The Colorado Trust's Healthy Communities Initiative: Results and Lessons for Comprehensive Community Initiatives

Achieving Synergy With Collaborative Problem Solving: The Value of System Analysis

“…Having a skilled facilitator can help (Conner & Easterling, 2009), but by their very nature community collaboratives struggle with the task of moving forward with a clear, focused systemchange strategy.…”

“…(p. 25) Numerous studies support this hypothesis (e.g., Conner & Easterling, 2009;Hawkins et al, 2009;Kania & Kramer, 2011;Hanleybrown, Kania & Kramer, 2012). However, an even larger body of work suggests that synergistic impact is more the exception than the norm (Kreuter & Lezin, 1998;Hallfors, Cho, Livert, & Kadushin, 2002;Brown & Fiester, 2007;Trent & Chavis, 2009;Kubisch, Auspos, Brown, & Dewar, 2010;FSG, 2011).…”

Disrupting a Foundation to Put Communities First in Colorado Philanthropy

“…His story of Colorado Healthy Communities Initiative laid the groundwork for board and staff to better understand The Trust's historical role in community-based work (Connor & Easterling, 2009;Connor, 2005;Easterling, Connor, & Larson, 2012). Another conversation with the board focused on understanding what other funders faced in their attempts at a more community-driven approach.…”

“…Over the course of a year we met with individuals who were knowledgeable about and had experience with some aspect of community-based initiatives. We examined the process and results of The Trust's first funding strategy, from 30 years ago -the Colorado Healthy Communities Initiative -and recognized the groundwork that strategy laid for The Trust's involvement with communities (Connor & Easterling, 2009). We attended conferences and meetings led by such groups as Grassroots Grantmakers and Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, drawing from the experiences of others who were involved in community-based work.…”

Becoming Strategic: Finding Leverage Over the Social and Economic Determinants of Health

“…The foundation sought to change this situation -and in the process to improve health across the state -through a variety of community-based initiatives that created venues for local problem-solving and offered opportunities to build individual, organizational, and collective capacity (Easterling & Main, 2016). The most prominent of these was the Colorado Healthy Communities Initiative, which engaged broadly representative stakeholders in a 15-month process of visioning, assessment, planning, and consensus formation (Conner & Easterling, 2009). …”