Chapter 3
Finding and Developing Resources

How can partners find and develop financial resources for school-linked comprehensive strategies?

How can partnerships use financial resources effectively?

How can partnerships use human resources effectively?

How can a variety of resources be brought together to create "seamless" strategies?

Comprehensive school-linked partnerships face a challenge in finding and developing stable resources to support and sustain their efforts. "Resources" in this guidebook refer to funding, in-kind contributions, and human resources such as program staff, parents, and community members.

Funding from any single source is usually too unpredictable and insufficient to sustain long-term, capacity-building strategies. As a result, comprehensive partnerships often combine multiple funding sources and human resources to meet the priorities of families and children in their community. The Family Center described below (a composite of several actual programs) illustrates the variety and complexity of resources that together create balanced and comprehensive strategies.

The Family Center is located in several rooms of a community center next door to an elementary school. The center draws resources from many partners:

• The city contributes space, custodial services, and utilities for the center.

• The school district uses five percent of the funds it receives from the U.S. Department of Education (under Title XI of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) for school-linked comprehensive services; this supports the center coordinator's and bilingual receptionist's salaries as well as learning activities for staff and parents.

• The county Department of Public Health has assigned a public health nurse to work with families at the center and in the community as well as to provide immunizations and health screening for preschool and school-aged children. The nurse also meets with school staff to talk about community health issues and concerns.

• Two community-based organizations pay the salaries of the two family advocates on the center's staff. The local United Way provides funding for a mental health worker who spends two days a week at the center working with children and their families.

• Groups of parents meet at the center or in homes to provide peer support or to help each other learn English. Parents have also formed a clothing exchange. Some parents began working as volunteers and now are employed as paraprofessionals through an employability development program.

• A local bank has donated furniture for the reception area and offices; a local corporation donated the center's computer system and technical support to maintain it. Local service organizations contribute clothing and a small supply of cash so staff can help families with emergency needs.

• A neighborhood church prints the center's newsletter and provides facilities and child care for parent meetings. The church also maintains a pantry of emergency food and supplies open to families from the community.

How Can Partners Find and Develop Financial Resources for School-Linked Comprehensive Strategies?

In most successful comprehensive
school-linked partnerships, all
members contribute resources
according to their ability to
participate, and no partner can
dominate the efforts simply by
contributing more than others.

Because comprehensive strategies include activities that schools do not typically fund, collaborative partners must look beyond traditional school funding sources to find and develop financial support. Such support can come in the form of cash grants, commitment of staff time, or in-kind donations of facilities, equipment, supplies, and services. Potential sources include partner agencies; local, state, and federal government programs; private organizations; and businesses, corporations, and foundations. In most successful comprehensive school-linked partnerships, all members--individuals as well as agencies--contribute resources according to their ability to participate, and no partner can dominate the effort simply by contributing more than others.

During the planning process for the school-linked strategies, your partnership should examine all possibilities for financial support, including in-kind contributions from all partner agencies (see Chapter 2). It is often easier for an organization to provide the services of a staff member or to loan equipment than to contribute cash from its operating budget.

Successful programs cast a wide net to involve as many individuals and groups as possible in providing resources. Multisource funding raises several important issues that can affect your collaborative partnership:

• Many grants require matching contributions from other sources. Your partnership may need to directly link two or more funding sources in order to satisfy a single funder.

• The partnership usually is accountable separately to each funder for expenditures and outcomes specified by the donation or grant. Maintaining accountability to multiple donors will require a partnership to spend considerable time and effort on financial, statistical and narrative reports for funders, who often have different funding and reporting cycles.

• Partnerships often need to reapply for funding and support regularly--sometimes every year, for every grant--searching for new funding sources when grants and donations run out. Again, this can be very time consuming. Partners should prepare and regularly update financial information, emphasizing outcomes, accomplishments, and cost-effectiveness.

