Collective Impact Model
Partnering with local nonprofits
"It takes a village of community partners, not just the school system, to raise and support our children."
A Siloed Approach to Education
Right now, Lynchburg treats the school system as a completely isolated entity. We expect our teachers and school administrators to solve every societal problem entirely on their own, within the four walls of a classroom.
This siloed approach is burning out our educators and failing our students. City Council often treats the school district as a competing financial interest or a separate burden, rather than recognizing it as the absolute center of our city's economic and neighborhood stability. When the city, local nonprofits, colleges, and the business community all operate in their own separate lanes without a shared vision, resources are wasted, and our most vulnerable students inevitably slip through the cracks.
Isolated Burden
Expecting a single classroom to address poverty, food insecurity, and emotional trauma entirely on its own is an impossible ask that breaks teachers and neglects student needs.
Dave's Proposed "Village" Plan
Unleash Community Partners
Schools are designed for education, not social services. Dave will actively recruit and align Lynchburg's resource-rich network of nonprofits, faith-based groups, and businesses to provide the "wrap-around" services (like mentorship, food security, and after-school care) our students need, allowing teachers to focus strictly on teaching.
Why It Takes a Village
Stanford's 2011 Research
This 2011 study found that large-scale social changes require broad, cross-sector coordination rather than the isolated interventions of individual organizations.