Contact Name
Barbara Dietsch
562-985-9488

Contact Email
bdietsc@WestEd.org

Rick Phillips, Executive Director
Chris Pack, Program Director
Community Matters

If the last decade of wrestling with the challenges of reducing unwanted pregnancies has taught us anything, it's this: every institution-government, media, business, schools, families, faith groups and CBOs-bears some responsibility for the problem. A solution therefore requires that all these stakeholders come together and work together in a system-wide strategic approach over the long term. As funders, researchers and practitioners know, therein lies the challenge.

A system-wide strategic approach is much like a barn raising: each participant fulfills a specific role, working with others in a coordinated and complementary way to achieve a common goal. A system-wide strategic approach to teen pregnancy reduction requires that the formal and informal stakeholder groups form partnerships and collaborate effectively to implement a plan that produces tangible results. Easy to say, but tough to do.

For starters, collaborative partnerships are challenging by nature:

• they take more time than the familiar ways of working;
  
• they're messy, and don't follow the orderly and linear path we plan;
  
• they are often tense, as diverse individuals attempt to come to agreement;
  
• members must be willing to give up something now in order to get something later; and
  
• they are held together not by rules, MOUs and contracts, but by relationships between people.

To compound these inherent difficulties, few of us have the training or experience to handle them well. As a society, Americans have proven to be much more successful at competition. Consider our experiences in school: we sat in rows, generally with people of the same age, looking at the back of someone's head or at the 'expert' teacher who had the answers; we spoke only when spoken to; we didn't look left or right or share an answer lest we be punished for cheating as we competed against our classmates for the few high grades on the bell curve. And who got the varsity letters? The best competitors. Not a good training ground for collaboration.

Furthermore, research and experience show clearly that what brings a partnership together-a crisis, funding, or a dynamic personality- is not enough to hold it together over a long enough term to bring about systemic change.

From our work with hundreds of community partnerships nationwide, we have distilled 10 keys to sustaining partnerships and community initiatives:

1. Common Vision. It's not something the partnership has, written on a piece of paper somewhere; it's something the partnership does. It's alive. It is held by all participants, and as the partnership changes, new members are updated on the vision. Over time, the vision is adjusted, via periodic retreats for evaluation, reflection and planning.
   
2. Relationships. Open and honest communication are the norm; ground rules and expectations are explicit and enforced. Each member possesses skills like active listening, giving constructive feedback, and resolving conflicts.
   
3. Health and Wellness. Since we cannot be 'warriors' all the time, the sustainable partnership builds in time for replenishing and nurturing through retreats and recognition that let people know they're making a difference. Much is also done to make the work itself rewarding, the environment healthy, and the interactions generally enjoyable. Members are encouraged to balance work and personal commitments, and make healthy lifestyle choices.
   
4. Resources. The staff, facilities, supplies and other resources match the goals, and are contributed in appropriate amounts by each member, so no one carries an unfair share of the burden. Mapping the resources that exist in the community allows the partnership to discover and involve new resources, which further strengthens the partnership because individuals who give to something feel closer to it.
   
5. Operating Systems. Internal operating procedures for bookkeeping, communication and decision making are established and documented. Accurate meeting minutes are taken. Information is disseminated in a timely and user-friendly manner so members can prepare for and participate effectively in meetings.
   
6. Leadership and Commitment. Sharing and empowering are the keys here, as opposed to top down, authoritarian leadership. Not only does every voice count, every member is a leader and feels included in decision making. By providing skills training, mentoring, and opportunities for practice, the partnership builds leadership capacity among its members so inclusion is effective, not counterproductive.
   
7. Community Support. All stakeholders know about the partnership and believe that its work is making a difference. The partnership has a public relations plan that might include a speakers bureau so members can tell the partnership's story to target audiences, a media calendar for press releases and public service announcements, and community-wide meetings or summits to inform, discuss and plan.
   
8. Fund Development. The partnership has a plan for securing ongoing funding, and has access to a grant writer and/or fund raiser if needed. If funding is controlled by local decision makers or constituencies, they are regularly informed of the partnership's accomplishments. Since people give to people, not to causes, sustainable fund development is about building relationships.
   
9. Accountability. The partnership gathers data to measure its effectiveness, and determine if and how strategies need to be modified. Regular retreats & strategic planning sessions allow for ongoing assessment. At least every 6 months, the partnership has a short-term victory which provides evidence of progress. This proof is celebrated, which instills hope and helps draw in new resources.
   
10. Adaptability. Partnership members ask hard questions to honestly assess the impact of strategies based on qualitative and quantitative evaluations. They think 'outside the box' and are willing to modify both strategies and procedures as needed. Strength in these 10 areas helps a partnership sustain its work over a long enough term to achieve its goals. Unfortunately, partnerships often wither because few of us truly understand the vital importance of collaboration, respect its manifold difficulties, recognize that mastery comes only with intention, training, discipline, practice and perpetual vigilance, and then commit to getting it right.

Having worked with hundreds of partnerships nationwide, providing training, coaching and support, we've learned that effective partnerships invest in themselves. They secure training and coaching to help members master collaboration, and they monitor the 10 keys to sustainability, arranging for technical assistance to help strengthen any weak areas. With that small but essential investment, they help insure that their partnership can be sustained over the long term, and thus achieve systemic change.

For more information, contact Rick Phillips, Executive Director, or Chris Pack, Program Director, Community Matters, P.O. Box 14816, Santa Rosa, CA 95402. Phone: (707) 823-6159.