Our Approach

The CBI Model —

The St. Joseph Fund (SJF) Community Building Initiative (CBI) model is based on national and local best practices for effective community building, social planning, and social action.

Each CBI core team receives rigorous and highly tailored support that includes a dedicated Coach and Information Development (ID) team for the term of the grant period. These support elements work over the course of the Initiative partnership to help build and strengthen a neighborhood’s collective capacity.

Evidence Drives Action: The CBI Model

phase 1

Readiness

Community assessment and training

phase 2

Community
Engagement
& Planning

Core team development and community
action planning

CBI Pillars: Building Community Capacity

Engagement
Leadership
Partnership
Influence
phase 3

Community
Action

Collective action toward resolution of upstream issues

CBI Pillars: Building Community Capacity

Engagement
Leadership
Partnership
Influence

Evidence Drives Action: The CBI Model

phase 1

Readiness

Community assessment and training

phase 2

Community
Engagement
& Planning

Core team development and community
action planning

CBI Pillars: Building Community Capacity

Engagement
Leadership
Partnership
Influence
phase 3

Community
Action

Collective action toward resolution of upstream issues

phase 4

CBI
‍Legacy

Continued action toward resolution of upstream issues post grant

CBI Pillars: Building Community Capacity

Engagement
Leadership
Partnership
Influence

Successful CBI initiatives:

  • Focus on a neighborhood defined by both shared space and shared experience
  • Are led by engaged community members who recognize and act on their own authority to define needs and options for meeting their needs
  • Center around an issue with maximum opportunity for building specific community capacities through systems and policy change
  • Grow with the support of multiple community leaders to ensure succession and sustained neighborhood action over time
  • Incorporate a tailored approach to change driven by the unique realities and characteristics of each neighborhood
  • Use strategies designed to reduce or eliminate community-level problems that contribute to inequities that lead to health disparities
  • Build partnerships with agencies, organizations, associations, and individuals outside of the neighborhood that are willing to support community driven social justice agendas
  • Compel decision-makers and other key stakeholders to create space to include and honor the community voice in decision-making

The CBI Phases

CBI employs a staged approach to the community capacity building agenda. Each community’s experiences and capabilities are unique, and CBI tailors the process to “meet a neighborhood where they are.” CBI communities participate in four phases in a specific order:

Phase 1
Readiness

Readiness work enables a shared examination of whether the CBI community power building model is a fit for a neighborhood. Coaches and neighbors conduct an assessment that results in a highly tailored series of facilitated learning opportunities that prepare potential partners to decide whether to join CBI.

phase 2
Engagement & Planning

A core team of community members is organized to lead the local CBI effort. Focus shifts to building neighbor relationships and engaging community members in planning to address an issue of shared concern. The neighborhood change agenda flows from community members articulating and examining their concerns and building a plan to change the conditions that drive a local problem.

Phase 3
Community Action

Communities work together to address their identified problem. In doing so, they build the capacities necessary to address any problem. Action focuses on changing policies, systems, and practices that directly affect the quality of life within their neighborhoods.

Phase 4
Legacy

Sustainability is in part represented by policy and system changes that persist over time and result in long-term impacts. CBI also defines sustainability as communities that continue to organize and act, post grant, to address upstream conditions that limit opportunities and perpetuate inequities.