By Michael Howell
Deb Halliday, Senior Policy Advisor for the Office of Public Instruction, was the keynote speaker at the Bitterroot College Community Symposium held last week in Hamilton. Approximately 80 people attended the event, the aim of which was to bring various non-profit organizations, volunteers, local officials and agency representatives together to identify existing needs in the community that can be addressed in a cooperative fashion to achieve results far beyond what any individual group or agency could accomplish.
Halliday has worked for the past 20 years advising non-profit organizations on issues of strategic planning, leadership development, and communications. At the symposium, Halliday emphasized the enormous success of the Graduation Matters Montana program, an initiative that is active in 56 communities in the state and has resulted in record-breaking high school graduation rates. She used the program as a model to discuss the various factors involved in achieving this kind of “collective impact.”
Some pre-conditions to a successful effort, according to Halliday, include getting a well-known and influential individual to serve as the face of the movement. It also helps to have some urgency to the issue and to have adequate resources to address it.
“A dedicated staff is worth more than money,” she said.
She also shared her insights into the conditions required for actually achieving a real collective impact and the different phases that such efforts pass through.
Susan Hay Patrick, CEO of United Way of Missoula County, an organization whose philosophy is built around the unification of diverse organizations, gave the introductory address. A networking luncheon was held in which all those attending shared their interests and looked for issues that provide common ground for collective action.
This was followed by some break-out sessions on grant writing, public communication, community conversations, national service, and civic engagement in the classroom.