Partnering for Success: Schools and Communities on Your Side

Cooperation – that basic principle of early education – is not always practiced in the siloed adult world, where schools, businesses, and government too seldom collaborate. But, recognizing partnerships can improve afterschool programs, more communities are embarking on efforts to share resources, prevent duplicating services, and realize a common vision for kids.

Reach out
Experienced afterschool directors say developing a relationship with a school, district, or parent group starts by reaching out.

“Invite them to lunch, or get on a committee at the school,” suggests Bob Cabeza of the YMCA of Greater Long Beach and Long Beach CORAL (Communities Organizing Resources to Advance Learning). “Go in with a child-centered vision of what you all want for kids.”

CORAL’s three-year collaboration of youth development groups and schools has been mutually beneficial – as teachers develop curriculum for afterschool programs, site coordinators support classes during the school day. CBOs and schools share resources to facilitate the creation of topnotch computer labs and “parent leadership institutes.”

Patience, patience
Such progress takes time and a gradual evolution of trust, as Elaine Moore of the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles can attest. A participant with LAUSD’s Beyond the Bell branch (which coordinates dozens of afterschool collaborations), Moore attends monthly BTB executive committee meetings, works with contract compliance issues, and builds careful relationships at schools.

“We found you needed to learn the culture of each school," Moore says, "and then get across the message to teachers, principles, parents, secretaries, other CBO’s on campus and everyone else that you're there to work with them.”

Sharing solutions
Sometimes partners unite over a common problem, as happened with the Before and After School Work Group (BASWG), a San Jose-based collaborative that came about during funding cuts. As the partnership matured, schools, CBOs, and the city all deepened their understanding of shared opportunities to promote quality.

Suzanne Wolf of the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services explains how other communities, even small, rural ones, can replicate San Jose’s success: “Start by meeting for coffee once a month, and then add a new partner every month.” Potential afterschool partners are limitless, she notes, from the town store providing program snacks to the bowling alley hosting fieldtrips.

So make every partnership count. Promise only what you can deliver; and follow-through on every promise. That’s how trusting relationships grow – and true collaborations emerge.