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The Community Quarterback Model: A Valuable Asset for Cities

Across America, individuals and organizations work tirelessly to create stronger, more resilient communities. They help families find jobs, get to work, stay healthy, and have affordable places to live in safe neighborhoods with good schools. Yet, too often, these groups are working side-by-side, rather than together, to achieve these goals. Confronting big community-wide problems requires many partners—residents, nonprofits, businesses, municipal governments—at the table working together. Community quarterbacks act as partners to local government, helping cities work smarter through a holistic approach to creating economic opportunity and promoting progress.

Community quarterbacks are trusted and established organizations that can articulate a vision, marshal funding sources, and align the efforts of multiple partners toward common goals. They are culturally competent—meaning that they understand the objectives of and can effectively interact with partners ranging from residents to government leaders—and serve a bridge for effective communication. They are a valuable ally of local governments because of their ability to create consensus on strategies, develop shared measurement systems, and reduce fragmentation and duplication of services.

Whether it is doubling high school graduation rates, halving the number of people living in poverty, or making sure all kindergarteners arrive at school ready to learn, having a local partner act as a community quarterback can help accelerate the pace of change and move organizations more rapidly toward shared goals.

The Quarterback Model in Action

PIP is a national laboratory for “collective impact” innovation at the neighborhood level, engaging residents and community leaders to build on the strengths of disenfranchised neighborhoods to ensure that every neighborhood can contribute to the health and vitality of a city. PIP’s broad range of projects and emphasis on data collection will show what is or is not working when local partners collaborate, guided by a community quarterback. PIP’s goal is to encourage the use of community quarterbacks to lead collective impact efforts, encourage innovation, and identify best practices and key learnings for the field.

Just as every community faces a unique set of challenges, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to being a community quarterback. PIP grantees have adapted the model to work for their neighborhoods and cities, but all are using the common principle of collaboration to solve a problem and achieve shared goals. In addition to their local efforts, the grantees participate in a learning community that supports skill building and knowledge sharing.

Cities benefit when community quarterbacks step up and lead the drive to connect people, places, and proven strategies. Community quarterbacks align smart policies, smart money, and smart approaches to improve neighborhoods and create opportunity for all.

A nationwide network of community quarterbacks will be a powerful force for progress for the country.
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