Addressing poverty is a marathon, not a sprint. Systemic changes that improve workforce development and access to basic needs will create long-term improvements for our community. Along the way, RMAPI’s partners are pursuing programs, strategies, and organizational changes that are creating an immediate impact on the lives of our neighbors.
RMAPI uses an approach known as Collective Impact, which brings people together in a structured way to achieve social change. Community members and stakeholders collectively define the problem and create a shared vision to solve it, then work together in new and innovative ways to change systems and bring about real change. All of these conditions together can produce extraordinaryresults.
Tackling Complex Problems with Collective Impact
Shape Up Somerville: Building and Sustaining a Healthy Community with Collective Impact
Communities across the United States and North America have used the collective impact approach to tackle complex and systemic problems. The city of Somerville, Massachusetts, initiated a campaign to reduce obesity and promote health that has collectively changed health outcomes for the community.
In Canada, the Tamarack Institute created the Communities Ending Poverty initiative, which has contributed to poverty being reduced for 1 million Canadians