Collaborative Generation: Making Sense of Today's Stories to Catalyze a Thriving Tomorrow for All

This article shares an innovative, community‐centered method for research, sensemaking, and innovation in social services that has been used by communities and agencies in six states. ‘Our Tomorrows’ is a framework for capturing real‐time signals while stimulating community‐based solutions to complex problems. The method includes three components that establish an ongoing feedback loop between citizens and decision makers: intensive narrative data collection with web‐based tools, community sensemaking workshops, and community action labs. This article covers the principles and methodology of the approach, then walks through an example of its application and outcomes in an early childhood program. Since its inception, Our Tomorrows has leveraged distributed ethnography data tools to listen to over 10,000 voices from across the country and put the everyday experiences of individuals and families at the center of local programs, policies, and systems.