Our Story

A decade ago, our founder and CEO Michelle Derr summoned the courage to tackle the disconnect between researchers and practitioners. In her words, she went rogue. As a researcher, she was grappling with the arms-distance approach to practitioners in the name of objectivity. She saw how practitioners were reluctant to engage with researchers because they found research work cumbersome, difficult to understand, and unresponsive to their needs. She knew research could do better. She began experimenting with opportunities to move beyond the status quo, pushing the boundaries toward evidence-informed change. She led the development of Learn, Innovate, Improve (see LI2) an iterative framework and process model now used across the country to generate evidence-driven change and support continuous improvement. She has also developed other innovative, evidence-driven practices to improve program quality and outcomes in a variety of substantive areas (e.g., TANF, workforce, two-generation approaches, child welfare, services for youth, education).

Now The Adjacent Possible team continues to bring researchers and practitioners together with great success, using collaborative approaches and analytic methods to build evidence for use in practice. The Adjacent Possible’s work is powered by co-creative, interactive partnerships that equip leaders to make evidence-driven decisions to solve every day—and not so every day—problems.

We use research, analytic methods, and human-centered design to help organizations solve problems, strengthen their ability to learn and improve, and implement effective programs that make a lasting difference for individuals, families, and communities.