Looking Ahead to 2022
In 2022, our focus is on furthering our movement — on elevating the voices of our members, on continuing to work closely with our partners on strengthening our approach and on making sure we consistently deliver. Here are a few things we have planned.
Improve the UpTogether Community member experience
While we recognize the majority of social capital exchanges happen in-person and through other means, it’s important for us to provide tools to facilitate those exchanges on our platform and support members in finding and connecting with each other. To do so, we will expand the UpTogether Builders. Builders are a group of members who serve as advisors and consultants, co-creating the UpTogether Community platform experience with us. We had 21 builders in 2021 and are looking to add 5-6 others in 2022.
We are also looking to add new features to the UpTogether Community platform — recommended by the Builders and other members — including a search feature for members to find groups to join, and a feature that allows members to chat and share private messages with each other.
Promote Narrative Change
Using compelling data and personal success stories about our members, we will debunk stereotypes and false beliefs about people with low incomes. One tactic in our narrative change strategy is an UpTogether podcast. It will feature stories of UpTogether members to highlight their strengths, goals and how their communities are working together to support each other. An UpTogether member from Detroit is producing the podcast in collaboration with the UpTogether staff. It’s set to launch this Fall.
Collect and Share More Evidence
As part of our long-term goal of government and philanthropic adoption of a strength-based approach, we will facilitate the collection of data and stories that reveal the strengths of financially under-resourced families and communities. We will be collecting data on communities on the UpTogether Community platform, but also hope to reveal strengths that can be replicated and invested in at scale, outside of the platform. In 2022, we plan to pilot several new approaches to revealing community insights, such as refining our survey system for targeted learning, and creating mechanisms for members to share qualitative stories on how they use investments, and other great community building activities happening in their local areas.
