Dear Reader:
In partnership with United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, Delaware Valley Grantmakers, Public Health Management Corporation, The Philadelphia Foundation, the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and Graham Company, we are very pleased to bring you our Winter 2013 edition of the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal (PSIJ), titled “Innovations in Regional Partnerships for Strategic Growth: From Collaborations to Mergers.”
Our world is changing and future success will be defined and dominated by strategic alignments and partnerships. Innovation that creates social change and impact requires us to abandon our silos and fears, and to learn to create new partnerships. In this edition, you will learn from national and regional leaders and colleagues about the critical role strategic alignments and partnerships play in advancing the social sector and its impact. The articles range from successful community grassroots collaborations to full-blown mergers. Each article not only focuses on the formation of the strategic alignment/partnership, but on the courage—and the risks— it took to create a future and have a greater impact.
In today’s environment, we encounter strategic partnerships every day. In fact, PSIJ is an example of an idea, born out of a partnership between the two of us, that has evolved to several social joint ventures. The impossible becomes possible when a partnership is formed. We hope you’ll take the lessons shared in this edition and apply it to your own world.
We want thank our other Journal advisory board members and funders, including the Scattergood Foundation, United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, The Philadelphia Foundation, Public Health Foundation, Public Health Management Corporation, Independence Blue Cross Foundation, Green Tree Community Health Foundation, Independence Foundation, St. Christopher's Foundation for Children, Inglis Foundation, Barra Foundation, Knight Foundation, Bank of America, The Patricia Kind Family Foundation, Wells Fargo, Sage Communications and the University of Pennsylvania.
A special thanks to Romana Lee-Akiyama from United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, Debra Kahn and Ashley Feuer-Edwards from Delaware Valley Grantmakers, Ana Lisa Yoder from The Philadelphia Foundation, and Chermaina Roundtree from the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce for planning this partnership edition with us.
We hope you will enjoy this edition and find the kind of useful information that will inspire you to partner with likeminded organizations to create greater community impact.
Very truly yours,
Nicholas Torres, Publisher
Tine Hansen-Turton, Publisher