Leading Systemic Change

We focus on why problems exist, not just on how to fix them. We seek answers to problems that affect generations of families. The ones that aren’t the result of bad luck, but of the way of a system was built. We believe system change will occur only when people begin to challenge themselves to look at themselves and our community differently. Using the Six Conditions of Systems Change model, we are committed to:

• Challenging deeply held beliefs and assumptions and taken-for-granted ways of operating that influence how we think, what we do, and how we talk. 
• Examining the distribution of decision-making power, authority, and both formal and informal influence among individuals and organizations. 
• Improving the quality of connections and communication occurring between stakeholders in the system, especially among those with differing histories viewpoints. 
• Observing how money, people, knowledge, information, and other assets such as infrastructure, are allocated and distributed.
• Reviewing espoused activities of institutions, coalitions, networks, and other entities targeted to improving social and environmental progress. Also, within the entity, the procedures, guidelines, or informal shared habits that comprise their work.
• Addressing government, institutional, and organizational rule, regulations, and priorities that guide the entity’s own and others’ actions.