Financial Sustainability
Funding What Works: Exploring the Role of Research on Effective Programs and Practices in Government Decision-Making
This publication is a joint product of the National Center for Service Integration Clearinghouse and the Center for Schools and Communities. Click here to access the 58 page document.
Financial Sustainability - In today’s environment of ever-shrinking budgets, both public and private, financial sustainability involves more than securing funds to continue providing services from one year to the next. Moving from a “survivability” approach to a “sustainability” approach involves a shift in planning strategies. Read more...
Sustaining Comprehensive Community Initiatives - a publication of the Finance Project
Getting Started: A Sustainability Self Assessment - a publication of the Finance Project
The Finance Project - www.financeproject.org
Partnering with Families
Contributions of Families to Partnerships
Given the opportunity, family members make many contributions. Read ten of them...
Making the shift with parents from old ways of relating to new ways of empowering. Read more...
Family support programs can offer parents a range of opportunities to become involved and build leadership capacity. Below are just a few examples of roles that families can play in designing programs and services. Read more...
The challenges for service providers and parents alike involve establishing reasonable expectations for themselves and for those with whom they partner. Read more...
Many community collaborations set a goal of involving parents (and youth) on boards and committees - insuring that the collaborations involve those most affected by services and aware of family needs. Community collaboratives often find this to be one of their most challenging efforts. They may find it hard to recruit parents initially, and to sustain the involvement of those that are recruited. The parents that do remain involved are asked to be involved in everything, and risk being burned out. Read more...
Introduction to Family Strengthening
Family strengthening provides an approach that takes into account these difficult challenges. It goes beyond specific strategies, programs and interventions and identifies a framework based on the belief that the best way to protect and support children is by strengthening and supporting their families. Read more...
Parent Leadership: Successful Strategies
Although public policies governing education, health and human services and family support have promoted parent leadership for years, State and local programs often have encountered many challenges in engaging parents in leadership roles. This “successful strategies” document shares lessons from parents and organizations that have led the way. Read more...
Building a Cross System Collaborative Infrastructure
Collaborative Investment Strategy for Pennsylvania
Committed to improving child, family and community well-being, the Commonwealth’s former Collaborative Board (SWCB) designed a collaborative investment partnership strategy for Pennsylvania that strives to achieve the following vision for Pennsylvania’s families: All Pennsylvania children and their families will be healthy, educated, self-sufficient and will be living in a safe home and community. . . Read more
To have an effective research-based systems improvement process, county/community collaboratives must have in place a collaborative infrastructure that seeks to improve the lives of children and their families.
A collaborative infrastructure is defined as a county/community collaborative comprised of diverse stakeholders (including parents) and has a structure and process that regularly assesses community needs. It obtains and uses data on an ongoing basis to identify and prioritize child, family and community outcomes and uses data to inform and continuously improve practice and policy for quality systems improvement. . . Read more
Building a Continuous Learning System
With increased public demand for accountability and cost effective services, pressure continues to be placed upon programs, organizations and systems to work more effectively and produce better results. By investing FSSR funds into building collaborative infrastructures, Pennsylvania has begun to see organizations and systems using data to create outcome baselines, developing community strategies that align programs and services to achieve outcome goals, and promoting system and policy changes that redeploy traditional system funds into proven programs and services that support families. . . Read more
Developing Effective Collaborative Partnerships
Building a partnership is essentially building a relationship. The same behaviors and communication skills that people use to build good relationships with family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers, apply equally in the building of good partnerships. Openness, listening, information sharing, clear communication, understanding and trust all contribute to forming effective partnerships. Read more...
Community Decision-making
Community Decision-making is a decision-making process whereby the community takes responsibility for implementing strategies to achieve better results for children, families and communities. Community decision-making is usually conducted through a partnership that brings together state government, private sector, local officials, and community members. CDM is a process that capitalizes on and mobilizes the community resources, and informal supports to improve the quality of life in the community.
