Jeff Edmondson

Is “Cat Herding” the Best Analogy for Collective Impact?

March 11, 2026

Back in 2006 when we started the work in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky on The Strive Partnership, we came to the realization this work was in great part an engineering challenge as much as anything else. There were many moving parts and they all needed to be “corralled” in such a way that we could [...]

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The Challenge of Funding the Backbone

March 4, 2026

As we work with sites across the country to build cradle to career civic infrastructure, we are learning a great deal about how communities are overcoming both the adaptive issues that are so fundamentally critical for changing culture to align limited resources and the technical solutions for improving supports for children on the ground. Perhaps [...]

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Bill Gates Doing His Part to Make Data Cool

February 25, 2026

In his 2013 Annual Letter Bill Gates, Co-Founder and Chairman of Microsoft, talks about the importance of using measurement to improve the human condition; incredible progress can be achieved when you set a clear goal and find a measure that you can directly connect interventions to in order to continuously improve and ultimately move the [...]

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Head Start Report Recommendations Aligned with Cradle to Career Collective Impact

December 5, 2025

The Advisory Committee on Head Start Research and Evaluation, established two years ago, recently released an outstanding final report containing recommendations for the future of the federal Head Start and Early Head Start programs. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius lays out 3 broad recommendations: a data-driven focus on school readiness and [...]

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The Difference between Collaboration and Collective Impact

November 12, 2025

We recently hit the benchmarks of having over 150 communities reach out to us and 80 communities having completed the Site Readiness Assessment to join the Strive Network. As we start our discussions with each community on the work of collective impact through building civic infrastructure, I would estimate at least half have declared “we [...]

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In Support of Strengthening District Race to the Top

June 13, 2025

Last Friday marked the final day to weigh-in on the new District Race to the Top language. We’re excited about many aspects of the proposal released in late May, and we hope to see the following policies remain in the final regulations to be released this summer: Competitive Preference Priority for Results, Resource Alignment, and Integrated [...]

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The Beautiful Side of “Enlightened Self-Interest”

March 20, 2026

Working with a few sites recently, I came to realize that “enlightened self-interest” is a beautiful thing. It’s often referred to in the negative because of the perception that people are being selfish if they think about how the partnership work could help an individual partner succeed. But in the end, real and sustainable partnerships do [...]

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We are Shifting To, Not Away

March 7, 2026

The energy and enthusiasm around the concept of a Cradle to Career Civic Infrastructure is palpable. At the recent Collective Impact panel held by the Center for American Progress, the room was packed. But more importantly - it was energized. There is a sense that something new is happening that can lead to fundamental shifts [...]

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The Importance of Failing Forward

February 17, 2026

At our convening last September, we talked a lot about “failing forward” in the work to build civic infrastructure. The idea resonated with communities because this is such challenging work to complete, and partners have to be willing to make mistakes along the way. We’re finding that this is no different on the national level [...]

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Using Metrics of Success to Build a Lasting Civic Infrastructure

January 31, 2026

While traveling to sites all over the country that are working to build the civic infrastructure necessary to addresses communities’ biggest problems and challenges, we hear about the concerns and issues with effectively engaging a broad cross-section of the community. The recent paper, Transactions, Transformations and Translations: Metrics that Matter for Building, Scaling and Funding [...]

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