After a decade as faculty at another Hopkins Center, Dr. Chris Swanson founded the IDEALS Institute, an applied research and implementation unit focused on improving the lives of children, families and vulnerable adults.

The IDEALS Institute began with about $5 million in annual funding and a team of about 30 – and within 4 years grew to about $28 million and 91 people.

In January of 2023 Dr. Chris Swanson as Executive Director and Jon Farley as COO left Hopkins and founded C-IMPACT to expand the focus and model of IDEALS to help more people and fully achieve the vision of a collective impact approach to solving entrenched human service challenges.