Activities will vary from one partnership to the next, and therefore roles and responsibilities will vary as well. Responsibilities may include everything from proposal writing to providing child care. Determining roles and responsibilities should be the result of shared decision making among all committee members.

When determining roles and responsibilities, consider what strengths, expertise, experience, and availability each member can bring to the project. Are there existing staff in the literacy program whose positions will be affected by the new partnership? How will their work be integrated into the partnership, and what expectations are there for their role?

Some examples of the roles community agencies have played in the family literacy programs we visited in 1995 are

• providing participants directly or by referral
• providing space for program
• providing time within another program for family literacy component
• sitting on an advisory board
• helping with fundraising
• volunteering for specific tasks (cataloguing books, stuffing reading dolls, assembling book bags)
• providing books and library memberships to the program
• conducting an audit for the literacy organization
• partnering with literacy agency to hold parent workshops at the elementary school
• planning the family literacy program
• leading workshop on child development for family literacy program
• distributing information on family literacy
• conducting the evaluation
• providing funds and staff for recruitment

Partnership Agreements
When defining roles and responsibilities, consider whether a partnership agreement is necessary and/or appropriate for your group. There are different opinions regarding the value of partnership agreements; some individuals and agencies see them as essential to obtaining commitment and developing clearly defined irresponsibilities. Others see them as unnecessary and even counter-productive.

In their study of significant turning points in Even Start programs in Ohio, Rasinski and Padak (1994) quote the state coordinator as recommending the use of formal agreements: