Ascend at the Aspen Institute –a national network of 58 organizations, two classes of Aspen Institute Fellows, and a group of philanthropic partners who are building a knowledge base for real and scalable impact on low-income families–recently published an online essay, based on a panel discussion at its “ThinkXChange” first network convening, which included Connecting coauthor Peter Plastrik, that laid out the rationale behind investing in network building . See essay.
As Marci Young, the vice president of education, income, and health at the United Way, explained, the complexities of the issues surrounding poverty and two-generation issues today are “so deep and so severe and so opportunistic that we can’t afford to do this on our own. No one organization or sector could accomplish these challenges on its own. We have to think about how to layer on the networks to deal with the layers that exist and get to this ultimate goal of opportunity for all. Networking is the only way we can do that.”