Where: Blue Dragon Room of Parker Student Union at Hutchinson Community College, 1300 N. Plum St.

Contact: Wendy Skellenger | wendy@hutchcf.org | 620-663-5293

Hutchinson Community Foundation is pleased to welcome Kathleen A. Zurcher back to Hutchinson for the second year to continue community education on systems thinking.

Achieving significant system change in communities requires effective relationships among people with diverse perspectives, life experiences, and backgrounds. A simple explanation of this principle is “Relationships are primary. Everything else derives from them.”

An essential skill of systems leaders is the ability to convene diverse groups of people and facilitate collaboration among them. In this introduction to systems thinking, you will take a deep dive into one framework and several related skills to support developing high-quality relationships and partnerships in service of significant outcomes.

In this workshop you will learn:

• A simple framework that can help you define success in any initiative, the Core Theory of Success
• Why relationships and partnerships are central to achieving systems change
• Practical ways to meaningfully engage diverse people in initiatives

Come to the workshop prepared with a new or existing initiative or program that you will use as the focus of your application during the session.

Registration is required by filling out the form below and clicking on the RSVP button.

About Kathleen A. Zurcher

Kathy works with communities around the country on applying systems thinking to transform systems and create the future they truly want for children and families. She is the former Director of Program and Organizational learning for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Before joining the Foundation, Kathy worked in health care, at University of Minnesota Extension, and as a high school teacher.

Kathy uses active, engaging, practical methods to teach applied systems thinking to diverse community members and people in every role in organizations from the United States, southern Africa, Latin America, and South America. From rural Iowa, California, Montana, and Kentucky to urban neighborhoods in Detroit, Brooklyn, and Oakland, she has facilitated communities as they sought to improve their local food system, create communities that support healthy eating and active living, develop a more sustainable local economy, improve education, develop community systems that support educational and life success for all children, and assure health equity. What all of these have in common is their use of community engagement and a systems-thinking approach to creating their future.

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