Q1: As a program director, what is your role in facilitating community collaboration and partnerships?

<Linda Wilson>
  
As a Director of an Early Head Start program, community collaboration and local partnerships are essential to our work. We serve children and families in their homes, at centers, and in community locations. Partnerships and collaborations can be formal or informal and with individuals, organizations, or agencies. Our agency has agreements with the local early intervention program, local health departments, Departments of Social Services, public schools, and others. We also have relationships with individual staff within each of these organizations. My role as director is to help facilitate the collaboration and partnership process at all levels of the program. This means that I may be the one at the table talking to others about a written agency agreement or it might mean that other program staff are taking the lead. We serve a rural area with tight knit communities. Sometimes it is my job as a leader to get out of the way and provide opportunities for others to strengthen relationships. We identify the best person for the job within our program and provide supports and guidance as needed. If it is a goal-planning meeting for a child, the child’s teacher needs to participate. As leaders, we make that happen by budgeting for a classroom substitute so the teacher can attend. These opportunities can create conditions for a successful partnership and opportunities for new leaders to emerge. Collaboration takes time, money and committed personnel. It is not always easy and at times, it might mean looking beyond the typical partnering agencies. It involves being open to new partnerships and considering a broader range of potential partners. It takes looking at your program mission and guiding principles, revisiting policies and procedures, prioritizing efforts and resources, and determining why we are in the business we are in. It really takes a systems approach.