Working with leaders in HIV/AIDS, youth and homelessness, community economic development, culture, international development, environmental and education sectors it is clear to me that cross-sectoral conversations need to take place on a more strategic level.

 We don’t live in silos.  So much of our work towards progressive social change however still is so isolated on a sector by sector basis.  Some surmise that the legacy of this isolationism is funder driven for the most part. It continues to be supported however by leadership that remains overwhelmed by fiscal and strategic survival within the limits of their specific sector.  New models are needed for leaders and their organizations to collaborate strategically, programatically and operationally.  This collaboration if it is grow would be best to take root from a values-aligned approach to change not from a framework shaped by fiscal crisis.

A new " mental metabolism" (from Jane Magruder Watkin’s "Change at the Speed of Imagination") is in order.  We need to be supporting the leadership of socially progressive organizations to communicate, connect, collaborate and create new strategic approaches to complex social issues. Building upon our collective strengths to re-educate funders on impact and results, to re-orientate elected officials on investing in change and innovation and to re-engage the public in shaping a just an equitable world.

 Too much to hope for you say?  Thinking small won’t take us the distance.