It all starts
with a spark
Creating a High Performance Community doesn't require millions of dollars, large grant proposals, legislative mandates or large committees. Instead, the community learns about, commits to, and accomplishes common goals as they progress from Spark to Ignition to Challenge.
High Performance Communities can rely on their partnership with SeeMore Impact Labs to provide guidance, materials, presentations, and access to monitoring tools.
Spark
Community Partners
Community Leaders
Every High Performance Community starts from a Spark. The Spark can be initiated by anyone – a mayor, a community activist, a governmental agency, a non-profit. Whoever they are, they have a deep desire to change their community.
During the Spark phase, community partners learn about CSM and reach out to community leaders of all kinds. These partners and leaders earn their own CSM Certificates, enabling them to deeply appreciate what becoming a High Performance Community will do, and to talk compellingly from their personal experience.
Ignition
Planning the challenge
recruiting organizations
raising funds
building Training capacity
Building infrastructure
The Ignition phase is focused on gaining concrete commitments across the community and preparing for the Challenge Phase.
Key to the Ignition Phase is coordinating incentives throughout the community in order to stimulate demand for gaining CSM Certification: by employers indicating preferential hiring and colleges by providing placement or credit for CSM Certificate holders. To satisfy this demand, schools, colleges, workforce programs, incumbent worker training and adult education programs need to develop capacity to coach people to earn their CSM Certificates.
Concrete goals and timelines for the Challenge are also chosen during the Ignition Phase.
Challenge
Large-scale Implementation
PublicizING and expandING
The Challenge begins with a kickoff annoucing community goals. During this kickoff event, community members from all parts of the community, representing all educational levels and sectors can speak about their experiences earning their CSM Certificates, and their vision for the transformation that will occur during the Challenge.
Over the Challenge Phase, 7.5-15% of the adult population in the community will earn CSM Certificates (e.g., 50,000–100,000 people in a community of 1 million), transforming their opportunities and the local labor market.
During the Challenge, progress towards community goals will be publicized to keep energy high and encourage new organizations to join the effort.