Forging Community Partnerships
Reflecting on How to Achieve Community Partnerships
Ideas to Extend Practice

Forging Community Partnerships Purpose: In this activity, participants will use a scenario to identify strategies they can use to promote community partnerships.

Materials:
Chart paper, markers
Handout 2: Professional Development Plan
Handout 14: The Great Strides Initiative
Copies of Section 1304.41 of the Head Start Program Performance Standards, Community Partnerships, Section (a) Partnerships

Trainer Preparation Notes:

To prepare for this workshop, list the following phrases on chart paper:

• Take an active role in community planning to encourage strong communication, cooperation, and the sharing of information
• Take affirmative steps to establish ongoing collaborative relationships with community organizations
• Perform outreach to encourage volunteers from the community to participate
• Develop interagency agreements with local education agencies

Introduce Activity

1. On chart paper, display the following phrases from the Head Start Program Performance Standards:

• Take an active role in community planning to encourage strong communication, cooperation, and the sharing of information
• Take affirmative steps to establish ongoing collaborative relationships with community organizations
• Perform outreach to encourage volunteers from the community to participate
• Develop interagency agreements with local education agencies

Ask participants about the significance of these statements. Ask, Do you know the source of these statements? What do these statements mean to you as a Head Start leader? How do the performance standards support your leadership role in the community? Explain that forming partnerships often requires leaders to use innovative approaches to reach out to the community in new ways.

Read the Scenario

2. Explain that Handout 14: The Great Strides Initiative describes what a Head Start director and other program leaders achieved when they worked with their community to improve the delivery of services. After reading the achievements of these leaders, ask participants to think about the activities that the leaders in this program must have accomplished to achieve these results. Have participants read the scenario to themselves and, pretending to be the Head Start director for the program in the scenario, answer the questions on Handout 14.

Discuss Scenario in Groups

3. Instruct participants to form small groups and answer the questions at the end of the scenario.

Discuss Community Partnerships

4. Conclude the activity by distributing copies of Section 1304.41 from the Head Start Program Performance Standards. Refer to the phrases on the chart paper. Ask participants to locate the complete statements containing each phrase in the Head Start Program Performance Standards [Section 1304.41(1), (2), (3), and (4)]. Find at least one statement in the performance standards that supports your role as a leader in the community. Lead a group discussion to answer the following questions:

• What innovative strategies can I use to enhance our existing community partnerships in this area?
• What innovative strategies can I use to develop new community partnerships in this area?
• What supports my leadership role in the community?

Conclude

5. Ask participants to use Handout 2: Professional Development Plan to identify at least one activity that can help them enhance or develop community partnerships

Reflecting on How to Achieve Community Partnerships Purpose: In this activity, participants will identify strategies that they can use to promote community partnerships.

Materials:
Chart paper, markers
Handout 15: Community Partnerships Action Plan
Copies of Section 1304.41 of the Head Start Program Performance Standards, Community Partnerships , Section (a) Partnerships

Coach Preparation Notes:

To prepare for this coaching session, list the following phrases on chart paper:

• Take an active role in community planning to encourage strong communication, cooperation, and the sharing of information
• Take affirmative steps to establish ongoing collaborative relationships with community organizations
• Perform outreach to encourage volunteers from the community to participate
• Develop interagency agreements with local education agencies

Introduce Activity

1. On chart paper, display the following phrases from the performance standards. Ask participants what they know about these phrases.

• Take an active role in community planning to encourage strong communication, cooperation, and the sharing of information
• Take affirmative steps to establish ongoing collaborative relationships with community organizations
• Perform outreach to encourage volunteers from the community to participate
• Develop interagency agreements with local education agencies

Review Performance Standards

2. Distribute copies of Section 1304.41 from the Head Start Program Performance Standards. Refer to the phrases on the chart paper. Ask participants to locate the complete statements containing each phrase in the Head Start Program Performance Standards [Section 1304.41 (1), (2), (3), and (4)]. Lead a group discussion to answer the question: What do these standards mean to you as a Head Start Leader?

Discuss Examples of Current Community Partnerships

3. Ask participants for examples of how their program is currently achieving each of the standards listed. Record their responses on chart paper.

