Here at Childhood Prosperity Lab, we understand that collaboration and the space to reimagine what’s possible are key ingredients for a culture of innovation and to develop novel solutions to complex problems negatively impacting children, families, and communities. The Ashoka Learning Lab agrees, noting “Lasting change does not happen by lone heroes; it requires teams of people, strong institutions, and support from every part of society.” The Foundation Strategy Group (FSG) expands on this notion, sharing, “Systems change is both a process and an outcome. Both a verb and a noun. Collective impact is literally an approach for leveraging representatives of a system to change the conditions associated with a complex problem.”
Childhood Prosperity Lab intentionally integrates these key ingredients into the Mastermind, a curated experience in which changemakers, those designing and advancing innovations that address social determinants of child health, development, and well-being, share their work and then explore how to advance their innovation with a panel of advisors from across Connecticut Children's. Advisors have expertise in different facets of child health and experience designing, testing, implementing, scaling, and evaluating programs and services. A majority of advisors come from programs affiliated with the Office for Community Child Health, which is nationally recognized as a pioneer in building partnerships across sectors known to child health, development, and well-being, as demonstrated in Figure 1, OCCH Flower Diagram.
Figure 1: OCCH Flower Diagram
Since 2016, Childhood Prosperity Lab has facilitated 63 Masterminds with 55 advisors from across Connecticut Children's.* Innovations ranged from programs and services that engage children and families directly, BrightStart for Families developed by Building Health Families, to system transformation strategies, like Expanding Provider Outreach to Include Early Learning developed by Help Me Grow Vermont.
We like to connect with changemakers after the Mastermind and learn what was most helpful or beneficial about the experience. They consistently indicate it is helpful to:
• step away from the day-to-day work and think strategically about where the innovation is in its development in relation to what they want the long-term trajectory to be;
• have a safe space to discuss what is working well, what the pain points are, and what other ideas they have;
• brainstorm and strategize with an unbiased panel of advisors; and
• receive a set of actionable recommendations to advance their work.
Childhood Prosperity Lab is committed to helping children thrive in the environments and systems in which they live, learn, work, play, and pray by guiding the development of innovations. We are currently scheduling Masterminds for 2024. Let us know if you want to participate in one by completing this form. We will then get to work on the Mastermind, which includes:
• A 60-90 minute meeting with a multi-disciplinary panel of 6-9 advisors from across Connecticut Children's. The meeting will kick off with a 10-15 minute presentation about the innovation before transitioning to a semi-structured discussion facilitated by Childhood Prosperity Lab.
• Advisors will complete a brief survey after the meeting, documenting their feedback and recommendations.
• Childhood Prosperity Lab will compile feedback and recommendations from advisors and share a short report with you.
• You will also have the opportunity to have a brief follow-up meeting with Childhood Prosperity Lab to debrief the Mastermind, review the recommendations, and discuss any outstanding questions you may have.
*Note: Numbers are reflective of efforts through November 22, 2023.