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Approaching Systems Change Through Felt Difference and Centering Community Voices

The Investment in Families Initiative, launched by the Steelcase Foundation earlier this year, will follow the families of 30 Black and Latina mothers in Kent County, centering their voices in exploring the evolving needs, emerging strategies, family progress and felt differences over the next 10 years to positively change behaviors of systems and policies to maximize the well-being of Michigan families.

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A group of 30 women are gathered together and smiling for a posed photo.

In support of the long-term needs of families, the Steelcase Foundation is leading an initiative that will prioritize the shifting needs of families over time as they change and grow, while also helping the foundation develop new strategies to best work alongside the communities it serves.

As CMF reported earlier this year, the foundation announced the launch of the Investment in Families Initiative, a 10-year program aimed at positively changing behaviors of systems and policies to maximize the well-being of Michigan families. 

The Initiative officially began in August with the launch of the cohort partners which includes 30 Black and Latina mothers in Kent County, several community partners, and the foundation’s research team at Datawise Consulting. 

The initiative centers on families with children aged 12 or younger and will follow the evolving needs, emerging strategies and family progress toward their self-determined goals through touchpoints and collaboration with the mother and their families.

“Often moms lead families, and so just like how we convene other leaders within philanthropy, why would we not gather the leaders of families and partner with them and listen?” Stacy Stout, director of Family-Centered Philanthropy at the Steelcase Foundation said. 

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Daniel Williams speaking at an Initiative cohort gathering.
Daniel Williams, president of Steelcase Foundation and CMF trustee, at an Initiative cohort gathering. Image courtesy of the Steelcase Foundation.

Through a learning cohort study and policy campaigns, the foundation and mothers will study the impact on the felt difference and well-being of the mothers and their families, identify key policies and systemic behaviors that need adjustment to better serve Michigan families and inform additional opportunities for change during and after the cohort study.

Stout shared that these systemic behaviors can be within policy, practice, and how systems listen to individuals within several sectors.

“It’s not just the philanthropic sector, it’s also government, nonprofits, schools, all these systems that impact families. We’re taking a different look at these systems from those who lead families because often families are not at those tables,” Stout said. 

Through local and national research and focus groups, the foundation identified the resources and wellness services needed in support of the cohort mothers’ bandwidth during the 10-year commitment to the cohort, aiming to reduce mental cognitive load and increase personal agency to allow space for families to work toward the futures they envision, including: 

  • Monthly guaranteed basic income to reduce cognitive load on families.
  • Child savings accounts.
  • Transformational cohort group learning and relationship building to expand support networks.
  • Dedicated staff to support the creation and advancement of goals and to navigate resources and systems to maximize outcomes.
  • Mental health and wellness services that are available to the whole family.
  • Self-identified personal and professional development.
  • Options to engage more deeply with the study by serving on the research and evaluation committees, and the planning team for cohort gatherings and more. 

“We want to be clear that guaranteed basic income programs work. We are not studying GBI (Guaranteed Basic Income) nor thinking of this Initiative as a GBI pilot. While we will, however, collect data on the impact of direct payments in support of the larger GBI movement, we are providing GBI to give cohort partners more breathing room so they can engage in this effort,” Stout said. 

The foundation partnered with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to house a caseworker within the Women’s Resource Center for greater access to case management and benefits and to prepare families for when they transition off of benefits. 

Stout shared that the focus on wellness, wellbeing and felt difference is woven throughout all the cohort does. 

“Taking the time to focus on felt difference is incredibly important; that’s how over time we’re going to learn together, identify campaigns for change collectively and then work towards those over a long period of time,” Daniel Williams, president of Steelcase Foundation and CMF trustee, said. 

Williams shared that the 10-year duration of the initiative moves past the sometimes-fleeting nature of philanthropic support.

“It’s been exciting to look at the initial goal setting that the moms have outlined for themselves and their families, and because it’s a longer runway, they are able to think about their goals more incrementally. I think there’s a lot of learning to be had for the philanthropic sector around what it looks like to engage in long-term systemic work,” Williams said. 

The cohort partners will gather quarterly with ongoing data collection and surveys around felt differences. The gatherings are centered around organic learning and relationship building. 

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Two women practicing wellness through meditation.
Cohort women practicing wellness at a cohort gathering. Image courtesy of the Steelcase Foundation.

“I think that the mothers getting to know each other is healing; it’s important for them to know that they’re not alone, and they can start to see these systems differently and not internalize the barriers that they face. A part of systems change is narrative change, reclaiming and sharing your own story with people who have similar experiences that they resonate with is very powerful,” Stout said. 

Williams shared that the foundation was intentional in changing the framing of the Initiative, not as a training program or constrained to benchmark goals, but to allow the organic nature of how people come together, learn together and co-create solutions. 

“Philanthropy needs to understand the inherent power structure that exists; we have to spend an important amount of time questioning our assumptions and ideas in our systems and structures so that they are aligned with our values. We’re not going to hit the mark every time, but we must have this relentless commitment to questioning ourselves to make sure that we are lifting up the brilliance and agency of those who have been historically disconnected from systems,” Williams said. 

Want more?

Learn more about the Investment in Families Initiative. 

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