Background

In 2012, Tewatohnhi’saktha analyzed reports which highlighted trends indicating declining socio-economic conditions within Kahnawà:ke at that time.

The reported trends included an increase in unemployment, high school dropout rate increasing, social assistance recipients increasing, youth protection cases increasing, an increase in numerous various social issues, and the median household incomes declining, among others.

Community organizations, working in these areas, began looking at these challenges and realized community-wide collaboration and support were vital to finding solutions, resulting in the Collective Impact process in Kahnawà:ke. A Roundtable with representatives from these organizations was formed to provide administrative and financial support to the KCI Support Team, ensuring the Collective Impact approach is well-supported on a community-wide basis and effectively implemented to achieve positive outcomes.

Collective Impact

A Collective Impact is a process to tackle adaptive problems. Collective Impact addresses the problem holistically and has everyone abandon individual agendas in favor of a collective approach to improving our community, seeking to build a movement, engage a variety of important actors and stakeholders in a drive toward shared goals.

Rather than have different entities working separately on similar goals, creating overlap and more competition for funding, this process can assist in creating greater community-wide aspirations and collaboration across all groups. With a collective impact, having clear and shared community-wide goals can increase our chances of success and create a stronger tomorrow for us all.