Table 3: Reasons Given by Agency Staff for Joining Partnerships

Financial benefits
  • more efficient economically in a time of restraint
  • for sponsorship, fund-raising
  • pooling resources because of funding difficulties
  • avoiding duplication & wasting precious resources
  • funding requirements often include building ties to community, obtaining community support, etc.
Sharing resources & expertise
  • utilizing people's strengths
  • offsetting the workload when it is too much for one agency
  • sharing materials and access to libraries
  • input from other communities (aboriginal)
Referrals, access to families, and finding supports for clients
  • greater awareness of other agencies' services and programs
  • clients don't always connect with agencies that can help them
  • provides a way for all partners to reach more families
  • certain agencies have access to "hard to reach" families
  • some agencies have more time, staff, and resources to recruit hard to reach families
An integrated approach to better client needs
  • sharing information, new serve clients' needs ideas to create better services
  • inter-disciplinary case conferencing to identify and address
  • providing clients with more consistent information and services
  • streamlining services for clients ("one stop" services)
  • avoiding duplication of services


Why community agencies join family literacy initiatives
In addition to the information given on joining partnerships in general, the following are reasons given by community agencies for partnering with family literacy programs:

  • previous involvement with a literacy organization (e.g. board membership, previous collaboration)
  • familiarity with or confidence in the literacy coordinator or program


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