Center of Complex Interventions

Boston,  MA 
United States
http://centerofci.org

• Booth: 247

Embracing complexity to design action for better outcomes

The Center of Complex Interventions is a nonprofit organization that studies some of society’s most multifaceted problems and designs active steps to improve lives. CCI seeks to understand complex systems in order to better design and implement interventions that will push systems to a healthier state. 

CCI works with policymakers, local and regional governments, researchers, companies, and change makers. Tapping into expertise in interdisciplinary research areas, we help to identify the complexities of a given problem; conduct rigorous research; design tools and interventions; and collaborate with stakeholders to create active, measurable steps toward progress. We take these steps with the understanding that no one intervention will “solve” the larger problem and with an eye towards making these changes long lasting and self-sustaining. 

Current work focuses on public health, identifying and implementing complex interventions at the local, regional, and federal levels; climate change, and open source data and mapping tools.

CCI offers a unique agility within complex problems: the ability to assimilate different kinds of research and data and work with all partners to design, organize, and execute on-the-ground interventions. By working directly with the communities and stakeholders involved in the systems we are trying to change we are better equipped to anticipate the second order effects of our efforts. Our goal is to achieve long-lasting and meaningful change.

 Press Releases

• The Chelsea Project: Linking Science, Policy and Community (Jul 21, 2022)

  The Center of Complex Interventions is a nonprofit organization that specializes in applied scientific research. CCI works with policymakers, local and regional governments, researchers, companies, and community organizations, tapping into interdisciplinary research areas and professional expertise to design customized tools, plans, and interventions. Current work focuses on public health, climate change, and open source data and mapping tools.

   

  Public health as a complex system
  The small city of Chelsea, Massachusetts had one of the highest COVID-19 transmission rates in New England in the summer of 2020. Many factors contributed to the spread of COVID-19 in Chelsea including overcrowded living conditions, a high proportion of residents working in essential jobs, and misinformation about COVID-19 and testing. Recognizing that the problem was beyond the expertise of any one group, the Center of Complex Interventions launched the Chelsea Project: a collaborative task force of researchers and scientists, community organizers, and local government departments working to pinpoint the specific pain points in Chelsea’s public health crisis, and design and implement a multi-pronged plan to address them.

  The Chelsea Project has grown into an ongoing collaborative effort that includes government entities in Chelsea, local nonprofits, and startups that have partnered to deploy three different interventions: city-wide wastewater analysis, targeted PCR testing, and a community-led communications strategy. The unique combination of these interventions helped increase both testing and vaccination rates in Chelsea, which now has one of the highest vaccination rates among cities with comparable demographics in the U.S. 

   

  Watch the Chelsea Project video: https://youtu.be/nDxI7XkgS94 

   

  Read our white paper: 

  The Chelsea Project: How an adaptive, multidisciplinary approach brought COVID-19 numbers from among the nation’s highest to among the nation’s lowest in Chelsea, MA

   

  Current and next steps

  Following the early success of the Chelsea Project, CCI began work on the Chelsea Policy Simulator: an effort to build a simulation tool that will help decision-makers in Chelsea learn how different policy decisions during the pandemic may have resulted in different public health outcomes. The goal of the project is to help the city plan for future pandemics and other emergencies as well as provide the city with data to support requests for more resources from the federal government. CCI aims to adapt the Policy Simulator for use in other cities and communities.

   

  CCI is also currently working on a rapid-testing research study focused on vulnerable populations in Chelsea, part of an FDA Foundation grant in collaboration with IDx20.