“When I took the helm of [Promise Neighborhoods Institute at PolicyLink], Geoffrey Canada’s leadership at HCZ and the power and potential embodied in collective impact inspired me. I was obsessed with improving the lives of the millions of children in America living in poverty. For years, local leaders had advocated for new federal investments, and they finally had them in the Promise Neighborhoods program. At PNI, our job was to organize the Promise Neighborhoods grantees into a national community of practice and support their work with technical assistance, evaluation, and fundraising support. We soon realized that without a disciplined approach to moving from talk to action, it would be difficult to accelerate results. Consequently, PNI fostered the collective impact approach to social change, and soon, our network of leaders from more than 40 communities across America adopted the framework.”