Abstract
Comprehensive community change initiatives have attracted attention and resources in recent decades as a way to improve outcomes for young people through aligning local systems and services. They have yielded positive outcomes and useful and inspiring lessons. However, they have also resulted in local disillusionment and outcomes that fall short of their goals. This article suggests that more organic approaches, based on purpose-driven partnerships, are worth considering, especially for communities that are just starting to think about collaboration or that lack the resources for more ambitious system change attempts. The authors discuss four such partnerships and suggest that they offer an alternative, practical, sustainable approach to community change.
•Comprehensive community initiatives have led to both positive and negative outcomes.
•Organic community change approaches based on purpose-driven partnerships have merit.
•Partnerships embodying practical, sustainable community change strategies are reviewed.