Identify New Approaches for Community Partnerships

4. Ask participants to record each phrase from the performance standards on a sheet of paper. For each standard, help them brainstorm answers to the following questions:

• What innovative strategies can I use to enhance our existing community partnerships in this area?
• What innovative strategies can I use to develop new community partnerships in this area?
• What supports my leadership role in the community?

Complete Action Plan

5. Ask participants to review the strategies they listed in Step 4 for each performance standard. Then ask them to select one strategy from each list, for a total of four strategies. Using Handout 15: Community Partnerships Action Plan, help participants identify the steps they will need to follow to complete their goals. Arrange a series of follow-up meetings to discuss their success.

Summarize

6. Emphasize that developing community partnerships is essential for improving the delivery of services to Head Start children and families. Assure participants that they are equipped for the task.

Ideas to Extend Practice

Participants working independently or with other staff can build on [their] skills … by completing the following activities. …

• Local agencies continuously develop multiyear and short-term program goals. They also create financial objectives that address the community assessment findings and the agency's vision for quality programming.

  For this activity, have participants work with staff and parents in a visioning process. They should consider their program goals and the findings from their community assessment. They should also think about the level of program quality. This reflection often begins with one's dreams or visions of the perfect program.

  Participants should inform staff and parents either during a meeting or through written communication that they want to hear about each person's dream for the ideal program. The dreams or visions should be short descriptions that respond to the following:

  — What would our Head Start program be like if we had all the funding we needed, all the staff we needed, all the time we needed to do wonderful things as we strive to exceed our program's goals and meet all the needs of the children and their families? What would our program look like if this could become a reality? Examples of how programs will answer this question include:

  1. A setting in which all children and adults have all the nurturing, nutrition, health care, shelter, education/training, and support they need to fully meet their human potential.
  2. The Head Start that our children and families get in our program ensures that they can complete their educational goals, contribute to the community at a high level, and know how and where to access information and services that will enhance every aspect of their lives.
  3. Every family's self-sufficiency is enhanced through interaction within the community; Head Start parents realize full employment with good pay rates, a high quality of life, and access to their choice of health services and affordable, convenient, and attractive housing.

• As part of an effort to build community awareness about Head Start and the children and families in the program, Head Start leaders can plan special events to extend the Head Start message. Some of these special events could be:
  1. An open house with the mayor, governor, or a congressional representative as the guest of honor. (Such an event could serve as an opportunity for Head Start to publicize issues facing low-income children and families in your community.)
  2. A health fair co-sponsored with the health department, mental health providers, hospitals, service providers for the disabled, and professional associations of nurses, doctors, and pediatricians.
  3. A speech to civic groups about program needs and ways they can help low-income children and families. (Groups such as the chamber of commerce, Optimist, Rotary, and Sertoma are interested in serving the community, as are church groups and the Junior League. In most communities, these civic groups welcome volunteer speakers at their luncheon or evening meetings.)
  4. A Head Start exhibit at the local library or a government agency to describe the services your program provides.
     
• Head Start leaders must continuously share the Head Start message with their community. Ask participants to work with the appropriate individuals in their program to discuss a strategy for addressing specific issues confronting the children and families in their community. Examples may include welfare reform, transition, child care funding, and training. Once a strategy is confirmed, participants can schedule appointments with community leaders to share their vision for the Head Start program. Participants can schedule one-on-one meetings with community leaders or give presentations to groups.
  
• Some leaders may be interested in marketing their programs to build material, financial, or resource support in the community. If so, they should develop a marketing plan and a marketing kit to answer any questions that may be asked. The marketing plan could be developed with the assistance of the S.C.O.R.E. (Service Corps of Retired Executives) chapter in your community. An effective way to market the program is to make appointments with business, educational, and governmental leaders and to review the items you want them to support.

  When creating a marketing kit, leaders should consider developing or including the following documents that can be given to prospective collaborators:

  — The vision and mission of the agency/Head Start program.

  — A brochure describing the Head Start program goals and services.

  — A listing of partnerships the program has with community institutions and organizations.

  — A statement of needs that profiles the current needs of the community. (This information may be obtained from the most recent community assessment.)

  — A wish list outlining specific requests for materials, equipment, services, or financial contributions.

  Remember that most benefactors enjoy receiving recognition for their contributions. Find ways to publicize financial supporters if they are receptive to it.