Impactful Leaders
Blackshires Leadership Program
Background
The Blackshires Leadership Program serves as a direct pipeline to build more diversity, equity, and inclusiveness on planning boards, civic committees, and other decision-making bodies in the city of Pittsfield and in Berkshire County. By supporting the growth and development of Black leaders in the community, Blackshires creates a more inclusive and equitable environment for all.
Blackshires president Dubois Thomas and Board chair John Lewis approached Impact Hacker to support the program’s inaugural cohort by training them on the impact charter process. The impact charter process was included in the program as a key building block to help program participants plan, develop, and realize their own unique community initiative or business endeavor within the Berkshires.
What is an Impact Charter?
“The Impact Charter is a foundational document that outlines a project's desired outcomes, goals, and objectives, with a focus on the impact the project will have on the community or organization, emphasizing the importance of working backward from the end goal.”
The Impact Charter has been used by Team R3SET and other nonprofits to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for community causes in the Berkshires and has been an instrumental tool to for establishing partnerships and stakeholder buy-in for various initiatives.
Approach
We developed an in-depth training curriculum for the Blackshires Leadership Cohort to access. It included a slide deck describing each aspect of the Impact Charter, explaining its importance, and sharing how to think about it and apply it to their project.
We also developed an Impact Charter app for members who preferred or required a mobile solution to create their impact charter.
Accompanying the training and app was an Impact Charter template for program members to fill out.
By going through the training and writing their own Impact Charter, program members were able to further define their goals and vision while also considering some of the risks and other factors that could limit their impact or block their project from achieving its goal.
