Reflections on New Haven's Public Innovator's Lab in Education

When you face outward as an organization you focus on people’s aspirations, you rethink the work that you do, you craft different relationships with other organizations and you question many aspects of your structure and function. This was the message we heard this past week from Rich Harwood, CEO of the Harwood Institute. I met Rich this past spring as part of the Education Mobilization Cohort led by United Way Worldwide. Ten communities around the country have been chosen to model what it takes to be a “community impact” organization and the Harwood Institute is the technical consulting partner. Rich has worked with scores of organizations that are concerned with the “Common Good” and has witnessed firsthand, both success and failure with efforts designed to create positive change in communities.

The requirement, he suggests, for the successful efforts, center around creating an engaged community. Harwood’s premise posits an engaged community occurs when the work that you undertake aligns with what people aspire to as a possible future. About 100 leaders from the private sector, the School District, the Universities, the Clergy, Foundations, City Government and the Non Profits spent a day learning and discussing what it takes to be effective as a community leader. We were challenged and we were inspired. And we all understood that there are no magic bullets when it comes to changing conditions that underlie the seemingly intractable problems of educational and economic disparity that our community faces.

We are fortunate in New Haven to have all of the formal leadership of the community on the same page with regards to changing and improving our education system. The Mayor, the Superintendent, the Board of Education and NEA are leading a brilliant strategy that is bold and comprehensive. The strategy requires significant change both within the school system and with the community organizations that support the students and their families. The work that is required to bring about the bold goals is very difficult and will require both structural and behavioral changes. As a partner with the District and the City I have witnessed the commitment and the hard work underway and our community should be proud.

There are no quick fixes to the challenges we are facing. We need to make the “system” that nurtures and educates our children work more effectively. That requires the engagement and focus of our community institutions and our citizens. We can look around the country for the city that has the “best practice” model and all we find are pieces that are working and we in New Haven, have our fair share of those. What we need is a community culture of innovation that unlocks our potential and mobilizes and aligns are abundant resources. The conversation we had last week began the learning around what is required for innovation, however the conversation needs to dramatically expand. The United Way will do all we can to keep that conversation moving forward by finding effective ways for citizens to give, to volunteer or the advocate.