Community Impact
October 15, 2025
Collective Impact 101: What is it, and why is UWSCMI all in?
How working together across sectors creates lasting change in our communities
Andrea Meinema-Macklin
While the term sounds self-explanatory, “Collective Impact” is, in fact, a specific framework coined by the Stanford Social Review in 2011. “Collective Impact” describes a network of community members, organizations, and institutions who advance equity by learning together, aligning, and integrating their actions to achieve population- and systems-level change. The five conditions of Collective Impact include: a common agenda, shared measurement, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and a strong backbone organization (Collective Impact Forum).
At UWSCMI, Collective Impact strategies have been deployed to address complex social issues including infant mortality and community violence prevention. Here are two examples from Kalamazoo County:
In 2014, Kalamazoo County was experiencing a crisis of Black Infant and Maternal Mortality. The Black infant mortality rate was 15.5 deaths per 1,000 births and Black babies were 4x more likely to die before their first birthday than white babies. In 2013, the year before Cradle Kalamazoo was created, Kalamazoo had a higher infant mortality rate than Detroit, Flint, Libya, and Jamaica (YWCA Kalamazoo).
Local stakeholders, including healthcare providers, nonprofit organizations and municipalities realized that addressing this level of large-scale social change could not be done without cross-sector collaboration.
After the need was identified and partners committed to the work, Phase 2 began. With funding from Healthy Babies Healthy Start of Kalamazoo, Ascension Borgess Healthcare, and Western Michigan University, Cradle Kalamazoo began to identify priorities, strategic partners, baseline data and fundraising opportunities. The unifying goal of the collective was to create zero disparities in infant mortality and an overall infant mortality rate of less than 3.0 per 1000 live births within 10 years.
In the years that followed, Cradle Kalamazoo board members (including United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region, now UWSCMI) facilitated community outreach, identified funding, established shared metrics, created infrastructure and processes, created common action steps and strategies, and raised $1.8 million in the first 4 years to support a strong backbone of administration and data support.
Today, “Cradle Kalamazoo is a multi-agency community initiative that aims to identify and implement evidence-based and holistic interventions to reduce Black infant death and promote respect for Black birthing families, women and their children…. Our strategies are data-driven from our Fetal Infant Mortality Review Team (FIMR) to create best practice recommendations that are specific to the needs of our community.” (Cradle Kalamazoo).
Since the inception of Cradle Kalamazoo, the overall infant mortality rate in Kalamazoo County has decreased from 6.5 to 5.3, a 17% decrease. While the Black infant mortality rate did show a 32% decrease, there continues to be a significant racial disparity in birth outcomes, with Black infant mortality averaging 10.5 in most recent data.
Subcommittees of the Cradle Kalamazoo governing board include Fetal Infant Mortality Review, Health Equity, Reproductive Health, Safe Sleep and more. Cradle Kalamazoo is also the local administrative support organization for Rx Kids, a revolutionary cash prescription program for babies that is in its first year in the City of Kalamazoo. As of this writing, the state budget includes funds to expand Rx Kids to additional cities across the state of Michigan. United Way of South Central Michigan continues to support Cradle Kalamazoo and Rx Kids through grant funding and as members of the governing board.
Between 2018 and 2020, shooting incidents in Kalamazoo more than doubled, and the number of shooting victims nearly tripled. Local advocates and community leaders in both the City of Kalamazoo and Kalamazoo County worked to declare gun violence as a public health crisis. Inspired by a collective impact initiative in Milwaukee (The Milwaukee Blueprint for Peace), Kalamazoo residents formed a gun violence prevention learning group to see if the public health approach could be adapted to meet the needs of our community, “A public-health model employs upstream supports that prevent violence, such as poverty reduction, education, investment in the out-of-school-time sector and promoting economic stability. It also employs downstream interventions that prevent further harm, such as mental healthcare, grief support, and community engagement efforts that reduce the chance of retaliation.” (Kalamazoo Blueprint for Peace)
Community input was collected through 80 hours of touchpoints, meetings, focus groups, surveys and listening sessions throughout 2021-2022. The Blueprint for Peace goals and action steps were solidified and published in 2023. Dozens of action steps were divided into 6 goal areas:
- Stop the shooting, stop the violence
- Increase access and build capacity for healing and community restoration
- Support children, youth and families
- Cultivate economic stability
- Foster safe and strong neighborhoods
- Strengthen capacity and coordination
In 2024, the Blueprint Coordinating Council was formed as a strong backbone support of the collective impact initiative. The Council is tasked with facilitating goal working groups to achieve measurable outcomes toward Blueprint goals. They also foster cross-sector partnerships, engage residents and stakeholders, and are in the process of developing a centralized data tracking system.
United Way of South Central Michigan has been involved in the creation and implementation of the Kalamazoo Blueprint for Peace since 2021. Through funding, thought partnership, facilitation support, and as a member of the Coordinating Council, UWSCMI has emphasized the alignment between Blueprint for Peace goals and our strategic priorities of supporting a safety net and pathways to financial stability for ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) households.
Thanks to the continued collaborative efforts of the many organizations aligned with the Blueprint for Peace, the City of Kalamazoo saw a 54 percent decrease in homicides from 2023 to 2024. In addition, non-fatal shootings were down 28%. (Brad Deveraux, mlive.com) We hope to see ongoing downward trends as community partners continue to invest time and resources.
How do Collective Impact strategies work?
Before the work can begin, certain community factors need to be present. Collective Impact strategies require an influential individual, organization, or small group to champion the work and bring cross-sector decision makers together (and keep them engaged over the lifespan of the strategy). Adequate financial resources (seed funding of at least 2-3 years) is required to support infrastructure. Over time, collective fundraising or fiscal sponsorship can continue to support a backbone organization. Most importantly, a sense of urgency helps to motivate stakeholders to try a new approach together to change an issue or address a community crisis.
Leaning into Collective Impact and Community Partnerships
In pursuit of communities where everyone can thrive, UWSCMI is committed to collaborative approaches, community partnerships and collective impact initiatives. Not only is this the most equitable and effective way to create systems-level change, it is the most financially efficient. As funding landscapes continue to shift, UWSCMI and other philanthropic partners seek to make the most impactful investments to benefit our community and thoughtfully steward the resources entrusted to us by donors. The issues facing our friends and neighbors are complex, multi-layered, and overwhelming. UWSCMI Community Impact staff see collective impact as an important tool in our belt as we seek to serve ALICE families and make lasting change.
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