The Fund for Shared Insight sponsored and curated the latest issue of The Foundation Review, “The Power of Listening to Communities”. The issue is a compilation of cross-sectioning perspectives on listening as an active process. For Success Measures and many of our clients, active listening is at the heart of the work. While it might sound straightforward, moving from listening to action is often a long process that involves aligning internal organizational structures and processes with values held by staff and community.
We were excited to have “Centering Community Voice in Strategic Design: The BUILD Health Challenge Model” accepted as a co-authored article within this special issue. Writing the article provided welcome space for co-authors Melissa Monbouquette with the de Beaumont Foundation and Jessica Mulcahy with Success Measures to reflect on five years of working and thinking together to create structures for listening into BUILD’s culture.
This article highlights the listening process, led by Success Measures, that BUILD invested in over several years and what it enabled. It also highlights what made the listening possible, how BUILD and its community partners took action based on the feedback and how the long-term practice built trust and enabled transformative change.
The article discusses Success Measures’ past work with BUILD. It is the culmination of mutual trust, deep partnership and thoughtful collaborations with Melissa Monbouquette and the BUILD team. Opportunities to process and share ongoing learning in such good company are rare and treasured moments.
Thank you to Fund for Shared Insight and Foundation Review for creating the container for this ongoing conversation.
Read the full article at The Foundation Review.
The full article is publicly available thanks to the support of the Fund for Shared Insight, who sponsored the full issue.