A new full suite of human services field-building tools and innovator resources are now available at nextgenhumanservices.org.

Co-created and informed by The Kresge Foundation’s second National Next Generation initiative cohort and advisors led by Leadership for a Networked World at Harvard University, with support from evaluation partner Engage R&D and Kresge’s Human Services Program, these new insights, ideas, innovations and action steps reflect the cohort’s efforts to help families living with low incomes achieve social and economic mobility.

The learning site delivers a new framework with concrete action steps, insights, and ideas to help leaders as they work to amplify the agency, autonomy and dignity of people, families and communities. To inspire and guide other leaders in this critical work, the NextGen cohort documented the top six action steps along each of the four dimensions of the Human Services Value Curve: Governance and Structures, Insight and Evidence, Services and Solutions, and People and Culture.

In addition to highlighting the experiences of organizational leaders from around the country, the site also includes in-depth case studies on organizations that have successfully led transformation efforts in the human services field to build capacity and achieve breakthrough outcomes that advance multi-generational economic success.

These case studies feature real-world experiences and outline complex and relevant situations that human services innovators encounter. Leaders in the field can bring these cases to their organizations, incorporate them into professional development sessions as teaching tools, and use the cases as a reference point to inspire new insights, innovations, and best practices for the field.

Along with the case studies, the site offers guiding questions essential to accelerating social and economic mobility related to human services approaches, models and strategies – such as 2Gen and public private partnerships – that leaders and innovators in the field can explore with their teams.

“The NextGen cohort members invested two years accelerating innovations within their respective organizations, but also ideating and capturing insights to help other human services leaders improve outcomes and impact. Throughout this journey, the cohort focused on a North Star of racial equity in social and economic mobility, and how human services systems can improve respect, autonomy, agency, power, and dignity of people we work with,” said Dr. Antonio M. Oftelie, executive director, Leadership for a Networked World.

“Having cohort members from both the public and private sector proved invaluable. You can’t build next generation organizations, whether in the public sector or the private sector, without recognizing that the work is done together. It’s certainly not siloed on its impact in community,” said NextGen Advisor Tracy Wareing Evans, president and CEO of the American Public Human Services Association.

“The NextGen leaders provided so many rich examples of what it takes to redesign services and systems that center the autonomy, dignity and agency of the people they serve. This learning site lifts up many of those insights as well as concrete tools and frameworks that have the potential to transform the human service sector. Anyone working to create equitable and thriving communities will find inspiring ideas and sage guidance from these innovative organizations,” said Sonia Taddy-Sandino, co-founder of NextGen evaluation partner Engage R+D.

“The NextGen leaders are relentlessly focused on person centered systems change in partnership with families to center racial equity and racial justice to advance multigenerational family social and economic mobility,” said Raquel Hatter, managing director of Kresge’s Human Services Program. “The insights, case studies, and action steps on this site were developed by and for human services organizations nationwide and globally to create a better, brighter, and more equitable future for individuals, families, and communities.”

To learn more, click here.