A to Z’s of Early Childhood
The science of child development and learning
C is for Collaboration and Collective Impact
Building Effective Partnerships to Support Young Children and Families
Collaboration is working together to achieve a shared goal. Collective impact happens when people from different organizations or with different perspectives work together to positively address an issue. People often want to collaborate for collective impact to integrate supports or services for young children and their families. Did you know there are key “ingredients” that make collaborating for collective impact successful?
Ways to Make Collaboration for Collective Impact a Success
Based on our experiences and a body of research, here are five key “ingredients” to make collaborating for collective impact successful:
What We Know About Collaboration and Collective Impact
Collaboration involves groups of people or organizations who interact using shared norms, rules, and structures to achieve a common goal. 1
Although collaborators have common interests, they also have self-interests. Collaboration works when collaborators have their common and self-interests met.1
Collective impact is a specific type of collaboration that involves individuals from many organizations working together to solve a social issue.2
Collective impact initiatives are more effective for making large-scale changes related to social issues than interventions implemented by individual organizations.3
What We are Doing
The Anita Zucker Center participates in collective impact initiatives to enhance services and supports for young children and their families.
Learn more:
- Community Celebrates Opening of New CHILD Center
- Starting Ahead. Staying Ahead. Early Childhood National Summit
- Tri-County Cradle to Career Collaborative
- Center Members Collaborate with FSU and the Early Steps State Office on Professional Development for Providers
- Center Members Engage in Global Collaboration with Zambian Community Stakeholders
- SWAG Honors Co-Founder Joan Canton
In February of 2020, SWAG and the CHILD Center dedicated the new playground to Joan Canton, who is a great example of a collaborator who works toward collective impact in her community.
Other Resources
References
- 1Wood, D. J., & Gray, B. (1991). Toward a comprehensive theory of collaboration. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 27, 139-162.
- 2Prange, K., Allen, J. A., & Reiter-Palmon, R. (2016). Collective impact versus collaboration: Sides of the same coin or different phenomenon? Paper 167 from Love of the Place: The Metropolitan University Advantage: 2015 CUMU Conference, Omaha, NE. Retrieved from https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/muj/article/view/21119
- 3Kania, J., & Kramer, M. (2011, Winter). Collective impact. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 9(1): 36-41. Retrieved from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/collective_impact
Dedicated to supporting the well-being of young children and their families, the Anita Zucker Center has engaged with its partners to launch an ambitious initiative designed to provide accessible and practical information about child development and learning to support parents, caregivers, professionals and policymakers.
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