allowed us to continue HCV elimination strategies through 6 lessons learned: maintaining HCV treatment access through telehealth and mobile services; leveraging research studies that provided HCV testing and treatment; offering HCV screening and linkage to care in tandem with COVID-19-related initiatives; being flexible and inventive, such as administering HCV treatment to residents of shelter-in-place hotels; establishing a data dashboard to track HCV testing and treatment; and relying on partnerships to solve problems and avoid burnout.

Interagency collaboration among community organizations serving children and families in child welfare

AbstractTransformational change to address adversity and nurture resilience requires deep and sustained community collaborations. Interagency collaboration is critically important for child welfare especially during crisis situations. It is clear that when agencies focus on strengths and promote protective factors (individual, familial and community‐level) in time, negative consequences of maltreatment are reduced and well‐being outcomes are enhanced. However, limited research is available to effectively inform community organizations and collective impact initiatives about how they can strengthen interagency collaboration and collaborative practice. Furthermore, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic elevates the urgency to understand how community organizations work together to serve children and families as it threatens access to safety nets. This mixed methods study examined interagency collaboration among community organizations in a collective impact workgroup focussed on children and families involved in the child welfare system. Results revealed key strengths to collaboration (e.g., strong connections, resource sharing, resilience in staff, more vulnerable children accessing resources and more adults engaged in serving this population) as well as barriers to collaboration (e.g., group composition, funding and lack of clarity/focus). Results also revealed specific ways in which this pandemic has impacted efforts to serve children and families in child welfare. Findings highlight an approach that might assist interagency collaboratives. In addition, findings were also translated into concrete action items that might be helpful to interagency collaboratives focussed on child welfare.

Using social network analysis as a tool in action research.

The following paper presents case examples of one research team's use of social network analysis (SNA) with three different collaboratives in South Florida: (a) a Collective Impact initiative seeking to end youth homelessness, (b) a university collaborative of campus organizations working towards Black students' concerns, and (c) a movement network of local social justice organizations. The research team used SNA to assess the level of connectivity of three different community coalitions. While research questions were slightly different for each collaborative, each project asked about the frequency of communication between organizations to determine connectivity. Results vary between case examples. Both the Youth Homeless Collaboration and the Black Student Association used Gephi to analyze results, while The Community Partnership used R to measure network centrality. The paper concludes with a general discussion of challenges related to using SNA as an action research tool, as well as the role of power in organizational networks.

Implementation evaluation of a collective impact initiative to promote adolescent health in Oklahoma County, USA

BackgroundThe teenage birth rate in the USA has considerably decreased in recent decades; however, more innovative, collaborative approaches are needed to promote adolescent health and prevent teenage pregnancy at the community level. Despite literature on the promising results of the collective impact (CI) model for health promotion, there is limited literature on the model’s ability to reduce teenage pregnancies in a community. The Central Oklahoma Teen Pregnancy Prevention Collaboration is applying the CI model to foster collaboration among multiple stakeholders with the goal of increasing community and organizational capacity to improve adolescent health outcomes. This paper reports the findings from the initiative’s implementation evaluation, which sought to understand whether the CI model improved collaboration among organizations and understand barriers and facilitators that affected program delivery.MethodsProgram implementers and evaluators jointly developed research questions to guide the intervention and evaluation design. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) was used to assess program components including the intervention characteristics, organization setting, community setting, facilitator characteristics, and the process of implementation. Primary sources of data included performance measures, meeting observations (n = 11), and semi-structured interviews (n = 10). The data was thematically analyzed using CFIR constructs, community capacity domains, and the five constructs of CI.ResultsKey findings include the need for shortened meeting times for meaningful engagement, opportunities for organizations to take on more active roles in the Collaboration, and enhanced community context expertise (i.e., those with lived experience) in all Collaboration initiatives. We identified additional elements to the core constructs of CI that are necessary for successful implementation: distinct role identification for partner organizations and incorporation of equity and inclusivity into collaboration processes and procedures.ConclusionsResults from this implementation evaluation provide valuable insights into implementation fidelity, participant experience, and implementation reach of an innovative, systems-level program. Findings demonstrate the context and requirements needed to successfully implement this innovative program approach and CI overall. Additional core elements for CI are identified and contribute to the growing body of literature on successful CI initiatives.

Using Collective Impact to Develop a Community-Led Initiative for Improving Black Infant Mortality.

The United States has one of the highest infant mortality rates among developed countries. When stratified by race, disparities are more evident: Black infant mortality rates are 2.5 times higher than non-Hispanic white infants. Structural, systemic racism is a contributing cause for these racial disparities. Multisector collaborations focused on a common agenda, often referred to as collective impact, have been used for infant mortality reduction interventions. In addition, community-based participatory approaches have been applied to incorporate those with lived experience related to adverse pregnancy outcomes. This article critically describes the transition of an infant mortality collective impact initiative from being led by a multisector organizational group to being community led over a 5-year period, 2015-2020. A 34-member community leaders group was developed and determined four priorities and corresponding strategies for the initiative. Findings show that community participatory approaches are a way to address racial equity for public health initiatives.

