ABSTRACT
This chapter profiles an innovative organisation, Crittenton Women’s Union, illustrating a successful ‘action tank’ approach to promoting social change, specifically economic mobility and self-sufficiency. The action tank model integrates direct service, research and public policy advocacy, tackling poverty alleviation from multiple angles. Each arena mutually supports the organisation, and the outcomes ultimately rest on the interconnectivity of services, research, and advocacy. This model is one response to the questions: how can we develop widespread, sustainable, replicable models that promote social justice and have demonstrable results, and how can we use those models to inform and change public policies to increase impact?
