Collective Impact 101: Thrive’s mission is rooted in a national movement toward collective solutions for young people

By David Krosin

February 10, 2022

What started as a college readiness initiative in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2006 has blossomed into a movement that impacts the lives of 13.7 million children nationally and including 8.6 million children of color—more than 192,000 of whom are living here in Chicago. At the core of that initiative is Collective Impact, a social impact strategy built on the idea that organizations, school districts, universities, and private and corporate foundations are stronger together than they are apart. 

The Cincinnati model encouraged organizations to set aside their individual agendas in favor of a collective approach. A convening organization, then known as Strive, focused the entire community on a single set of goals through a structured process. Civic leaders from across the country have studied the approach and attempted to replicate its success elsewhere. 

Thirty-four of the Cincinnati initiative’s 53 success indicators showed positive trends across high school graduation, 4th-grade reading and math, and an increase in the number of preschool children prepared for kindergarten. In a 2011 article published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, authors John Kania and Mark Kramer noted:

“[Cincinnati] leaders realized that fixing one point on the educational continuum–such as better after-school programs–wouldn’t make much difference unless all parts of the continuum improved at the same time. No single organization, however, innovative or powerful, could accomplish this alone. Instead, their ambitious mission became to coordinate improvements at every stage of a young person’s life, from ‘cradle to career.’” 

With that, Kania and Kramer highlighted five conditions that are key to collective success: a defined common agenda, shared measurement systems, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and a backbone support organization with dedicated staff to coordinate the entire initiative. These conditions complement Thrive’s efforts in Chicago, where it serves as the convener of more than 100 youth-serving nonprofit organizations with the goal of creating collaborative networks of people and data that accelerate innovation for youth. Thrive brings four organizational capabilities that, when taken together, leverage relationships, resources, and processes to drive collective action and positive outcomes for Chicago’s Black and Brown youth. 

  • Convene & Connect
  • Activate Data & Research
  • Co-Design Solutions
  • Connect to Seed & Sustainable Funding

Nearly 70 communities nationally are now part of the Cincinnati-based StriveTogether network that grew out of that initial effort in 2006. These collective efforts to help every child succeed in education and in life are held together by a national network of local organizations, from Aligned Impact of Muscatine County, Iowa, to the Harlem Renaissance Education Pipeline in New York City, to the UP Partnership in San Antonio, Texas—and Thrive in Chicago. 

Thrive is proud to be a member of the StriveTogether network and part of the movement to leverage collective action to help ensure that every youth in Chicago can thrive.

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