On May 13th, the Building Bridges Initiative sponsored a community forum for over 200 local leaders from across Tompkins County, New York to explore the possibilities of using "Collective Impact" as a way to move more effectively to realize the vision of a "socially just and ecologically sound local economy". This vision was generated at a 2-day workshop over two years ago by almost 120 leaders from around throughout the county.

Since the original workshop there has been a great deal of activity and discussion on many fronts that are moving us toward realizing the vision. The planning group of the Building Bridges Initiative, of which CTA is a member, believes that "Collective Impact" is a process that has a great deal of promise for helping us identify the high impact goals and collaborative efforts that will both speed our progress and increase our collective effectiveness as a community.

At the May 13 forum, participants learned about how collective impact works, how some other communities have been using the process with impressive results and explored a few examples of "big results" we might pursue locally.

In particular the group explored possible "big results" of:

• All Kids School Ready by Kindergarten
• Localizing our food system to ensure food security for all
• Eliminating structural poverty
• 100% of our electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

Evaluations indicate that the time was well spent and over 40 organizations want to be designated members of the Building Bridges Initiative and are committed to the following five principles for guiding their work and activities:

1. Put equity and environment at the center of all we do.      
2. Respect human rights and human dignity.
3. Build stronger, healthier relationships across race, class and place.
4. Ensure broad inclusion and access to decisions about available resources.
5. As with all other human rights, we commit to ensuring access for everyone in our community to: clean water, air and soil; fresh healthy food; living wage work; convenient public transportation; energy-efficient housing and renewable energy; and high-quality healthcare and education.

The Building Bridges planning group is working now on how we can keep up momentum and build greater capacity throughout the community to realize our vision.

To learn how you can join us, contact Kirby Edmonds.