United Way of Miami-Dade, located in Miami, Florida, recently celebrated its 95th birthday! In 1924, the precursor to United Way of Miami-Dade, the Miami Community Chest, held its first campaign, which raised $136,095 to support 12 local agencies, including Salvation Army, American Red Cross, and the YMCA. The Community Chest became the United Fund of Dade County in 1957, and it was finally in 1972 when the United Fund became

The Westbrook Children’s Project was formed in 2009 in Westbrook, Maine, just outside the city of Portland. The network’s founding goals and vision were mainly around high school graduation rates, specifically to have every student in Westbrook graduate high school prepared for their next steps, whether that be post-secondary education, the workforce, or military service. Some initial champions of the Westbrook Children’s Project included the mayor and other local municipal

About 7 to 10 years ago, the Bay Area Community Council (BACC) led an effort among community leaders to formulate ideas on how to create change in the community. Major partners in the effort were the Brown County United Way, the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation, and the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. The action planning relied on information from the Brown County LIFE (Leading Indicators for Excellence) Study

Voyage (formerly the Blue Ribbon Commission on the Prevention of Youth Violence) was formed in 2008 by a collection of elected officials and community leaders. The mayor of Wilmington, the district attorney, the superintendent of schools, local faith-based community leaders, and the head of United Way partnered together in response to a community call to address the rise of community crime and gang activity in 2007-2008. These players felt the need

Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd have reminded the country about the inequality that is woven into the fabric of many countries, especially the United States. Problems like intergenerational poverty and economic inequality, chronic and infectious disease, home flooding, and educational outcomes are all marked by the systemic racism that plagues the country. Leaders forge networks to reduce or end these wicked problems.

If you google network, the first result that comes up is a 1976 satire directed by Sidney Lumet. If you dig down the page further, you’ll get to computer networks, how shy people can network, and telecommunication network services. We use the word “network” a lot. It’s in our name. But, none of these results describe what we mean. Instead, when we talk about networks, we think about collaborations among