Changemaker
Communities
We are building communities where everyone realizes their power to impact their world.
Where individuals use the skills of empathy, new leadership and collaborative team work to solve problems they care about.
Where organizations create systems and culture which supports empathy, creativity, and agency
Where ecosystems collaborate to support the next generation of changemakers.
We call this an “everyone a changemaker” world.
Case Study: North Central Massachusetts, a Changemaker Community
Local Partner: Mount wachusett Community College
Ecosystem Partners: fitchburg state university, mount Wachusett community college, fitchburg school district, leominster school district and local chamber of commerce
Over the last year, a core group of Change Team Leaders from North Central Massachusetts worked on the Changemaker Communities initiative to transform their high schools and their institutions of higher education into a cohesive continuum and support the next generation of changemakers for their communities.
The collaborating partners represent an impressive regional alliance of resources: Fitchburg State University, Mount Wachusett Community College, Fitchburg School District, Leominster School District and local Chamber of Commerce. These educational institutions came together and designed pathways for students to attain not only college credits, but credentials, prior to graduation.
Interwoven throughout, themes of changemaking, empathy, and social-emotional learning will provided a solid foundation for students at these schools, who gained the skills and values necessary to become powerful changemakers.
I recently participated in a regional ecosystem forecast with speakers from the Federal Reserve; every speaker’s number one concern is [recruiting a skilled] workforce. Embedding changemaking into our ecosystem is the most critical we can do to create a pipeline of skilled workers.
— LeAnn Scales Vice President of External Affairs, Mount Wachusett Community College, MA