A Case Study on the Use of the SDGs With a Collective Impact Initiative in Southwest Florida

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals can be a useful framework on which to design, evaluate, and communicate collective impact initiatives. Using as a case study the FutureMakers Coalition, a collective impact initiative launched by the Southwest Florida Community Foundation to transform its region’s workforce, the field can gain insights into how the goals can strengthen collective impact work locally and nationally. This article will discuss how the foundation facilitated the setting of a common agenda and the use of the Sustainable Development Goals to help build consensus among 251 active partners on how to measure progress toward the coalition’s shared goal. By aligning program design and evaluation with the goals and agreeing to key indicators, each coalition member understood which data needed to be collected and when to establish baselines and measure outcomes and impact. Annual assessments were shared with the coalition and the public. This approach, using the Sustainable Development Goals as a framework, helped build teamwork, trust, and presence, allowing cross-sector community partners to spend significantly less time aligning separate agendas and metrics. Design and assessment centered on the Sustainable Development Goals can expedite organizing and reporting for collective impact and provide foundations with an important formative role in program design and evaluation. This article illustrates the need for cross-sector collaboration to solve complex problems, and how setting a common goal is just one step in keeping a diverse group of stakeholders moving in the same direction and making data-driven decisions.

Ensuring Social Impact at Every Stage of Technology Research &amp; Development

Although the United States national innovation system has produced many technologies, their benefits are not evenly distributed across the country’s population. This stands in direct contrast to the aims of government, which frequently funds science research for the purpose of social benefit. This paper first undertakes a deep reconsideration of the US national innovation system, and then reframes it as a collective impact initiative in order to coordinate every one of its contributors around this goal. It begins by tracing the origins of the longstanding tensions between science undertaken for the sakes of science inquiry versus societal benefit. It then discusses the inadequacies of practices meant to bridge science outcomes and societal needs like the broader impacts and technology transfer. It concludes by proposing a significant expansion of the stakeholders that evaluate the proposals and outcomes of federally funded research. This integrates diverse public participation into the proposal selection process, research discussions, and technology transfer to ensure that universal social impact is routinely considered.

Using a Collective Impact Framework to Implement Evidence-Based Strategies for Improving Maternal and Child Health Outcomes.

In 2016, the North Carolina Division of Public Health launched the Improving Community Outcomes for Maternal and Child Health program to invest in evidence-based programs to address three aims: improve birth outcomes, reduce infant mortality, and improve health outcomes for children 0 to 5 years old. Five grantees representing 14 counties were awarded 2 years of funding to implement one evidence-based strategy per aim using a collective impact framework, the principles of implementation science, and a health equity approach. Local health departments served as the backbone organization and provided ongoing support to grantees and helped them form community action teams (CATs) comprising implementation team members, community experts, and relevant stakeholders who met regularly. Focus groups with each grantee’s CAT were held during 2017 and 2019 to explore how CATs used a collective impact framework to implement their chosen evidence-based strategies. Results show that grantees made the most progress engaging diverse sectors in implementing a common agenda, continuous communication, and mutually reinforcing activities. Overall, grantees struggled with a shared measurement system but found that a formal tool to assess equity helped use data to drive decision making and program adaptations. Grantees faced logistical challenges holding regular CAT meetings and sustaining community expert engagement. Overtime, CATs cultivated community partnerships and multicounty collaboratives viewed cross-county knowledge sharing as an asset. Future collective impact initiatives should allow grantees more time upfront to form their CAT to plan for sustained community engagement before implementing programs and to incorporate a tool to center equity in their work.

Emerging Evidence of the Value of Culturally Specific Organizations: Results of a Delphi and Consumer Voice Study

A set of culturally specific organizations in Portland, Oregon has been generating excellent results for clients and communities of color. Four of them have developed a collective impact initiative to reduce child poverty among communities of color, with backbone support from United Way, and the inclusion of one “culturally responsive” organization. This research seeks to answer, “How do these organizations achieve excellent results with clients of color?” Our answer, through a two-part Delphi and Consumer Voice study, identifies a far-ranging set of assets, only part of which are staffing characteristics. These assets have been affirmed by a statistically significant survey of consumers, encompassing the following nine domains: being community embedded, creating a culture of success, being responsive to community needs, advocating to improve community and client success, being culturally relevant, and providing a comprehensive continuum of services. Delivery attributes include relying heavily on a rich relationship model, being inclusive, and having staff be personally invested in client success. Clients confirmed that all nine domains are important to their lives, and rated their overall satisfaction with the organizations at 92.7%, far above the published national average of 77%. The paper concludes with a synthesis of the study’s relevance for policy makers, funders and practitioners.