Projects & Initiatives

Impact 907 is committed to connecting with Pacific Northwest Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and Oregon communities to learn their stories and work to define gaps of service in each unique area. With a commitment to transparency and connection, we work together to build collaborative initiatives and projects. We distribute funding in partnership with our community while providing project management, overseeing research & data collection and reporting, creation of marketing and branding, and sharing a framework to connect community voices to ensure lasting results.

COMMUNITY VOICE

Impact 907 builds relationships with local communities which allows for identification of gaps in resource access for each region. We rely on local perspectives to understand, shape, and implement solutions that are community driven. This process, called "community voice" is not centered on a specific ideological framework, but instead is a tool for connection - allowing for community ownership and long-term sustainability of projects.

Often model are linear or one-sided, focusing on strategies, goals, timelines, metrics, and accountability. These efforts don’t recognize the messiness and complexity of the local challenges, so they often are ineffective and, sometimes, even backfire. This can leave communities frustrated and discouraged.

Centering community voice is an approach to addressing challenges and efforts to change complex systems for every member of the community. This system of design combines human-centered design with complex systems theory, and best practices:

Create designs that help expose barriers and increase opportunity for those most impacted
Transform autonomy by shifting the relationships between control methods to involve those most impacted by the outcomes
Generate critical learning and increased agency for those involved in the design work through authentic connections

Community voice integration is both a flexible process that can be used by teams and is a set of leadership habits that can be practiced daily. It can be used in a variety of ways and by a variety of people, including innovation efforts, strategic planning, community-driven design, and collaborative teams.

Impact 907 includes the community throughout the process of design because our team has seen this method work firsthand, watching it revolutionize and inspire extraordinary change within community structures including relieving the pressure from resource silos. These methods align with our values system, allowing us to "radically listen." Each community has their own unique and complex culture, practices, and history. Therefore, each community must participate in defining and building sustainable solutions for local needs.