Impact

WE Have a Different View of Impact

It’s not rooted in theories of change that are often disconnected from people's reality, but in how change actually happens. By addressing public concerns (fault lines) that matter to people and building the underlying community conditions (civic culture), change can take root and spread. People and groups in all 50 U.S. states and 40 countries around the world are demonstrating that this different approach works.

30 Year Impact Study Results in defining Book and NEW Initiatives on Unleashing a Chain Reaction to Tackle Fault Lines and Strengthen Civic Culture

The Harwood Institute conducted a 30-year impact study of our work to understand how change takes hold and spreads within communities.

The findings and insights are captured in Rich Harwood’s latest book published by the Kettering Foundation Press, Unleashed: A Proven Way Communities Can Spread Change and Make Hope Real for All. 

We invested in this internal effort because we wanted to more fully document our approach’s impact and learn from this study. We have already applied the lessons: redesigning our Public Innovators Lab and Coach Certification Program, refocusing our community coaching, and launching new initiatives.   

Key Takeaways from Unleashed

We learned that change ripples out in communities through an interaction of highly intentional actions and serendipity, and that you and your community have the ability to catalyze and unleash this chain reaction. Here are key findings from how communities used the Harwood approach:

EVERY COMMUNITY WE STUDIED TACKLED CRITICAL SOCIETAL FAULT LINES including long-term economic decline, racial division and racism, persistent poverty, lack of educational opportunity, civic and political mistrust, and a loss of faith in organizations and leaders.

TO TACKLE THESE FAULT LINES, COMMUNITIES CREATED A STRONG, ROBUST, AND RESILIENT CIVIC CULTURE. Seeking to address society’s fault lines without building civic culture is not possible. Communities can be intentional in creating their civic culture.

CHANGE RIPPLED OUT AND SPREADS IN COMMUNITIES THROUGH A CHAIN REACTION OVER TIME. While this often occurs in unexpected ways, the chain reaction can be proactively catalyzed and nurtured.

IMPOSING SOLUTIONS ON A COMMUNITY OR ATTEMPTING A ONE-SIZE-FITS ALL APPROACH WON’T WORK. Communities made progress by creating a culture of shared responsibility that accounts for the context of a community, people’s shared aspirations, and how change unfolds over time.

How the Chain Reaction Happens

Impact happens when we catalyze and unleash a chain reaction of actions and ripples that spreads like a positive contagion over time throughout a community. While this often occurs in unexpected ways, the chain reaction can be proactively catalyzed and nurtured with intentionality. What we’ve found is that it doesn’t matter where your actions start, but that you get moving and grow your chain reaction over time. When this happens, new proof points get created, new ways of working together emerge, and civic confidence grows.

Every day, this is happening in communities all across the country and the world.

The Change People Are Creating

The people in the community stories in Unleashed took action—rooted in public knowledge—within their spheres of influence and then their actions expanded over time. The below examples of the types of actions from these communities offer a glimpse of what is possible for you and others to create in your community. It doesn’t matter where you start or the order of the actions; just get started.

Click on the image below to see the full chart. 

Nine Communities Reveal How to Unleash a Chain Reaction

Here is a snapshot of the nine communities that the Institute examined in its 30-year impact study to understand how very different communities can unleash a chain reaction of change:

Unleash Your Capacity to Catalyze Change

Now is the time to put your community on a more hopeful path forward by unleashing your capacity to catalyze change and strengthen your community's civic culture. Explore our Virtual Public Innovators Labs, designed to offer you the best of the time-tested Harwood approach strengthened by our recent work with communities across the country.