Addressing issues related to disability and access are often cordoned off within the social sector and philanthropy. Disability is often deemed as “separate” from issue-specific systems change work, such as education, climate, economic mobility, or health equity. Funders supporting causes like these may think that their focus does not require including disability, or that addressing disability may make things “too complex” and “out of scope” for their issue-focused grantmaking efforts.

This exclusion of disability from the wide spectrum of grantmaking has its own reverse multiplier effect. Instead of scaling change to reduce inequity and create the conditions for more people to thrive, excluding disability means that change only addresses a subset of people while overlooking communities deeply affected by systemic inequity.

In this episode, we talk with a group of philanthropic leaders who are each dedicated to advancing disability justice. We discuss why addressing disability is imperative for all grantmaking to be successful, and how funders can embed disability across all of their philanthropic work.

Featuring:-

• Miya Cain, Associate Director, FSG (Moderator)
• Rebecca Cokley, Program Officer of U.S. Disability Rights, Ford Foundation
• Ryan Easterly, Executive Director, WITH Foundation
• Sandy Ho, formerly Program Director, Disability Inclusion Fund, Borealis Philanthropy, and currently Executive Director, Disability and Philanthropy Forum

Resources and Footnotes

• Disability Rights at Ford Foundation
• Disability Inclusion Fund at Borealis Philanthropy
• WITH Foundation
• Disability and Philanthropy Forum
• Sins Invalid
• Disability Visibility Project
• Ramp Your Voice
• The Curb-Cut Effect
• Imani Barbarin: Creating Accessible Spaces for Belonging

More on Collective Impact

• Infographic: What is Collective Impact?
• Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.

The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.

Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? Contact us at: https://www.collectiveimpactforum.org/contact-us/

Understanding a community’s “context” and its readiness for complex change work is a critical factor for launching and advancing collective impact work.

Knowing the local context is necessary to support work with and within a community--who is part of the community, what are they experiencing, and what are their challenges, needs, assets, and opportunities? Where do relationships exist, and is there enough trust among participants to support a foundation for long-term work? Without a basic understanding of community context, supporting change within a community is difficult and runs the risk of causing more harm than good.

In this episode, we learn about the state-wide initiative Community Organizing for Prevention (COFP), which is working with 30 communities across Colorado to support youth and prevent substance misuse. By coaching and supporting community mobilizers who train local partners to advance collective impact work, COFP strived to create a collaborative infrastructure of support across the state, but early feedback indicated that each community had their own circumstances and needs, and there wasn’t one strategy that would address them all.

We talk with Kit Jones (Colorado School of Public Health) and Marc Morgan (Community Organizing for Prevention, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment) about how COFP moved forward with humility and deep listening, evaluating and evolving their strategies to support what their communities needed to equitably move forward. We also discuss how COFP, as a state funder, is working with other funders to sustain the work and create a stronger infrastructure for collective change across Colorado.

Resources and Footnotes

• Community Organizing for Prevention
• Community Organizing for Prevention Evaluation
• Training the Trainer on Policy and Systems Change at the Local Level Full Report and Executive Summary
• Systems Change and Deep Equity by Sheryl Petty and Mark Leach
• The Water of Systems Change

More on Collective Impact

• Infographic: What is Collective Impact?
• Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.

The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.

Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? Contact us at: https://www.collectiveimpactforum.org/contact-us/

A core element of collective impact is changing systems in the pursuit of equity. Pursuing policy change and advocacy efforts are some of the key levers to effectively change how systems operate. But how can cross-sector partners within a collective impact initiative work together to co-create a policy agenda that addresses inequities and closes disparities?

In this discussion we learn how a policy agenda can drive collaborative action and strategy to support collective impact work, how it can communicate where a collaborative stands on issues, what are the challenges in building a collaborative policy agenda (including bringing partners onboard), and how to approach shifts in the political environment.

Joining for this discussion to share about their policy agenda work are Maegan Frierson and Dr. Shayla Young from KConnect, a backbone organization that supports a network of public, private, and independent organizations in Grand Rapids, Michigan. KConnect aims to facilitate and advance a common agenda to ensure all children in Kent County have a clear path to economic prosperity through quality education, family, and community support.

Resources and Footnotes

• KConnect
• KConnect Shared Policy Agenda and PACE Toolkit
• KConnect Community Engagement Compensation Frameworks
• KConnect 2023 Impact Report
• The Water of Systems Change

More on Collective Impact

• Infographic: What is Collective Impact?
• Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.

The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.

Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? Contact us at: https://www.collectiveimpactforum.org/contact-us/