Beginning the Collaborative

In July of 2019 we worked together with Scott Spann of Innate Strategies to come up with a Strategic Mapping Framework. This required us to go through multiple steps of assessment. These are the steps of assessment we've taken:
​​
What's our current situation?
What is the state of Farm to School in Connecticut currently?
What are we trying to achieve, and how far are we from getting there? What does success and failure look like?

What structure is causing that reality?
What are the different components of our system - people, policies, conditions?
How do they relate to each other?
Which ones drive changes in which other ones, and why?

Where can we intervene to change that structure and reality?
Which of those factors are the most powerful leverage points?
Which ones need to be addressed first?
Which ones can we impact or change?

How can we make structural, and then behavioral changes?
What actions can we take together to move those leverage points? Which actions will get us the farthest, fastest?

How do we need to be, as individuals and a group, in order to create change?
How do we need to act and interact?
How should we be organized?
How should we move forward?

The Connecticut Farm to School Collaborative came together in 2019 to answer those questions through a strategic mapping process.

July-Aug 2019
​​
Consultant engaged - Scott Spann, Innate Strategies
Scott interviews eight groups of people, totaling ~30 individuals, to understand what their own goals in their work are
draft systems map created by Scott and the design team

Sept-Oct 2019
​
Four small group meetings hosted in Hartford, CT at Forge City Works with some interviewees, and some new stakeholders
Group goals set during each meeting, all which will feed into the larger ecosystem goal
Scott dug into the systems map
Attendees of the subgroups vote on the strongest levers in the system to create change
Scott analyzes the map based on a variety of parameters, including the votes. The larger systems map then gets scaled back to the most important pieces

Nov 2019
​
The 2 Day Summit! Everyone, and more becomes part of the process to discuss the actionable steps.