Our approach
Great community work starts with honoring and listening to diverse communities.
The OF/BY/FOR ALL approach starts with a simple equation: OF + BY = FOR. We believe that the most powerful way to become relevant FOR diverse communities is to become representative OF them and co-created BY them. Rather than guessing what an unfamiliar community might want or need, we encourage you to get to know that community. To spend time in that community. To listen and learn from them. And then, with community partners at the table, to figure out how you can most meaningfully work together to achieve each of your goals.
Many members of the Change Network have described OF/BY/FOR ALL as a whole new way of seeing and working with community. Here’s what’s different about our approach.
OF/BY/FOR ALL Model:
Community definition is specific and strategic
Primary tactic is community-centric partnership
Community work is driven by a cross-functional team of staff and trustees, spreading the work across the organization
Community work is an ongoing effort that affects projects, institutional policies, and processes
Community work is ongoing and sustained by core support
Community engagement professionals have expert support, working and building skills in intentional and reflective ways
Traditional Model:
Community is defined generically - “all those people out there”
Primary tactic is institution-centric outreach
Community work often gets stuck or siloed into education or outreach departments
Community work is primarily one-off projects that are dependent on project-specific funding and staff
Community work lives or dies by specific funding streams
Community engagement professionals are self-taught, working instinctively and building skills in an ad hoc way
We are honored and humbled to be building OF/BY/FOR ALL in a rich ecosystem of activists, artists, and changemakers.
We’ve gotten particular inspiration from:
Dr. john a. powell, director of the Institute of Othering and Belonging at UC Berkeley. Dr. powell is the architect of Targeted Universalism, the framework for equity we use in the Change Network program to encourage members to focus deeply on specific communities of interest, creating targeted strategies towards universal goals of belonging in civic and cultural space.
Dr. Amber Johnson, professor of communications and social justice at Saint Louis University and founder of the Justice Fleet. We are working with Amber to incorporate their groundbreaking research on radical inclusion, healing justice, and humanizing equity into the Change Network program. To hear more from Amber, check out this video of her 2017 Museumnext keynote speech, Revolution Requires Forgiveness.
Our bold Change Network members, all of whom are working hard to lead inclusive change in diverse civic and cultural organizations around the world.