Poverty is Wicked

Some problems are simple- like fixing a dent on your car or picking broken glass. Other problems are complicated - like designing a smartphone or building a rocket that can carry people to Mars. But then there are complex and wicked problems like poverty.

"A wicked problem is a social or cultural problem that is difficult or impossible to solve for as many as four reasons: incomplete or contradictory knowledge, the number of people and opinions involved, the large economic burden, and the interconnected nature of these problems with other problems." Jon Kolko, Wicked Problems

Poverty is wicked and complex because there is no one simple cause. There is also no simple approach or single solution that can "fix" it. For groups like I am leading in Troy NY there is no template that can be followed that guarantees success.

Poverty is linked with education, housing, a sense of safety, traumatic events, crime and drugs, systemic and policy issues, lack of opportunities and more. Poverty continues to be one of the most pressing social problems in our city. 

For example: All poverty level profiles for the City of Troy have climbed significantly over the last decade. Two census tracts in particular, within the City of Troy (404 and 405), have poverty rates that are over 47%. Census Tracts 404 and 405 have poverty rates of 47.6% and 53.9%, respectively. A total of 2,139 people are living in poverty within these census tracts. According to the American Community Survey 2010-2014 5-Year Estimates, the average unemployment rate for these census tracts is 22.85%.

With the One Troy initiative we see both the crisis and the opportunity to disrupt the cycle of poverty. Programmatic approaches alone have not been enough to reverse the trends. In fact, the percentage of people living in poverty as defined by the federal poverty levels has increased exponentially over the last 10-15 years. Despite the many Individual initiatives, isolated impact cannot move the needle on poverty reduction. Success for us could not be based on scaling individual organizations or nonprofits. In addition, creating a solution required active participation with the intended beneficiaries which are the residents with lived experience of poverty within the target neighborhoods. For maximum effectiveness, our strategies had to include leadership by those affected and based on a shared value that equity is the just and fair inclusion in which all can participate. 

We have been asking the question, what would it look like to come together in ways that serve individuals and strengthen the opportunities present in the community? This is a level of collaboration required to actually move the needle and help serve families. 

A Framework for Change

Complex, wicked problems and systems change requires leadership from various partners: state government leaders, funding agencies, schools, hospitals, the private sector, community organizer and more. This is where collective impact comes into play – as a method to engage partners from different sectors to solve the complex social problems of the day.

Collective impact – an approach which brings together different sectors for a common agenda to solve large complex problems – can be applied to existing collaborative work to help facilitate cross-sector engagement to effectively implement their strategies to achieve their desired results. Collective impact is built upon five interconnected components that can produce strong alignment and lead to large scale results. The five components, as spelled out in the paper above, are:

1. Common agenda – All participants share a vision for change that includes a common understanding of the problem and a joint approach to solving the problem through agreed-upon actions;

2. Shared measurement – All participating organizations agree on the ways success will be measured and reported, with a short list of common indicators identified and used for learning and improvement;

3. Mutually reinforcing activities – A diverse set of stakeholders, typically across sectors, coordinate a set of differentiated activities through a mutually reinforcing plan of action;

4. Continuous communication – All players engage in frequent and structured open communication to build trust, assure mutual objectives, and create common motivation; and

5. Backbone support – An independent, funded staff dedicated to the initiative provides ongoing support by guiding the initiative’s vision and strategy, supporting aligned activities, establishing shared measurement practices, building public will, advancing policy, and mobilizing resources. (Collective Impact Forum)

This is the drive of our work with One Troy: It is what our friends at FSG define as "collaborative work designed to create greater economic opportunity and build wealth for both individuals and communities."

You can follow our initiative at www.Onetroy.org