Complex local and
social issues don’t lend themselves to “quick
fix” solutions.
To make a strategic impact on the issues
our communities face, we have to think and act in broader,
more comprehensive ways.
Comprehensive Community Initiatives (CCIs)
are locally based efforts that work to improve community conditions
and the lives of individuals and families by working comprehensively
across social, economic and physical sectors.
CCIs operate according to community building
principles. They:
- Acknowledge the importance of strengthening capacity
at the local level
- Enhance social capital and personal networks
- Develop leadership
- Encourage partnership and collaboration.
In the Vibrant Communities
initiative, communities and national organizations from across
Canada are exploring how comprehensive community initiatives
(CCIs) can be used as part of a deliberate strategy to reduce
poverty in communities across Canada.
| What are CCIs? How
do they operate? |
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| CCIs have often led
to "tensions" that need to be understood and
worked through for initiatives to work. |
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| The first step a community
must take in implementing a CCI is to engage a cross-sector
of people in the planning process. |
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While comprehensive approaches are relatively
new in Canada, communities in the United States of America
have been experimenting with them for some time now. Anne
Kubisch of the Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C. has been
sharing the American experience with CCIs with Vibrant Communities'
members for more than a year now. Anne continues to teach
us about the role CCIs can play in revitalizing our communities.
Check out some of the video clips of Anne by clicking on the
links at the right.
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Here are some links
and interesting resources we have collected on comprehensive
thinking and action. There's lots of room to add more links!
Please let us know if you have a resource you wish to
share by email us at tamarack@tamarackcommunity.ca.
Comprehensive
Community Initiatives
This paper by the Caledon Institute explores the emerging
theory and practice on comprehensive community initiatives.
It is one of a series of papers written in support of the Vibrant Communities project, which has
embraced the comprehensive community initiatives approach.
The
Aspen Institute Roundtable on Comprehensive Community Initiatives
This is the homepage for the Roundtable on CCIs. A good definition
of CCIs is provided as are links to reports by the Roundtable
and to other community building and CCI resources. This is
a great place from which to launch your reading on CCIs.
Voices
from the Field
Learning from the Early Work of Comprehensive Community Initiatives and Voices
from the Field II: Reflections on Community Change
These two books from the Aspen Institute detail the experience
and learnings generated by comprehensive community initiatives
in the United States. If you have the time, they're worth
the read. If you don't have time, take a look at Anne Kubisch's
article, "Comprehensive
Community Initiatives: Lessons in Neighbourhood Transformation"
which draws heavily from Voices from the Field.
Community
Building Resource Exchange
Developed by the Roundtable on CCIs, this website serves as
a forum for exchanging resources and information on CCIs.
It's a resource-full site, packed full of great primers and
papers. Check out the section on CCIs for fantastic articles
and resources on aspects of CCIs from community building to
policy and institutional reform.
Profiles
of Comprehensive Community Initiatives
The United States has dozens of communities using comprehensive
approaches to revitalize their neighborhoods and ensure opportunities
for all their residents. Scan through over one dozen of them
at: http://www.commbuild.org/html_pages/ccilist.htm.
The
Framework for Labor Market Systems Reform for Jobs Initiative
Sites
Dissatisfied with modest results in your poverty reduction
efforts? Want to substantially reduce poverty by changing
some of the systemic factors underlying poverty and low income?
Review the Labour Market System Reform planning framework
developed for the Anne E. Casey Foundation here.
Rebuilding
Communities Initiative
Recognizing that the neighborhood environments in which children
live profoundly affect their life prospects, the Annie E.
Casey Foundation (AECF) launched a new initiative in 1993
to help transform troubled neighborhoods into safe and supportive
environments for children and their families. This seven-year
demonstration program, the Rebuilding Communities Initiative
(RCI), was designed to provide support to five low-income
neighborhoods in five cities - one each in Boston, Philadelphia,
Washington, Denver and Detroit. The findings from the RCI
Planning Phase assessment suggest some broader lessons of
potential relevance to other comprehensive community initiatives.
In addition, they provide support for several specific recommendations
that may be helpful to AECF and the sites in subsequent RCI
phases. See: http://www.aecf.org/upload/PublicationFiles/learning%20from%20the%20journey.pdf [Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation]
TOGETHER
WE CAN Initiative
The core instrument of the Together We Can Initiative is the
Community Collaborative Wellness Tool: Improving Results for
Children, Youth, Families and Neighborhoods. The goal of the
Tool is to strengthen the capacity of collaborative systems
reform initiatives to change how public, private, and community
institutions work together to support children, youth, and
families. The Tool integrates seven substantive elements of
reform with five stages of collaborative change. Check out
the tool and more at: http://www.togetherwecan.org/
Additional Links
Do you have some good links or resources
that you'd like to see on this page? If you do, please email us at tamarack@tamarackcommunity.ca.
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