• Federal and state governments have traditionally funded programs to meet specific needs, such as immunizations, or serve categories of people. Local partnerships have worked to combine these categorical funding streams to support more comprehensive, holistic approaches. Recently enacted legislation at the federal level and in many states give partnerships the ability to use funding to develop comprehensive plans for children and families. Specific federal program examples are listed below on the following page.

Federal Sources for School-Linked Services

Title XI of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1994 allows local school districts the flexibility to reallocate up to five percent of the funds they receive under ESEA to programs of comprehensive school-linked services. Districts must submit a separate application to use ESEA funds in this way. For additional information, contact the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education (202-401-0113).

Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides children in targeted assistance schools a portion of Title I funds if other public and private sources do not meet a variety of needs including basic medical equipment; eyeglasses and hearing aids; compensation for a school-linked services coordinator; development and training for parents in identifying and meeting the comprehensive needs of their children; and professional development for teachers, pupil services personnel, and other staff. For additional information, contact your state or local Title I coordinator.

The Federal Family Preservation and Family Support Program allocates funds to states for developing local plans to strengthen families and reduce the number of children who are placed outside their homes. Although Family Preservation and Support funds are administered differently in each state, many states emphasize developing family resource centers, including programs that are school-based or school-linked. For additional information, contact your state Department of Social Services or, in many states, the Commission on Children and Families.

Head Start State Collaboration Project Grants help build early childhood systems and access to comprehensive services and supports for low-income children in each state. For additional information, contact your state Head Start office.

Even Start provides federal "glue money" for local collaborative efforts to improve family literacy through early childhood education, parenting education, adult basic education, and parent-child interactions. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1994 contains provisions that suggest collaboration between Even Start, Head Start, and Title I efforts. For more information, contact the U.S. Department of Education (202-260-0991).

How Can Partnerships Use Financial Resources Effectively?

While some types of funding may be relatively stable over several years, most public agencies undergo yearly changes in funding. Experienced program leaders say that "hard" money--funds that can be relied on every year--has virtually disappeared in today's funding economy. This situation makes it imperative that partnerships use funds effectively.

Short-term funding is best used for
one time expenditures, such as
building a play area for small
children, developing an emergency
fund for families, or providing
professional development for staff.

Most partnerships attract a mixture of short-term and long-term resources, and these should be used for different purposes. Short-term "special" funding from grants, gifts, and corporate contributions cannot be expected to support core program expenses--salaries, utilities, and facilities. This type of funding is best used for onetime expenditures, such as equipping a play area for small children, developing an emergency fund for families, or providing professional development for staff. Program operators and financial contributors sometimes overestimate the pace of change; try not to promise major changes with short-term funding.

If your partnership can demonstrate that it uses limited funds efficiently and productively, you may be able to encourage funders to increase their financial contributions or supplement them by contributing staff time or other resources. One approach is to bring potential funders into the partnership. Many private-sector organizations--local United Ways, chambers of commerce, and corporate philanthropies--contribute actively and creatively when they are "at the table" of the collaborative partnership, involved in planning and setting its goals. Through direct participation, these groups also become knowledgeable about the comprehensive effort and the kinds of resources it needs. Most are more inclined to support a partnership if they are regarded as sources of time, talent, and energy rather than only as sources of financial support.

How Can Partnerships Use Human Resources Effectively?

Successful partnerships depend on individuals of all types: parents who contribute their understanding of conditions in the community as well as skills in leadership, organization, communication, and mechanical or technical matters; program staff who take on new roles and responsibilities in school-linked programs; agency representatives and coordinators who manage assets and resources creatively; and partnership leaders who advocate for changing organizations' cultures to better serve children, families, and communities.

Key to a partnership's success is its ability to (1) build a core of committed staff, (2) ensure that staff work well with each other to support families and children, (3) recognize and use informal community resources, especially those that families can provide, and (4) support and sustain staff, volunteers, and interns in their work with children and families.