Over the years, the Center for the Study of Social Policy has published a number of reports on local governance and community decision-making. Working with state and local partners from Missouri, Georgia and Vermont, the Center for the Study of Social Policy published six learning guides to help build the capacity of community, state and local partners to carry out an effective decision-making process. The publications are entitled “Building Capacity for Community Decisionmaking – A Series of Learning Guides for Community Partners”. Learning Guide One and Learning Guide Three have been used in cross-systems trainings in Pennsylvania, provided by Phyllis Brunson from the Center for the Study of Social Policy. A complete set of the Learning Guides is available on the CSSP’s website at http://www.cssp.org/major_initiatives/comm_dec_making.html
- Local Governance - An excerpt from Learning Guide One from the Center for the Study of Social Policy.
Additional Resources
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
1509 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036-1426
Phone: 800-424-2460 or 202-232-8777 Fax: 202-328-1846
Email: naeyc@naeyc.org
Website: http://www.naeyc.org
Largest membership organization of early childhood professionals. Works to increase public understanding and support for high-quality programs for young children and their families through public policy and public education initiatives. Collaborates with media representatives and government representatives at all levels to advocate for services for children and families.
Parents Anonymous
675 West Foothill Blvd, Suite 200
Claremont, CA 91711-3475
Phone: 909-621-6184 Fax: 909-625-6304
Email: parentsanonymous@parentsanonymous.org
Website: www.parentsanonymous.org
National organization that provides technical assistance and training on a variety of leadership skills for parents. Trains parents to train other parents to operate mutual support groups. Based on a vision that establishing parent input, leadership, and mutual support are essential components in strengthening families and preventing child abuse and neglect.
Parents as Teachers
2228 Ball Drive
St. Louis, MO 63132
Phone: 314-432-4330 or 888-728-4968 Fax: 314-432-8963
Email: patnc@patnc.org
Website: www.patnc.org
PAT trains parents to be parent educators in its nationally replicated program to provide parents with the information and support they need to give their children the best possible start in life. Parents become certified to conduct home visits, coordinate group meetings, conduct developmental screenings, and link parents with providers of service and support. Parent educators work in partnership with the school and the community. Offers a variety of training and technical assistance.
Head-Start Bureau
Website: www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb
Web site maintained by the Head Start Bureau as an electronic resource for Head Start service providers, parents, volunteers, community organizations, and others, who share an interest in helping children look forward to a brighter future.
Parent Training & Information Centers
Alliance National Center
8161 Normandale Blvd.
Minneapolis, MN 55437
Phone: 888-248-0822
Website: http://www.taalliance.org/Centers/index.htm
Provides a list of parent training and information centers in the United States. The majority of the centers serve the entire state, others are community-based and serve more local areas.
Intercultural Development Research Association
5835 Callaghan Road, Suite 350
San Antonio, TX 78228-1190
Phone: 210-444-1710 Fax: 210-444-1714
Website: www.idra.org
IDRA is a vanguard leadership development and research team working with people to create self-renewing schools that value and empower all children, families and communities.
Family Resource, Information, Education and Network Development Service
Website: www.friendsnrc.org
FRIENDS is the National Resource Center for the Community Based Family Resource and Support Program, under a cooperative agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children, Youth and Families, and the Office on Child Abuse and Neglect. The CBFRS program was established by Title II of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Amendments of 1996. The purpose of the CBFRS program is to support state efforts to create and support a statewide network of community-based, family-centered, prevention-focused family resource and support programs, in order to strengthen families and reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect.
National Center on Fathers and Families
University of Pennsylvania
3440 Market Street, Suite 450
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215-573-5500
Website: www.ncoff.gse.upenn.edu
NCOFF’s primary goals are to: Expand the knowledge base on father involvement, family efficacy and child well-being, within multiple disciplines through research and development, integrated discussion, and information building, to strengthen practice through practitioner-targeted conversations, information dissemination, and collaborative activities and to contribute to critical policy discussions by creating a coherent agenda of work that is built around existing and emerging local, state and federal efforts.