The People Closest to the Problem Are Often Farthest From the Decision

I have been thinking about how often decisions are made for people without ever being made with them.

In nonprofit work, we talk a lot about community voice, empowerment, dignity, and lived experience. Those words sound good in mission statements and strategic plans. But they only mean something when the people closest to the work are actually invited into the conversations that shape it.

Too often, the people experiencing the problem are nowhere near the room where decisions are being made.

The employee answering the phone every day knows what people are confused about.

The person delivering the program sees where families are struggling to participate.

The community member receiving the service knows whether it is truly helping.

Yet decisions about programs, policies, funding, and priorities are often made without asking any of them what they are seeing.

Reports and data are important. I believe in measuring outcomes and understanding whether our work is making a difference. But numbers cannot tell us everything.