Get to Know our NetLab

By Brooke Richie-Babbage, Director of Network Initiatives

This has been a challenging year, but I think it’s important to stop and celebrate the positive milestones in all of our work. Here at the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, and our Sterling Network NYC in particular, we’re excited to share that our NetLab is expanding—from an initial group of five organizations and initiatives to ten in total today.

NetLab is a learning community of individuals and organizations that are exploring networks as a model for engaging in social and systems-level change work. Through NetLab, the Foundation seeks to provide space for emerging networks to explore the model, and to meet and learn from peers who are also exploring the power of networks to address society’s most wicked problems.

Why networks? Networks are a unique form of collaboration. They reflect a way of working together that emphasizes the ability to understand both the root causes and the system-level implications of social problems, to work across difference, and to elevate the power and capacity of others over one’s own. Different types of networks exist. Some focus on connecting people socially, others focus on learning.

We’re committed to supporting social change in New York City. We have been excited by and committed to thinking about networks as a vehicle for creating powerful positive social change. Our own experimentation with networks has led to the launch and cultivation of the Sterling Network, which aims to catalyze collaboration among New York City leaders across sectors to advance economic mobility and racial equity. We chose to explore networks as a strategy because we believe that they represent a powerful approach to addressing the City’s most complex, entrenched social problems—problems like the growing income and wealth gap, and the reduction in pathways to economic mobility.

As our own experimentation through the Sterling Network grew, we realized that there were so many other organizations and individuals also exploring networks on other issues and in other ways. NetLab builds on this interest in networks as a model for systems change. We thought about what it would look like to create an intentional space for exploration and experimentation about networks. The people and organizations in NetLab are free to ask questions, connect with their peers, and learn about and test the model as it applies to their own issues and work. NetLab is a space for exploration and experimentation. It is a space to work with and support people and organizations exploring networks in their own work.

It is also worth noting that since New York is such a unique and special city, there are so many examples of people and groups exploring this model. We also grapple with questions about what is unique to New York City. By providing a space for exploration and experimentation and shared learning – a laboratory – we also learn things about networks that can serve as lessons for other people and institutions outside of New York.

I hope you’ll stay tuned to the blog for future updates about the progress of NetLab participants as they explore the potential of networks to further their work!