Does your community have a coalition that’s tackling an issue bigger than one organization can solve on its own? Even when you focus on one issue, you will likely find that there are varied aspects to address. Transform Consulting Group (TCG) recently partnered with Welborn Baptist Foundation to bring stakeholders together to improve early care and education. Within early care and education, there are many factors that need to be in place to add up to success!
Welborn Baptist Foundation has a long history of investing in improving children’s earliest experiences. However, their team understands that their investment alone is not enough to create the change the community needs. We supported them in convening a steering committee to launch their collective impact approach. The steering committee guided the development of a white paper which is now live: Building a Strong Foundation Through Investment in Early Learning.
For the white paper, TCG gathered data on the local early care and education landscape and the history of investment. Then, we researched best practices in other communities and developed recommendations to consider. With all of these findings, the steering committee decided that more work needs to be done.
To move this work forward, we are supporting the creation and launch of a new early learning coalition. TCG is providing backbone support for the newly created Early Care & Education Coalition of Vanderburgh County. The 5th condition in a collective impact framework is having a backbone organization. The backbone organization brings everyone together, gathers the resources, and helps move the work forward.
The structure of the coalition is shown in this triangle-shaped graphic. The backbone organizations support the guiding team. In turn, the guiding team supports each of the 4 implementation teams. The 4 teams are each focusing on one of the recommendations from the white paper. The focus areas are expanded access for children, building sustainable programs, creating two-generation success, and achieving equity across neighborhoods.
The Early Care & Education Coalition of Vanderburgh County has community buy-in and the support of strong backbone organizations. We’re excited to see what this combination will mean for its youngest children in the coming years! Is your community or organization looking to tackle an issue that will improve the lives of children and families? Contact us today for support no matter where you are in your journey!
