Abstract for:Community Based System Dynamics, Rapid City Collective Impact

More communities are choosing to tackle challenging system level issues (e.g., childhood obesity, health disparities, affordable housing) using a collective impact strategy. Fundamental to an effective collective impact strategy is recognizing the larger system and identifying initiatives for collective action. Community based system dynamics (CBSD) is emerging as a promising approach for convening a larger group of community leaders, building capacity for seeing the system, and identifying actions to focus on for collective impact. This presentation presents the process and outcomes from a multiyear collective impact initiative in Rapid City South Dakota using CBSD. This presentation shows how CBSD and collective impact were working in tandem and enabled Rapid City to create its first ever Native/non-Native major initiative. The OneHeart Center, currently more than 50% in operation, combines the interconnected system variables of housing, homelessness, behavioral health, economic development, and race relations in ways designed by the community, and in ways that could serve as a model for other cities. The presentation contributes by introducing collective impact approaches to social issues, provides overview of the process in using CBSD to the issues facing Rapid City, and presents some of the co-created causal loop diagrams and stock and flow models used in the city.