We help teams build durable systems that make life better for whole communities.
Local leaders work every day to improve housing stability, health, safety, education, and economic mobility — but the systems meant to support these goals are often too cumbersome and disjointed to get results. Even the best policies are bound to fail in these environments.
Field Impact Partners collaborates with communities to build better systems that can take shared action on our biggest problems. Our work leaves behind durable, integrated, place-based infrastructure that turns evidence-based policy into measurable improvements people can see, feel, and sustain over time.
WE BUILD CAPACITY
AND RESULTS.
Success happens when communities develop the capacity to deliver sustainable results for whole populations.
That means strengthening the systems required for effective action (like clear governance and timely, usable data) and demonstrating community-wide improvement in real people’s lives. We help teams build and measure the capacity of state and local systems to take action, as well as the results those systems achieve—like reductions in homelessness, improved health outcomes, and greater economic mobility. These changes—often achievable within a few years—can become early indicators of longer-term, intergenerational progress.
What we do
We work alongside high-capacity intermediary organizations, as well as city, regional, and state leaders, to build toward sustainable results. We help develop the leadership, data, governance, and partnerships that enable whole communities to work toward shared outcomes and to continue that work across shifting political cycles. We become part of the team, guiding and supporting the work from the first meeting to real results.
Our evidence-backed approach focuses on three foundational elements of durable system infrastructure:
Backbone leadership
Place-based intermediaries that convene cross-sector partners, create shared responsibility for results, sustain progress across political cycles, and lift up the voices of people with lived experience.
Real-time, integrated data systems
Person-centered, real-time data systems that connect information across sectors, support daily decision-making, and ground that decision-making in common evidence rather than competing stories.
Conditions that make change possible
An enabling ecosystem, aligning policies, funding, partnerships, and public narratives that reinforce collaboration and support durable, long-term problem solving, not just short-term program delivery.
Our track record
Our team got started by helping dozens of communities deliver measurable reductions in homelessness. That work taught us that no single actor or system can solve our most complex challenges alone. We have since seen how the same conditions that helped communities reduce and end homelessness also form the foundation for improving outcomes across multiple, interconnected issues.
We would love to connect with you!
To learn more about our work and to get to know Field Impact Partners, contact us at info@fieldimpact.org.
Key people
Beth Sandor (she/her)
Chief Executive Officer
Beth was formerly the Chief Program Officer and one of the founding leaders of Community Solutions. She led Built for Zero since its inception in 2015 with a team of over 60 staff, supporting a national network of hundreds of communities to drive reductions in homelessness, developing a scalable framework for population-level change. She has almost 30 years of experience in housing, homelessness, community development and large-scale change.
Melanie Lewis Dickerson (she/her)
Chief Programs Officer
Melanie was formerly the Deputy Chief Program Officer at Community Solutions, where she designed and led large-scale change efforts, working with regional, state and international intermediaries to catalyze population-level outcomes. She is an expert in place-based partnerships and building networks for results with over 20 years of experience in the public and nonprofit sectors.
Leslie Wise (she/her)
Chief of Strategic Initiatives
Leslie is a former senior leader at Community Solutions and part of the founding team of Built for Zero. She has designed and led strategies to reduce homelessness in the largest cities in the US. In recent years, she was embedded in one of the largest integrated, national health systems and also partnered with major cities on designing and implementing effective governance structures. Leslie has almost 30 years of experience in housing, homelessness, and health in the public and non-profit sectors.
Aly Ainscough (she/her)
Chief Operating Officer
As part of the initial team at Built for Zero, Aly piloted and scaled the first iteration of real-time person-specific data in the homelessness sector. Most recently, she served as the Chief of Staff for the Chief Program Officer at Community Solutions. She has over 20 years of experience designing effective systems, advising on strategy and leading organizations to results. Aly has worked across housing, homelessness, early learning, and behavioral health, at national, state and local levels.
