Our Approach
Avenue of Life shares in the city and county-wide mission to end homelessness for families and children in Kansas City. It also shares in the belief that all persons should be linked to mainstream resources and that strong collaboration and community partnerships with other local agencies who serve the same target population are key in providing comprehensive wrap-around services and ensuring that children and families have every resource they need to better their situation.
One of our key values is in utilizing collaboration to expand our reach and effectiveness in the community. We are able to accomplish so much more due to our extensive base of community partners. Avenue of Life currently has over 3,000 community volunteers that assist in providing wrap-around services! Our community partners contribute to the success of this program through volunteer labor, in-kind donations, word-of-mouth referrals to the agency and program, as well as funding assistance.
Avenue of Life utilizes a Collective Impact approach to community development, serving as the backbone organization for strategic cross-sector collaborative efforts that utilize proven, evidence-based strategies. Collective Impact is a term coined by John Kania and Mark Kramer, of FSG Social Impact Advisors, which was first published in a 2011 article title “Collective Impact” in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Tania and Kramer define Collective Impact as “the commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem.” Collective Impact is a model which has since been utilized throughout the country to effectively unify cross-sector collaboratives through five essential elements: a common agenda, shared measurement systems, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and a backbone agency.
One of our key values is in utilizing collaboration to expand our reach and effectiveness in the community. We are able to accomplish so much more due to our extensive base of community partners. Avenue of Life currently has over 3,000 community volunteers that assist in providing wrap-around services! Our community partners contribute to the success of this program through volunteer labor, in-kind donations, word-of-mouth referrals to the agency and program, as well as funding assistance.
Avenue of Life utilizes a Collective Impact approach to community development, serving as the backbone organization for strategic cross-sector collaborative efforts that utilize proven, evidence-based strategies. Collective Impact is a term coined by John Kania and Mark Kramer, of FSG Social Impact Advisors, which was first published in a 2011 article title “Collective Impact” in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Tania and Kramer define Collective Impact as “the commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem.” Collective Impact is a model which has since been utilized throughout the country to effectively unify cross-sector collaboratives through five essential elements: a common agenda, shared measurement systems, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and a backbone agency.
Statement of Equity and Justice
Avenue of Life pledges to engage in ongoing community development as an inclusive organization whose focus is to empower families to be self-sustaining, while we serve as a catalyst for equity and justice for all.. We respond to the spectrum of human diversity so that no one is marginalized. We continue our tradition of challenging inequities and promoting social change.
We are committed to maintaining an environment free from discrimination that celebrates our differences, and we encourage and support those who identify and speak out against discrimination. We demonstrate our commitment through self-examination, respectful interactions, and through formal and informal policies and practices that give life to these ideals within our organization and the the world we live in.
We are committed to maintaining an environment free from discrimination that celebrates our differences, and we encourage and support those who identify and speak out against discrimination. We demonstrate our commitment through self-examination, respectful interactions, and through formal and informal policies and practices that give life to these ideals within our organization and the the world we live in.
