Collective Impact is working with the Joint Commission on Sports Medicine and Science (JCSMS) to engage its membership in the Collective Impact approach. JCSMS serves as a convener and catalyst for cooperative ventures. The Collective Impact approach is a commitment of a group of individuals from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem, using a structured form of collaboration. The concept of collective impact hinges on the idea that organizations need to coordinate their efforts and work together around a clearly defined goal if they are to create lasting solutions to social problems on a large-scale. This approach was highlighted in a Stanford Social Innovation Review article titled “Collective Impact”. More recently, with financial support from the Wallace Foundation, the Teachers College of Columbia University engaged in research relating to collective engagement around education reform. Their report (Collective Impact and the New Generation of Cross-Sector Collaborations for Education) describes the development of cross-sector collaborations and presents findings from a scan of initiatives across the United States. With assistance from Collective Impact, JCSMS membership is exploring how the model might be used to address relevant issues facing their member organizations.

Along with 6 other community leaders from Huntington, WV, Bruce Decker participated in the four-day Center for Community Progress Leadership Institute (CPLI) at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Collective Impact was the catalyst for organizing the opportunity. CPLI is a prestigious seminar that equips community leaders with the skills they need to make positive changes in their approaches to vacant, abandoned and problem properties, tackle blight and spark revitalization. The Institute brings together delegations from multiple cities across the United States for intense leadership and technical training under the guidance of national experts. The Huntington delegation was one of 8 communities to be selected to attend this prestigious seminar focused on learning innovative strategies for the productive reuse and revitalization of vacant, abandoned, and blighted residential and commercial properties.

"Bruce Decker has provided excellent service to Habitat for Humanity of West Virginia for the past 5 years. Bruce has always presented a positive, encouraging, and high-energy attitude with all of our projects. I highly recommended Collective Impact."  ~ Lora Pierce – Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity of WV, Charleston, WV

Large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector coordination. Collective Impact is not only the name of our consulting firm, but is also our guiding principle and approach that has directed how we interact, perform, and succeed with our partners over the past almost two decades.  The "Collective Impact" approach is highlighted in the article titled "Collective Impact" in the Winter 2011 Stanford Social Innovation Review.