Developing a Core Staff
Every successful school-linked effort relies on staff who support the goals and philosophy of the partnership and can translate that support into sustained action. A balanced staff that reflects the diversity of the community is essential. But it isn't always easy to develop an effective staff--partly because of the very nature of comprehensive strategies. Diverse, inclusive partnerships bring together individuals from vastly different organizations and cultures and ask them to take on new roles in a new environment. Successful partnerships use the following approaches to ease this process:

• Recruit staff to fill positions voluntarily, rather than assigning people to programs.

• Consider the assets of all partners when selecting a core staff, and encourage staff members to recognize each other's assets.

• Think creatively about ways staff can expand beyond traditional roles. For example, front-line practitioners who see the same families over a period of time can learn to set short-term and longer-term goals, instead of focusing on "treating" each episode that brings the family to the program. By doing this, staff begin to think of themselves as agents of change who can help empower families.

Tips for Taking Action: Hiring Appropriate Staff

Look for individuals who:

• reside in the community and have experience working with parents, community residents and organizations;

• have worked in more than one agency (and therefore have a broader perspective on the conditions of families and children);

• can adapt to new situations and work to eliminate barriers to success;

• have a track record of being accountable for their actions and results of their work;

• have a sense of humor and the ability to place events in the context of the larger effort; and

• are familiar with the languages and cultures of the community.

In order to work well with children and families, staff must first work well with each other. A sense of inclusiveness among school and agency staff is essential, especially if they are working together on school campuses. Many partner organizations have strong cultures--systems of beliefs and practices--that include special staff roles, schedules, and communication styles. School staff may be unable to participate in partnership activities scheduled during school holidays or summer sessions; teachers' union rules may also dictate some limits on roles for school staff. Community-based organizations and nonprofit groups also have distinct cultures, and some may prefer to conduct only activities they have been successful with in the past.

Some comprehensive partnerships create broad-based teams to guide staffing decisions. For example, a family education center near Chicago established a 24-member team of teachers, parents, agency and community representatives, and health care practitioners to interview potential principals. The team created a job description, listed characteristics of the ideal candidate, compiled interview questions, and agreed on a decisionmaking process. Each team member participated in interviewing each job candidate and made recommendations on hiring.

Recognizing and Using Informal Community Resources
Remember that all partners, including--and especially--parents, have something to give to comprehensive strategies. By locating and asking for informal contributions from unexpected sources, your partnership will have opportunities to expand its base in the community.

For example, one school-linked partnership promotes a philosophy of exchanging resources. When parents use services, they indicate what they can contribute in return; this may be time spent tutoring another child, or painting a wall. This approach builds self-esteem among participants and enables the partnership to capitalize on all of the community's assets.

Supporting and Sustaining Volunteer Staff and Trainees
Volunteers, interns, and trainees can provide valuable support to program staff and, when they come from the community, can broaden community support for comprehensive strategies. Many school-linked partnerships use community volunteers: high school students involved in "learning by doing" programs, parents, members of the religious community, retired residents, and other interested individuals. Your partnership also may be able to collaborate with local universities to provide valuable training opportunities for students in the health, counseling, education, and social work fields.

Volunteers, interns, and trainees can
provide valuable support to program
staff and broaden community
involvement in the program.

Such experiences benefit both the partnership and the participants. Student interns and trainees gain experience and first-hand knowledge that cannot be duplicated in the classroom. Volunteers get a chance to use their skills in a way that benefits their community; they often become champions of the partnerships and attract additional community support.

Experienced school-linked programs offer the following advice for supporting and sustaining volunteer staff and trainees:

• Individuals receiving training need close attention from program staff, with time to discuss and interpret their experiences and to develop professional attitudes and skills.

• Designating one member of the partnership's staff as a volunteer coordinator can facilitate the recruitment, training, assignment, and ongoing support of volunteer partners. Check partner agencies' policies on involving volunteers; some agencies require fingerprinting, tuberculosis testing, and other screening procedures before they permit volunteers to work with children.

• Acknowledge the importance of volunteers through letters and certificates of appreciation, public recognition, and opportunities for professional development.

