Community Terms

The framework of the DC Co-Lab is outlined in five key terms, as well as other foundational vocabulary, which maintain a cohesive environment for creating consistent school-related impact in the DC area. The following resources contain information on other organizations of similar nature, strategic planning references, and committee member details on roles and schedules.

The Five Conditions of Collective Impact

Common Agenda (https://www.dccolab.org/who-we-are)- Community Shared Mission- Advance equitable access to high quality arts and humanities learning opportunities for the District's

public and public charter schools

Shared Measurement (https://www.dccolab.org/house-of-data)- Develop and maintain a data-informed and data-driven culture within our community with Collective Impact and Education assessment and evaluation data collection and analysis.

Mutually Reinforcing Activities (https://dccolab.citizenlab.co/en/pages/information)-

Our committees are one of the ways that DC Co-lab connects with our community of practice for authentic collaboration and management of workflow. All activities are concerted

based on the goals of our shared mission.

Committees Structure:

• Equity and Justice Committee drives the community to center equity and defines what equitable access means.

• Education Programming Committee supports actionable output derived from the analysis of the Equity and Justice Committee.

• Data Committee grounds other committees with data and builds a data-driven and data-informed culture in the community.

• Communication Committee activates continuous updated communication between different corners of our community.

• DC Collaborative acts as the backbone support (see Collective Impact Conditions) of DC Co-lab and Committees.

Continuous Communication (https://dccolab.citizenlab.co/en/)- DC Co-lab is a democratic space open to our community for relevant discussions as they pertain to our shared mission and a tool for collecting insight and feedback. DC Collaborative staff act as facilitator roles to ensure effective

and efficient communication between all committees.

Backbone Support Team- DC Co-lab acts as the backbone support of our community's committee organization: we facilitate meetings, goals, and decision-making as they relate to our community's shared mission, supporting the overall infrastructure of our community. We are an enthusiastic and integral part of the Kennedy Center's Ensuring the Arts to Any Given Child (AGC) national network, providing the platform for collective impact in the District.

Foundational Terms & References

Reach- Broad dissemination of information / resources; generally, one-directional. Example: a one-off field trip (Source: Based on the definition from the Smithsonian's Office of the

Associate Provost for Education and Access)

Engagement- Two-way conversation / interactions that are transactional, conversational and/or inquiry. Example: multi-visit workshops / longer duration with the same group of students, and/or incorporated with Q&A in the process (Source: Based on the definition from the Smithsonian's Office of the Associate Provost for Education and Access)

Impact- Transformational; the outcome is more than the sum of its parts. Produces a new way of thinking or acting. Example: what a student takes away from a learning experience affects, deepens, connects his/her takeaway in another experience (Source: Based on the definition from the Smithsonian's Office of the Associate Provost for Education and Access)

Equity- Fairness and justice achieved through systematically assessing disparities in opportunities, outcomes, and representation and redressing [those] disparities through targeted actions. (Source: From the Collective Impact Forum, based on research and advocacy organization Urban Strategies Council)

Prioritizing students with less opportunity--such as students in Title I schools, DCPS Connected Schools, students who attend schools in wards 7 & 8, and high school students--with more programming. The Collaborative works to define quality with its Programming Committee. The rubric to evaluate education programming is two-fold: both the artistic/ humanities merit and relevance to classroom curricula is considered when completing program evaluations. (DC Collaborative Mission Statement)