The Process of Community Innovation
Big challenges require not only big solutions, but more effective and equitable approaches. Pollen
has reached out to three organizations that role-model innovation in
how they address advancement of a community need in their work.
These organizations
understand a key element to reaching innovation: it’s not the solution
or idea that is innovative, it’s the process of inclusivity,
collaboration, and resourcefulness throughout all stages of
problem-solving that transcends a solution into breakthrough change.
Innovation is not linear, but operates on a continuum
African Immigration Services, the Brookings Supports Breastfeeding
coalition, and the Plains Art Museum have each identified projects that
address a need and are emboding a community-centric, problem-solving
process to create new solutions. All three projects received Community Innovation grants from the Bush Foundation and are examples of certain stages within the community innovation process.
Increase Collective Awareness
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Increase Collective Awareness
African Immigrant Services
has institutionalized a culture of community innovation and inclusion
in how they better understand and take action with issues directly
impacting their communities. Abdullah Kiatamba, executive director of
AIS, believes the key is access to information and then mobilizing for
action.
Below you will find a storygraphic that
outlines AIS' work and how they plan to use community education and
engagement to change the roles of African immigrants and other
underrepresented groups in the northwest suburbs of Hennepin County from
observers to active leaders.
The AIS African FOTL Project seeks to shift the roles of people of
color, especially African immigrants, from the sidelines to the heart of
community-driven problem-solving, co-creating new realities on issues
aligned with their interests and passion. Community members will
participate in cohorts or community circles that match their areas of
interest (education, community-police relations, information gaps,
economic opportunity, etc.). Each cohort, focused on a particular
interest, will first engage in a process of agenda-setting. These
cohorts will identify a list of problems for which community-driven
solutions should be applied. They will then prioritize those issues,
set timelines, and then activate existing community resources and
assets to solve them. The project will also identify, prepare, and
match a cohort of leaders with leadership positions in public
institutions, where their roles will help advance racial equity (closing
a host of disparities, including access and opportunities).
