How Public Policy Can Support Collective Impact

 

How Public Policy Can Support Collective Impact, a new learning brief co-authored by FSG and the Forum for Youth Investment and published with the Collective Impact Forum, provides examples and recommendations of public policies that use funding streams, regulations, reporting and auditing practices, and interdepartmental collaboration to enable communities to apply the collective impact approach to tackling complex social problems.

 

Drawing on interviews with policymakers, extensive secondary research, and their own experiences in the policy sphere, the authors identified public policies that support the five conditions of collective impact and ways that government structures, processes, practices, and mindsets can enable and sustain those ”collective impact friendly” policies. They found examples of policymakers innovating at local, state, and federal levels to support communities pursuing a collective impact approach to challenges as diverse as economic development, education, and health. These public policies extend beyond electoral cycles and outside of partisan debates to support communities in their path to achieving positive, lasting outcomes.

 

The authors hope this learning brief serves as a platform for gathering and highlighting examples of such public policies at all levels of government across the nation. They welcome submissions of these examples, and suggestions for additional resources that may be helpful for policymakers and their partners.