This last month, in partnership with the Denver Foundation’s M. Julie Patiño, Barclay Jones, and LaDawn Sullivan; Joby Schaffer wrote an article featured in The Foundation Review. The article, Community Navigation as a Field of Practice: Reframing Service Delivery to Meet the Needs of Communities’ Marginalized Populations, calls out lessons learned through the Basic Human Needs Navigator …
Category Archives: Research and Policy Analysis
Summer Spark News: Making the Commitment
Our mission at Spark has long been to develop innovative and research-based solutions to society’s complex problems. After a summer that has seen devastating violence and expressions of xenophobia and hate across the country – as well as outpourings of generosity and stories of strength – we see more than ever the need to address …
Is Google Fusion Tables Right for My Social Impact Project?
What do the Colorado Farm to School Task Force and a Denver-based Community Navigator initiative have in common? Well, beyond the fact that they’re projects looking to make a big change in the world, they’re both initiatives that rely heavily on the idea of “place”. In our last blog in this series, we explored how …
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Data Mapping as a Tool for Change
Place matters, and whether or not we explicitly or consciously use the term “place-based initiative,” it describes much of the work we are undertaking right now. In essence, a place-based initiative is an effort to address an issue in a specific geographic area; instead of trying to solve the issue for everyone, everywhere, you focus …