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Results Network: A Journey to Transform Communities by Cultivating Caring Communities

September 28, 2023

Our Results Network cohort, a part of our Results Innovation Lab, is a dynamic nine-month learning collaborative that brings together leaders from across the Lutheran Services in America network to explore and innovate new strategies and approaches that will reshape how we engage children and families, with a specific focus on racial justice.

Thanks to a new partnership between Lutheran Services in America and the ELCA, grassroots faith-based ELCA church-led organizations and congregations have joined our 2023–2024 cohort to help us answer the question: “What will it take to stabilize families in their communities, ensuring families remain intact, and children do not enter out-of-home care?”

The Results Network is designed to accelerate innovative approaches, revamp how we engage families in crisis, and create pathways to keep families together, especially children, youth, and families who are over-represented in the child welfare system.

This proven approach has produced tremendous results in past years, and we believe that this year’s cohort will contribute immensely to our efforts, having already reached over 25,000 children and families in our Lab to date.

Organizations that have joined this transformative journey will have the opportunity to:

  • Access expertise from across the network and national thought leaders.
  • Become part of a learning community through the exchange of ideas and learning, building lasting, supportive relationships within the network.
  • Develop new approaches to achieve results and engage partners in moving the work forward.
  • Challenge the status quo and identify barriers to improving equitable outcomes for children, youth, and families.

Throughout the year, participants will create results-driven action plans through a step-by-step process by delving into key themes, incorporating and amplifying lived expertise, and utilizing plain language to engage a wider audience in addressing disparities. They will also examine and pursue opportunities to shift policies, practices, resources, and power structures all aimed at supporting and sustaining equitable outcomes for children, youth, and families. The goal is for each organization to consistently achieve measurable and impactful advancements by increasing equitable access to supports and strengthening community networks through a racial equity lens, advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion as a social norm.

Stay tuned for more information on this incredible journey of impact and transformation.

Renada Johnson is Senior Director of Children, Youth and Family Initiatives at Lutheran Services in America.