The Systems Change Approach

Join the Com­mu­ni­ty Foundation’s Ini­tia­tives Direc­tors and Grants Team for a dis­cus­sion of sys­tems change — what it is and how to put it into prac­tice. Togeth­er, we’ll explore how to iden­ti­fy the root caus­es and under­ly­ing con­di­tions that per­pet­u­ate com­mu­ni­ty chal­lenges and devel­op strate­gies that lead to struc­tur­al, rela­tion­al, and trans­for­ma­tive change. 

Social Inno­va­tion Gen­er­a­tion defines sys­tems change as​“shift­ing the con­di­tions that hold a prob­lem in place.” Com­plex com­mu­ni­ty issues (e.g. afford­able hous­ing, behav­ioral health, edu­ca­tion­al dis­par­i­ties, envi­ron­men­tal degra­da­tion, access to health­care and food, etc.) often per­sist because of sys­temic con­straints. These may include mar­ket forces, poli­cies, incen­tives, soci­etal norms and nar­ra­tives, pow­er dis­tri­b­u­tion, and knowl­edge gaps. Sys­tems change­mak­ers are those who inno­v­a­tive­ly address the con­di­tions that per­pet­u­ate prob­lems to achieve struc­tur­al, rela­tion­al, and/​or trans­for­ma­tive change.

Par­tic­i­pants will gain famil­iar­i­ty with a sys­tems change approach:

• Approach solu­tions by first iden­ti­fy­ing the prob­lem and its root causes. 
• Observe and inven­to­ry exist­ing sys­temic constraints.
• Apply this expand­ed aware­ness to address per­sis­tent fac­tors and design inno­v­a­tive, change­mak­ing solutions.

Facil­i­ta­tors:

• Wendy Mar­tinez, Direc­tor of the Hous­ing Solu­tions Ini­tia­tive
• Col­by Mitchell, Back­bone Leader of the Edu­ca­tion and Fam­i­lies Ini­tia­tive
• Kate Schelbe, Back­bone Leader of Teton Behav­ioral Health Alliance
• Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion JH Grants Team — Annie Rid­dell, Direc­tor of Grants and Non­prof­it Outreach