The power of partnerships – look upstream

When I have the honor of meeting with Southwest Floridians to share ideas about how to build the future we all envision, I marvel at the passionate commitment of so many individuals and organizations working to build a flourishing community.

Collaboratory is committed to supporting their efforts to most effectively impact those they serve. As part of my work to amplify Collaboratory’s effectiveness, I’ve been reflecting on an experience during my previous 20 years in the behavioral health sector — specifically, those times when I would respond to individuals in crisis and help them get to a better place in their lives. It was rewarding to know I had assisted them, and I recognized in myself that unique human need we have to respond to a crisis and help others.

But, before long, too many of those I had helped would be back in the grips of the same behavioral crisis as before. It was my responsibility to understand why these crises kept reappearing. The answer I sought wasn’t to be found midstream in the recurring crisis. The answer was upstream, at the source that triggered it. This realization as a practitioner taught me the importance of taking a proactive approach to problem-solving.

BELAMARICH

It’s essential that we serve the immediate needs of our residents, and Collaboratory will always be the community resource to serve those needs. Collaboratory will always be committed to supporting our regional partners. But, as a community foundation with a regional perspective, it is also our responsibility to serve our community by looking for solutions upstream. In this way, our goal is to proactively solve problems by addressing the source, not just the symptoms.

In partnership with a diverse array of community stakeholders, Collaboratory’s upstream problem-solving strategies designed to convene and facilitate collective action across a range of individuals, organizations and resources focused on tackling the major challenges facing our region.

Our nearly 50 years serving Southwest Florida have shown that no single entity working alone can solve the problems we face. This is why our goal is to support coalitions that affect deeper impacts and sustainable change through a unified effort to accelerate the solving of these challenges at a systems level — that is, by improving the way we work together.

We are building on the success modeled by the FutureMakers Coalition, which comprises more than 150 regional organizations and more than 260 individual participants spanning business, education, government, nonprofits, philanthropy, residents and students.

Based on that track record, Collaboratory has made significant strides in establishing additional coalitions as we work to coordinate the solving of Southwest Florida’s most urgent needs by 2040. This recent expansion encompasses two coalitions: housing and health and wellness. Two additional coalitions focused on our built environment and our natural environment are in the formative stages.

If we are truly going to impact our urgent community issues, we must leverage the power of partnerships, which not only help generate more resources to support the work but provide the most valuable resource of all: a community that shares in the journey of innovation that can bring about sustainable change for all.

Together, we can do this. ¦

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