Does Collective Impact Work: What Literacy Coalitions Tell Us

(Hardback)

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The book seeks to demonstrate the ways in which collective impact approaches have guided the development of literacy coalitions over time. Since community collaboration strategies developed to address social issues, coalitions have grown from small networking organizations to powerful forces for change. The history of literacy coalitions offers a timeline outlining the why, who, what, where, when and how of communities that were influenced by social and political changes and the ways coalitions responded and thrived. The lack of literacy has held back economic development in the US and coalitions shine a light on issues associated with illiteracy and low school achievement. Not all coalitions succeed and the book explores models of success, funding strategies, evaluation and impact. The goal is to assist those developing coalitions by providing not only lessons learned but a blueprint for success.

Reviews

As indicated in the subtitle, this book explores What Literacy Coalitions Tell Us and systematically reviews what factors contribute to this type of collective initiatives working effectively. The authors carry out an analysis that is referential for the implementation of evidence-based coalitions. * Voluntas *
The authors have produced an especially insightful analysis of the issue of literacy and of the dynamics of collaborative efforts in general. If your organization is involved in community impact work of any nature, you will find real value here. An added bonus is the entertaining examples that are used throughout the book, like the multiple and significant values of early literacy, George Washingtons adult literacy efforts at Valley Forge, and the New York grid system as an analogy for the way that coalitions work. -- Bill Millett, Scope View Strategic Advantage
Does Collective Impact Worksheds new light on the powerful role thatcoalitionsare playing in mobilizingcommunities to take action andmake measurable progress in addressing the literacy crisis in the United States.More thansimply offering aseries of case examples, the authorsidentify the keydrivers and the underlyingsuccess factors necessary for communities to producelonger-term, more sustainable results. -- Ron Fairchild, The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
Frank Ridzi and Margaret Doughty shine a bright light on the value of a literacy coalition in the collective impact model and the challenges in evaluating system level change and attaining sustainable funding to address a complex social issue. This book is a great read for those who are involved with a literacy coalition and for those interested in learning more about them. -- Robert E. Paponetti, The Literacy Cooperative

Author Bio

Frank Ridzi is Vice President for Community Investment at the Central New York Community Foundation and associate professor of sociology at Le Moyne College. He is a past president of the Literacy Funders Network. Margaret Doughty founded Literacy Powerline and directed the Houston READ Commission.