Collaborating with Volunteer Agencies

The trend in grant funding is to award monies to grant proposals that show evidence of collaboration between agencies. This cuts down on duplication of services and helps our students get the most help they can. Following are some tips for establishing a partnership between your school or classroom and a volunteer agency. The brochures "Partnerships for Powerful Proposals' and "Collaborative Connections" may not be copied but are available free to you by request. Fax your request for brochures to the Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition, attention Darlene Kostrub, at (561) 265-3579.

• Have all agencies committed to a common goal.
• Designate a strong chairperson or facilitator.
• Look at successful users of the system, and analyze what works.
• Include target audience clients / participants / consumers on the team; their input is critical to the design.
• Allow adequate incentives for members to attend meetings (i.e., meals, mileage).
• Develop clear, detailed group goals, and a mission statement from the start of the project.
• Build trust among members. Try to iron out turf issues early.
• Keep group size manageable, so things get done more quickly and easily.
• Enlist and maintain the support of top-level administrators with decision-making authority.
• Train staff for interagency work.
• Be flexible and open to possibilities, unforeseen events and new opportunities. Adjust to the changes, if necessary.
• Develop common vocabulary terms.
• Educate all team members about the range of services each agency provides.
• Allow for adequate time to achieve group consensus, complete tasks and plan projects.
• Maintain regular communication–meetings, correspondence, and phone contacts among members.
• Recognize that each agency has a different set of priorities to take into consideration, but maintain a sense of equal importance for each agency on the team.
• Ensure that funders will 1) remain involved in helping teams develop their plans and 2) provide on-going technical assistance.
• Have a product or concrete results to show for the team's efforts. Share it among members so there is a sense of accomplishment. Celebrate.

SOURCE:

Interagency Coordination and Collaboration: Steps For Success by Diane Pecoraro, Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning, November, 1997.

From: Spring Institute for International Studies (ELT), Technical Assistance for English Language Training Projects 1997-1998, Sponsored by the Office of Refugee Resettlement.