Organizations that provide direct services – such as housing, food, and counseling – fill critical needs in communities. But these needs are also symptoms of systemic problems. How do organizations address both the symptoms and the systemic inequities that cause them? How does addressing systemic issues inform, strengthen, and sustain direct service work? For many organizations, meaningful constituent participation is at the center of addressing the symptoms and fixing the systems that cause them.
CUP teamed up with New York Foundation, Building Movement Project, and designers WeShouldDoItAll to create Engage to Change. This slide deck breaks down the connection between direct service work and supporting higher level social and policy change. Drawing from the work and leadership of service organizations in the New York Foundation’s Learning Lab, this tool uses case studies to illustrate specific actions organizations can take to integrate meaningful constituent participation into their work, and how their work stands to benefit by doing so.
Download your copy of the slide deck here!