Healing Democracy-going local (and a pinch of collective impact)

“However, if Constitutional Localism is to fulfill its promise of restoring faith in American democracy through experiential learning, it is not enough for individual communities to successfully solve their local problems. Although to do so would have enormous benefit for those communities and the individuals involved, new ideas and solutions will still need to spread from one community to others that share similar challenges and circumstances. If Constitutional Localism is to have an impact on the nation as a whole, there must be ways to ensure that the best ideas emerge from this hoped-for hothouse of local experimentation and spread rapidly across the country.” (ch.6, p.61)

“In his treatise, Diffusion of Innovation, political scientist, Everett Rogers, identified several elements necessary for a truly innovative idea to spread.[ 96] These are (1) a communication system to disseminate information about the idea to other individuals and groups, (2) a social system that contains communities of practitioners who are interested in and capable of attempting to replicate the idea, and (3) time for the idea to gain adoption within those social systems. The growth of Promise Programs from the initial experiment in Kalamazoo, in 2005, to its implementation in over two hundred local communities and ten states twelve years later, provides validation of Rogers’ theory.”(ch.6, p62)--on this one he comments on the relationship of this information to Collective Impact, a really interesting and effective way to draw people towards success: "There are a “collective impact” elements in the second quote, which I thought was very helpful (1) Communications System = BACKBONE, (2) Community of Practitioners = COMMON PROGRESS MEASURES, MUTUALLY REINFORCING ACTIVITIES, COMMUNICATION, (3) Time = COMMON AGENDA"