• Whenever possible, hire good volunteers as paid staff. One important function of comprehensive strategies can be to create new work opportunities for community members.

How Can a Variety of Resources Be Brought Together to Create "Seamless" Strategies?

Successful comprehensive school-linked partnerships have found that a basic, shared understanding about how resources will be managed can smooth the flow of operations considerably. For example:

Agree that every partner agency will contribute resources. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, the programs that are the most successful are those in which all partners commit resources, whether in the form of financial support, staff resources, or in-kind services and supplies. This commitment is made with the understanding that partner agencies are only asked to contribute within their capacity and that every contribution is important.

Designate a fiscal agent. It is preferable to have one organization manage and organize resources for the partnership. This fiscal agent may be one of the partner organizations, such as the school or school district; an existing nonprofit, such as the United Way or another community-based organization; or a new community organization established for this purpose.

Seek out resources to support the partnership's action plan. Partnerships are sometimes tempted to apply for all available funding, an approach which may actually pull them off track. To avoid the trap of searching indiscriminately for available grants, your partnership should develop an action plan that spells out staffing and funding needs, and then look for resources to support that plan. Equipped with a sound plan, partnerships can promote their vision to potential funders and define the kinds of support they need.

Develop a single line-item budget that shows all of the partnership's resources and a timeline for funding. Managing multiple funding sources is much easier with a budget that includes the many sources of income. A timeline for funding will help partners monitor short-term funding sources and changes in funding.

Match resources, goals, and needs carefully. To ensure stable funding for the comprehensive strategies and uninterrupted programs for families, your partnership must use resources as effectively as possible. For example, it is not wise to cover core services with short-term funding. Similarly, you may be tempted to hire several new staff when funds become available, but if the same money will not be available next year, a better option might be to use it, for example, to increase the hours of existing staff, to improve program infrastructure, or to provide more learning opportunities.

Learning Opportunities

Learning about community resources involves deepening the understanding of all partners and building trust so they will share knowledge that often is not public. For example, the partnership may want to know:

What is the school's budget? Are there resources that can be reallocated to support the comprehensive initiative?

How is state and federal family support and prevention funding allocated in the community? How can this funding become a resource in these comprehensive strategies?

How can parents bring resources--their skills, knowledge, and time as well as material goods--to the table?

Partners often learn about resources by holding small meetings to gather information, which they then share with the entire partnership to create a complete picture of available resources. Try to involve a variety of stakeholders in each meeting so you build a shared knowledge base among partners.

Learning Opportunities for Staff
The new roles, responsibilities, and relationships required by comprehensive strategies make learning opportunities for front-line staff especially important. These opportunities also provide a forum for communication between service systems. Supervisors and staff at a comprehensive program in Hillsborough County, Florida suggest the following approaches:

• Focus on teaching people how to work together. Most groups and individuals initially overestimate how easy it will be to work with others and understand their perspectives.

• Devote some time to establishing credibility. Community leaders must trust partnership organizers; residents must trust service providers and institutions; and practitioners and agencies must respect community members.

• Hold "reality checks" frequently to make sure everyone understands what is being discussed. The same words can mean very different things to different groups; don't assume everyone is talking about the same thing.

• Consider creating teams of parents, school personnel, and child welfare representatives to visit schools to familiarize teachers with comprehensive strategies.

• Tailor the topics of your learning opportunities to local needs. Common topics include methods for establishing advisory groups; mobilizing neighborhoods; developing multidisciplinary staff teams; building leadership, communication, and writing skills so partners can communicate across disciplines; and developing contractual agreements, cooperative resolutions, and interagency agreements.

Summary

Building support for comprehensive school-linked strategies requires pooling resources from many sources and using them flexibly to address the conditions of children and families in new, holistic ways. When funding comes from a variety of sources, traditional program boundaries blur. The approaches outlined in this chapter help partnerships develop and weave together human and financial resources to support comprehensive strategies.

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