We’re All in This Together: Leveraging the Collective Strength
of the Human Services Sector

Collective Impact – Taking Collaboration to the Next Level
A case study looking at Strive, an education-based nonprofit subsidiary of KnowledgeWorks, shows that collective impact initiatives, which involve a centralized infrastructure, a dedicated staff, and a structured process that leads to a common agenda, shared measurement, continuous communication, and mutually reinforcing activities among all participants, have greater impact than more general collaborative efforts. Read more in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

The New Community Collaboration Manual
This oldie-but-goldie was last published in 1997 but remains relevant today. Based on evaluations of community-based collaborative efforts, the then-National Assembly of National Voluntary Health and Social Welfare Organizations produced this step-by-step guide to forming, organizing and sustaining a successful collaboration, including pitfalls and success factors. Read the manual.

Striking a New Balance – A Presentation on Effective Collaboration within Federated Organizations
There is a spectrum of organizational models all of which have different needs to function effectively.  For instance, models where there is a need for collective action and a common message increases the need for stronger central leadership and governance. And as multi-sites expand to cover more geographies, the need to collaborate on donor relationship management becomes more critical.  Striking a New Balance is a presentation on lessons learned and best practices based on a study of human services federations prepared for the National Assembly by McKinsey. Download the presentation.

Collaboration at Every Level - Supervision as Collaboration in the Human Services
Supervision as Collaboration integrates the latest thinking in the human services to provide supervisors and those preparing to become supervisors with a new approach to the important skills and knowledge needed for effective practice in the 21st century. It uses a framework that features the key aspects of a learning culture, the process of organizational learning, and the roles that supervisors can play in transforming traditional human service organizations into learning organizations. Chapter authors are authorities in their respective areas of practice and have shaped their chapters around this framework.  Purchase a copy.

Improving Federal Collaboration for Homeless Children and Youth
Over 1.5 million children and youth in America experience homelessness annually.  Currently, the federal government leads efforts to coordinate resources, programs, and services across 12 departments and agencies, largely through the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH). These efforts are a good start; however, they are not part of an integrated, strategic plan. “Improving Federal Collaboration for Homeless Children and Youth, ” a brief co-authored by the National Collaboration for Youth and the National Center on Family Homelessness, explores this issue and makes recommendations for improved policy and programming.  Access the brief.

Using Data to Promote Collaboration in Local School Readiness Systems
Considerable research indicates that what happens to children before they enter kindergarten is critical to the goal of achieving reading proficiency for all by the third grade. A study of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP), a network of local civic groups and university institutes in 34 cities coordinated by the Urban Institute and funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, demonstrated the value of using data to support collaboration across federal, state and school service providers to improve school readiness.  Read the report.

An Invitation to the Big Picture: Implementing a Local Collaboration for Youth (LCY) in Your Community
How are the children and youth in your community doing? Are they ready for college, work, and life?  One way to ensure that they are is by establishing a Local Collaboration for Youth (LCY) – a means for local child- and youth-serving agencies to pool their collective expertise, resources, and voice in ‘whole-community’ efforts to improve outcomes for children and youth.  As part of their commitment to collaboration and the Read by 21 framework, the National Collaboration for Youth has published a no-nonsense guide to forming and sustaining a Local Collaboration for Youth.  Access the guide.

Forming & Sustaining Statewide Juvenile Justice Collaborations: A Practical Guide
A study of statewide juvenile justice collaborations, which concentrated on four states – Michigan, Delaware, Arizona and Pennsylvania – but included information from eleven states culminated in a National Forum held in DC in 2003.  The convening brought together experts from the piloting, and resulted in publication of Forming & Sustaining Statewide Juvenile Justice Collaborations: A Practical Guide, a handbook on promising practices in forming statewide collaborations on juvenile justice.  Access the handbook.

Additional Information and Resources on Collaboration

The Children's Leadership Council — a coalition of nearly 60 leading national child and youth advocacy organizations—is spearheading a collaborative, big-picture communications initiative to build compelling arguments for investing in children’ services and to get those messages out to the public and policymakers. This marks the first time these leading organizations have together developed a shared messaging platform uniting the full range of issues these organizations address, from early childhood to economic security and everything in between.

Do you have a story to share about your family or community? Email rison@childrensleadershipcouncil.org to lend your voice to the movement.

The National Collaboration for Families is committed to promoting best practices and learning across our member networks.

If your organization is committed to collaboration and you would like to share your model, please email: hlazar@nassembly.org