Course – Lesson 7: I. Program for Results
LESSON 7:I – WHAT ARE THE LEARNING OBJECTIVES OF THIS LESSON?
10 Steps to a successful 100% New Mexico initiative
We provide to you our step-by-step process, with the understanding that each county may wish to customize the process to meet the needs of a unique county and all the cities, towns and communities within it.
Step 1: Creating the Backbone
A core team of local champions bring the 100% New Mexico initiative to their county. Our initiative is guided by the following five features of collective impact: A common vision and agenda; collaboration and mutually-reinforcing activities; continuous communication and transparency; shared measurement and use of data; and backbone support in the form of a local agency.
Step 2: Sponsoring Community Forums
We support the community organizers in sponsoring community forums across the county to gather feedback from those working in our 10 “surviving” and “thriving” sectors, which includes higher education and socially-engaged youth, students and adults.
Step 3: Convening Leaders in 10 Sectors
Community organizers convene a series of meetings of agency leaders from all 10 “surviving” and “thriving” sectors to assess their interest in the 100% New Mexico initiative and their capacity to devote time to it. The goal of the 100% Community action teams is to strengthen services so that 100% of residents have access to them in a timely manner.
Step 4: Conduct the Resilient Community Experience Survey
This county-wide survey assesses to what degree local parents and youth have access to the 10 key “surviving” and “thriving” service areas/programs. These survey results will identify gaps in services in specific areas of the county and why there are challenges accessing services. It will also show where the county is doing an exceptional job of meeting the needs of families.
Step 5: Share the results of the Resilient Community Experience Survey at a Community Forum
With a shared understanding of survey results among the 100% New Mexico initiative participants and county leaders, the real work of the initiative begins. Survey results from each of the 10 sectors can now guide the action teams in addressing gaps.
Step 6: Recruit for and launch the 100% Community Course
The community organizers and action team members take the 100% Community course, which includes classroom instruction, coaching and web-based lessons that are customized to meet local needs. The course provides an in depth understanding of the data-driven process of continuous quality improvement (CQI) focused on four phases: assessment, planning, action and evaluation.
Step 7: Planning
Once action teams have the survey data and have been through the 100% community training, they are ready for the planning stage. Teams will review the research for each sector, much of which is outlined in 100% Community and on our website called the 100% Innovation Center.
Step 8: Implement and Support all 100% Community Projects/Innovations
Community organizers support the 100% Community projects designed by course graduates, who are now action team members. These will be projects in all 10 sectors with varying timelines, from a few months to years.
Step 9: Sponsor a 100% Community Summit on Thriving Childhoods
Community organizers invite all county leaders, stakeholders and the public to an event to share how 100% Community projects are reducing gaps in services and other accomplishments. This yearly event provides an opportunity for community dialogue, brainstorming and reflection.
Step 10: Celebrate small successes while working on big ones
Community organizers convene all action team members to acknowledge all the work they have done, sharing the successes and challenges. This initiative is all about showcasing innovation that increases the health, safety and educational opportunities of all county residents.
The long-term measurable and meaningful goal
Over the years, with full support of the Anna, Age Eight Institute, the 100% New Mexico initiative will become part of local government, institutionalized like the departments of police, fire and parks. Ideally, this will be in the form of a “City Department of Family Resilience,” working in collaboration with all county, school and higher education entities.
WHAT ARE WE LEARNING?
This is the last lesson designed to support your participation in the 100% New Mexico initiative. Thank you for being part of our grand experiment. Given our social moonshot metaphor, we look forward to sharing our inspiring journey with the 100% Community — onward and upward!
Your vital innovative work is going to be a grand experiment in community support, rather than an institutionalized and fully funded project. While our long term goal is creating within each city government a Dept of Family Resilience, we are in the “start up” phase of this social innovation.
In this session we illustrate the process you can use, and customize, to get in buy in for, launch and sustain the 100% New Mexico initiative.
Participants completing the classroom will be able to:
- Describe the role and expectations of the community organizers
- Describe the role and expectations of the action team leaders and member
- Describe how continuous quality improvement guides the initiative
- How to gain buy in from stakeholders to launch the initiative
- How do prepare for adaptive challenges and push back
- How to recruit initiative participants from ten sectors
- Describe how to keep momentum with change by building new local relationships with leaders and stakeholders
- Communicate with local 100% New Mexico initiative partners the goals and activities