United for Brownsville’s Work Highlighted in Systems Change Webinar

United for Brownsville Co-Directors Kassa Belay and David Harrington joined other collective impact leaders as panelists in a recent webinar hosted by the Collective Change Lab (CCL). The discussion was based on CCL’s recent article The Relational Work of Systems Change that was featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

In the article, Collective Change Lab explains why the dominant view of how social change happens – that only predetermined, quantifiable outcomes can create impact – is insufficient. They argue that those kinds of approaches, which are labeled “purely technical, rational approaches to systems change,” will not make much of a dent in shifting those deeper conditions holding problems in place, such as power and mental models.

Panel speakers discussed the most widely held mental models about how system change happens and why, in their experience, they are incomplete or insufficient to shift systems towards equity and justice. They shared their transformational work of using an inclusive approach to change and how it has affected the community members engaged in bringing about change, the evolution of how funders see their role, and the impact it has had on their work.

To learn more, watch the full webinar.

United for Brownsville is a collaboration between SCO Family of Services and Community Solutions.