It’s 8am, and I alight from the train a little annoyed. Four years in San Francisco and I still get on the wrong BART line. “Ni hao,” a lady approaches, talking to me in rapid Chinese. I tell her that I don’t understand and start to walk away. She was still talking. I spot the BART map in her hand. “Oh, you need help with directions?” She launches back in Chinese, gesticulating and pointing at 12th street, Oakland on her map.

Aha! I tell her that I’m headed there too, for a conference. I explain each colored line, and our location. She responds to each statement and I think she understands. We get on the packed train and I lose her. At the next station I see her on the opposite side, looking terrified. I walk over and sit next to her. Her face relaxes. I explain that we have 3 more stops, pointing at each station. Satisfied, she takes one last look at her map, and to my surprise, rolls and stuffs it into her purse. I give her a thumbs up, feeling triumphant.

Later, at the conference, we discuss strategies to engage with diverse and underserved communities. Sure, big and small agencies can work together. But the partnerships that thrive and succeed result from seeing past the differences and barriers, and having the patience to believe, invest, and support the seemingly hopeless. Collective change does not occur simply when one communicates the need for something to happen. The key value is knowing when to use collaboration and deliberate dialogue to move forward and foster collective action, regardless of the barriers that stand in the way.

As we exited 12th street, my companion was again talking rapidly on her mobile phone, but she pauses to smile, repeating “Xie xie, Xie xie.” Now, that I understood.