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Comprehensive Community Initiatives, Improving the lives of youth and families through systems change, a toolkit for federal managers
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How the toolkit was created What is a CCI? CCI Tools for Federal Staff
Develop your CCI Project
Guidelines to form Federal Partnerships
1. Consider a Federal partnership when contributions from another Federal agency could enhance your ability to implement, support, and sustain the CCI.
When is it better to partner rather than go it alone?
Join with partners when…
  • Your agency cannot provide a support that will be essential to the CCI’s success.
  • Your agency lacks expertise to implement a component of the CCI.
  • Another Federal agency operates programs with the same or similar goals.
  • Another agency has community-level networks that will make it easier to reach the CCI’s target population and access local resources.
  • The benefits of the CCI could be magnified by policy changes that are outside your agency’s jurisdiction.

Be clear about why you want to partner with another agency. Don’t partner just to partner. Consider a partnership when:

Your agency cannot provide a support that will be essential to the CCI’s success. For example: You’re mandated to fund programs, but not technical assistance. Seek out a partner who can fund or provide TA.

Your agency lacks expertise to implement a component of the CCI. For example: Your specialty is delinquency prevention, but you want to offer job training as a component of the CCI. Explore a partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor.

Another Federal agency operates programs with the same or similar goals. Identify other Federal entities engaged in similar work. Coordinate your efforts to create synergies and avoid duplication.

Another agency has community-level networks that will make it easier to reach the CCI’s target population and access local resources. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) project is a good example.

“The USDA and DOD (the Air Force) partnership allowed DOD to get money to local levels. In the Air Force/4-H Partnership, the Air Force operates at a Federal Level with USDA.  USDA gives the Air Force access to states, which gave us access to the counties and ultimately, the land grant universities (4-H.) This partnership gives the military the opportunity to partner with the community and access community resources.  Bases are traditionally very insular and this partnership helps rectify this.”--A USDA program manager

See more information about the USDA and DOD partnership.

The benefits of the CCI could be magnified by policy changes that are outside your agency’s jurisdiction. (See Federal Partnerships Guideline #5.)

How do I identify potential partners?
To identify potential partners…
  • Keep partnerships in mind as you conceptualize your CCI.
  • Identify existing groups whose work overlaps the mission of your CCI.
  • Be open to changing partners or adding new ones.

Keep partnerships in mind as you conceptualize your CCI. Potential contributors will become apparent as you develop a logic model and clarify your theory of change. (See Using a Logic Model.)

Identify existing groups whose work overlaps the mission of your CCI. You may not have to start from scratch with new partnerships. Numerous Federal councils, task forces, and workgroups focus on children and family issues. If you can find an existing group, try to build on it, expand it, or create a workgroup within it to support the new CCI.

Be open to changing partners or adding new ones as the CCI evolves and resource needs change.

What is the best way to recruit and motivate a potential Federal partner?
To recruit and motivate potential Federal partners…
  • Do research to determine the potential partner’s self-interests.
  • Identify individuals in the agency who value cross-agency partnerships.
  • Use what you’ve learned from your research to point out how participation will further their agency’s goals.

Do research to determine the potential partner’s self-interests. Examine how partnering in the CCI will serve those interests and what factors would impact the agency’s participation. Find out:

  • What are the agency’s legislative mandates? Its mission and goals? Do any of them correspond to the goals of the CCI? See the example of a format for surveying and identifying potential partners.
  • What are the emerging themes in the agency’s work?
  • What are its high-level officials emphasizing in public announcements?
  • Does the agency operate under any constraints on use of funding?

Identify individuals in the agency who value cross-agency partnerships. Work with them to promote the partnership.

Use what you’ve learned from your research to point out how participation in the CCI will further the agency’s goals.

Who in the partnering agency needs to be involved?

Get buy-in from top leadership. Whenever possible, include the agency head and high-level career staff. Commitment at the top increases the chance that the agency will allocate resources and honor commitments over time. Arrange for executive-level staff in your agency to initiate the discussion of a partnership.

Champion the mission at the senior level: The four original partners are regularly and enthusiastically represented by high-ranking agency representatives, including Deputy Assistant Secretaries from the DOL, and the DOEd, the DOJ Administrator of OJJDP, and the HHS Deputy Associate Commissioner of the Children's Bureau. In addition to signaling the importance the distinct agencies attached to the initiative, this level of involvement generated opportunities to reach out to other agencies at a level where decisions can be made and resources potentially committed. It also signals to staff that involvement in the Federal Partnership is an agency priority (Abt Associates Inc., 2009, pp. 19).

Involve staff at multiple levels. Develop relationships with program staff who understand existing agency practices and policies that might impede or support cross-agency work. Call on their knowledge as you construct the partnership and brief the agency’s leadership. For an example of how a partnership evolved, see a case study.

Should I consider partnerships with non-Federal organizations?

Yes! Don’t limit partnerships to just Federal agencies. As you conceptualize your CCI, survey all the national efforts that relate to your mission, including:

  • Foundations.
  • State and local governments.
  • Business.
  • National faith and community-based organizations.
  • National professional organizations that are key players in your core mission.

Even if you decide not to initiate a formal partnership with a non-Federal entity, you’ll still need to be aware of others working in the same area, if only to avoid duplication of effort.

“Early in the development of Safe Kids/Safe Streets, I learned that Edna McConnell Clark Foundation had initiated a complementary effort known as the Community Child Partnerships work. I tried to establish a partnership, but unfortunately the timing of our developmental cycles was somewhat out of sync, so we were unable to coordinate our site selection. Even so, we did do a fair amount of coordination on joint TA and facilitated cross-initiative exchanges at the program and site levels.”—A Federal manager

Note: Because this toolkit focuses primarily on Federal partnerships, it does not fully explore Federal/non-Federal partnerships. This is a question the Federal Partnership Project hopes to take up in the future. In the meantime, see A Guide to Successful Public-Private Partnerships for Youth Programs and MOUs 1 and 2 between Federal and non-Federal partners.

References

Abt Associates Inc., 2009. Common Sense, Uncommon Commitment: A Progress Report on the Shared Youth Vision Partnership. Washington, DC.