Does Collective Impact Work?

What Literacy Coalitions Tell Us

By (author) Frank Ridzi, Margaret Doughty

Publication date:

04 October 2017

Length of book:

272 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498508452

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.

Introduction
1. The Many Faces of Collective Impact Community Literacy Coalitions
2. Catalytic Philanthropy and Community Coalitions
3. Are Collective Impact Coalition Communities Better Off?: Understanding Collective Impact as Part of a Virtuous Cycle
4. Measuring Impact and Moving Toward Best Practices
Conclusion

As indicated in the subtitle, this book explores What Literacy Coalitions Tell Usand 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.