How We Listen: Hearing a Community’s True Needs

They were a room full of young people, aged 16 to 22. Assembled by Reinvest Toledo, the youth were gathered to share something frequently missing from conversations about their future: their own perspectives.

These teens and early twenty-somethings shared their opinions about how food access could improve, what defined a home and how the educational system had succeeded or failed them—fundamental issues to the wellbeing of their communities.

“It was an intense conversation,” said Amelia Gibbon, Reinvest Toledo’s executive director. “It was delightful, too.”

The youths, according to Gibbon, provided the most meaningful discussions across the focus groups she conducted. Reinvest Toledo, a community coalition that aims to strengthen low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, was one of a few organizations the John Henry Eldred Foundation called upon to help lead a community effort gathering feedback. Residents from teens to older adults shared their thoughts on how to best address issues impacting their neighborhoods, from Junction to the Eastside to the Old South End.

Gibbon’s work was one part of the year-long project, which involved nearly 20 listening sessions with individual residents, nonprofit organizations and philanthropic partners. To lead the focus groups, she selected and trained community leaders living in the neighborhoods being surveyed. And most importantly, the feedback was being solicited with an intention to really shape the final guidelines: the JHE Foundation’s Theory of Change.

“The most important element was our investment in training local leaders that lived in the community to facilitate the sessions,” Gibbon said. “This ensured authenticity in the process and a genuine understanding of what the youths’ lived experience looked like.”

A Theory of Change, while common to foundations and nonprofits, is a new roadmap for the JHE Foundation that enables a deeper grounding for grantmaking in food security, housing stability and youth education. The theory was written with the input of hundreds of people, in focus groups, community meetings and more, some led by Gibbon and some by Candice Harrison, founder of Synergy Engagement, which specializes in communications and community engagement. Harrison led discussions with more than 50 area nonprofits.

The most valuable (and oftentimes insightful) element that emerged for the JHE Foundation during the process was really listening to the experts—the people experiencing the problem.

“I think the listening is essential because at the end of the day, you’re serving the community and there’s no way to adequately do that without learning what their needs are,” Harrison said. “To truly help somebody you can’t just assume their needs. You have to hear from them to better serve them and do what they think is helpful.”

Harrison was tasked with leading community conversations with the JHE Foundation’s grantmaking partners — organizations who were past and present recipients of funding. About 60 nonprofit community leaders gathered at sites like the Sofia Quintero Art and Cultural Center, Mott Branch Library, and East Toledo Family Center to share their perspectives.

Those learnings helped shape the Theory of Change, both in what problems it addresses and how it approaches the work of funding. 

“One thing we learned, for example, is the way that many grant-giving organizations are structured is very counter-productive; leaders of organizations spend so much time doing reports and meeting the requirements of the grant that they don’t have much time left to lead their organization,” Harrison said. 

It’s why the Theory of Change also defines the JHE Foundation’s core approaches to grantmaking. That includes being a “flexible funder,” giving financial support in a way that allows impact organizations to direct the funds where they are most needed, without unnecessary bureaucracy or barriers. It also means being an advocate, community ally and, new for the JHE Foundation, a convener.

“One of the themes that resonated that I didn’t expect was all of the organizations were looking for a convener,” Harrison said. “Without organizations bringing people together, people reported that the environment became more competitive than collaborative. What they were looking for was a space where people can convene and discuss the community’s progress and needs.”

Entrenching among the people doing the work, and truly taking on board their suggestions, feedback and guidance, is key to the foundation’s approach to giving away money. It’s the best way to make change that improves people’s lives and opportunities, according to Gibbon.

“Funders are at times risk averse. People who are perceived as part of the problem being able to help with a solution is directly opposite of how a lot of them think,” Gibbon said. “In fact, the people closest to the problem are closest to the solution.”