Learning Community

Building a Shared Learning Community

At the upcoming Assets Learning Conference (ALC) in September, CFED will officially launch the Assets & Opportunity Network—a national movement-oriented group of advocates, practitioners, policymakers and others working to expand the reach and deepen the impact of asset-based strategies. The Network is both a learning community and an advocacy community; connecting the assets field nationally to improve service delivery and innovation, as well as to increase participation in the policy process at all levels of government.

The “learning community” aspect of the Network will be manifested through a variety of approaches and opportunities. In addition to rich, multifaceted, in-person events like the Assets Learning Conference and self-directed virtual tools and resources, CFED is pleased to announce a new approach to building a shared learning community: Intensive Learning Clusters.

Intensive Learning Clusters are time-limited, thematically-based, small groups that learn from each other and outside experts to advance a learning agenda on specific topics or approaches.

The first of these opportunities, Integrating Financial Empowerment into Social Service Delivery Programs, sponsored by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, challenges competitively-selected participants to identify and work toward learning goals related to increasing integration of financial empowerment strategies into their existing work—whether that work is providing emergency food assistance, workforce development services, housing or some other kind of social service assistance. The window of opportunity for this Intensive Learning Cluster has closed, so stay tuned for an announcement of selected participants. Applicants will be notified on or before August 30.

On September 4, CFED, ideas42 and the Citi Foundation announced the launch of the Behavioral Economics Technical Assistance (BETA) Project. The goal of the BETA Project is to tackle tough social problems by designing and testing behavioral interventions on real world products, processes and/or services. Through the BETA project, CFED and ideas42 will work collaboratively with three to five organizations to pilot a behavioral intervention within an asset-building program or service. These three to five pilot organizations will be selected through a competitive application process. Click here to read more about the project, selection criteria and timeline.

Opportunities to participate in these Intensive Learning Clusters are limited exclusively to members of the Assets & Opportunity Network. Click here to join the Network today!