Page 4 - NCF Report – February

NCF Monthly Report – February 15 (submitted on February 21)

goals and operational tactics. They also more clearly articulate the organization's purpose and
intentions. Presently, I am unaware of any specific language used as a mission, vision, or values
of the Center for Freedom at Fort Monroe. I did some research and found an organization that
seemed to have some parallels to how I understand and envision the Center. Using their
mission, vision, and values, I have drafted language for review, edit, and approval in Appendix A.

IDENTIFYING AND DEVELOPING PARTNERS AND AUDIENCES
The grant application explicitly states Fort Monroe's desire to serve as a "backbone organization" as
cited in the Need Assessment in the Pathways out of Poverty report:

The Collective Impact is defined as "long-term commitments by a group of important actors
2
from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem. Their actions
are supported by a shared measurement system, mutually reinforcing activities, and ongoing
communication, and are staffed by an independent backbone organization." [Stanford Social
Innovation Review, Collective Impact]
Backbone organizations have been identified as key to the success of collective impact work.
Key roles for backbone organizations include guiding vision and strategy, supporting aligned
activities, establishing shared measurement, building public will, advancing policy, and
mobilizing funding. [Stanford Social Innovation Review, Understanding the Value of Backbone
Organizations in Collective Impact]

The Fort Monroe Foundation maintains a broad and expansive list of potential partners and sponsors.
Casemate and NPS staff are beginning to identify potential programming partners. Based on continued
conversations of audiences and impact, it seems that our immediate need is to clearly define audiences
for each program component and establish an idea of how these components directly connect to the
issues our communities face, as illustrated in the United Way's Pathways Out of Poverty study. A draft of
this connecting audiences and programs is located in Appendix B. We will first build relationships with
partners, especially those who can access the demographics that FMA and NPS currently don't have.

Step 1 (Objective: establish a foundation of partners and educators to build collaborative programs and
opportunities for specific audiences.)

• Engage with government, business and industry, civic and faith-based, and military
communities. Prioritize groups that also aspire to address the community need. They will be the
key to reaching the community and helping FMA and NPS reach a new audience and
demographic. Relationship building will be our primary objective with the Community
Conversations and Inaugural Lecture Series (Hampton Roads Freedom Forum). Our secondary
objective will be to use these opportunities to create greater awareness of the Center within the
confines of a 50-mile radius of Fort Monroe (see Fig 1).
• Engage with the education community and cultural and natural resource organizations.
Prioritizing these groups prepares us for creating the needed partnerships in the schools and
other like organizations to ensure we collectively are preparing the youth to be historical

2 Collaborating to Create a Common Agenda.
https://www.collectiveimpactforum.org/sites/default/files/Collaborating%20to%20Create%20a%20Common%20A
genda%20handout_0.pdf

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