In a recent blog post,
Melissa Grober-Morrow shared tips about choosing the right partner to
integrate financial capability services. She offered CFED's planning guide
as a tool to help you decide if you're ready to shift from dating to a
serious relationship. Now that we've found our partner, it's time to
tackle co-parenting.
To continue the metaphor from last week’s post, assume just for a minute that the clients we serve are our children, and when we partner with another community organization, we're both bringing kids to the marriage. How will that work? How will we approach setbacks and successes? What is it like for the kids when they bounce from one home to another?
These are the challenging questions CFED is helping us tackle through the Community Financial Empowerment Learning Partnership
(CFELP). For years we've heard chatter from the funding community about
collaboration and shared outcomes. But how do you make that happen when
each organization has its own focus and goals—its own approach to
raising the kids?
At the YWCA of Metropolitan Dallas (YW), we've had our share of challenges. We've stepped into partnerships where the highest level of leadership is onboard, but the staff charged with coordinating the services don't see the value or are overworked and overwhelmed. We’ve eagerly walked into relationships where on the surface the partnership seems like a natural fit, but at the end of the day we should have spent more time dating, more time talking through how we would handle tough situations.
Through CFELP tools and technical assistance, we are having important conversations with our partners New Friends New Life and Metrocrest Services at the start of our partnership. We are learning about one another's work culture and service delivery methodology. We are talking through where we make compromises so that our relationship is seamless for the “kids”—our clients. Like parents, we are in this together for the women and men who come to us ready to change their lives for the better.
There are a number of policies and processes that have to be discussed before we can have a successful partnership that truly benefits clients. For example, what does each agency's intake process look like? Should we make a client whose off-work time is precious or who lacks transportation travel from location to location to fill out separate intake forms? Or can we agree on a set of client data that is collected at one location and shared with partners, streamlining the process so that the client makes one stop and is ready for services at any location within the partnership?
And how do we handle a client who struggles, perhaps breaks the rules? We must agree early on about our response. We all make mistakes from time to time, and we may even take a step or two backwards. What we don't want is a kid who tells Dad they made a mistake, with the expectation that he doesn’t tell Mom. We need to plan ahead for how we address these situations so that we work together to find a shared solution.
To truly share outcomes we must be clear about what client success looks like for each partner agency. For example, at YW, we measure success as clients reaching key steps toward their financial goal. New Friends New Life focuses on employment and personal growth through counseling. When we understand one another's milestones, we join in the client’s success. Co-parenting is not easy. But when you invest the time up front in your partnership, the results can be extraordinary for families, neighborhoods and communities.
Authors note: in our day to day work, we do not consider our clients “children.” This word choice is only intended to illustrate the point about service providers working closely together in a true learning partnership.
Jennifer M. Ware is Chief Executive Officer of YWCA of Metropolitan Dallas. Previously, Jennifer served as Chief Development Officer for Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, an agency serving 42,000 girls across 32 north Texas counties. She has also worked with organizations such as the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center and Baylor Health Care System Foundation. Jennifer is a member of Dallas Assembly and a graduate of Leadership Texas, Leadership Plano Class 22 and holds a BA in Psychology from Austin College.
To continue the metaphor from last week’s post, assume just for a minute that the clients we serve are our children, and when we partner with another community organization, we're both bringing kids to the marriage. How will that work? How will we approach setbacks and successes? What is it like for the kids when they bounce from one home to another?
At the YWCA of Metropolitan Dallas (YW), we've had our share of challenges. We've stepped into partnerships where the highest level of leadership is onboard, but the staff charged with coordinating the services don't see the value or are overworked and overwhelmed. We’ve eagerly walked into relationships where on the surface the partnership seems like a natural fit, but at the end of the day we should have spent more time dating, more time talking through how we would handle tough situations.
Through CFELP tools and technical assistance, we are having important conversations with our partners New Friends New Life and Metrocrest Services at the start of our partnership. We are learning about one another's work culture and service delivery methodology. We are talking through where we make compromises so that our relationship is seamless for the “kids”—our clients. Like parents, we are in this together for the women and men who come to us ready to change their lives for the better.
There are a number of policies and processes that have to be discussed before we can have a successful partnership that truly benefits clients. For example, what does each agency's intake process look like? Should we make a client whose off-work time is precious or who lacks transportation travel from location to location to fill out separate intake forms? Or can we agree on a set of client data that is collected at one location and shared with partners, streamlining the process so that the client makes one stop and is ready for services at any location within the partnership?
And how do we handle a client who struggles, perhaps breaks the rules? We must agree early on about our response. We all make mistakes from time to time, and we may even take a step or two backwards. What we don't want is a kid who tells Dad they made a mistake, with the expectation that he doesn’t tell Mom. We need to plan ahead for how we address these situations so that we work together to find a shared solution.
To truly share outcomes we must be clear about what client success looks like for each partner agency. For example, at YW, we measure success as clients reaching key steps toward their financial goal. New Friends New Life focuses on employment and personal growth through counseling. When we understand one another's milestones, we join in the client’s success. Co-parenting is not easy. But when you invest the time up front in your partnership, the results can be extraordinary for families, neighborhoods and communities.
Authors note: in our day to day work, we do not consider our clients “children.” This word choice is only intended to illustrate the point about service providers working closely together in a true learning partnership.
Jennifer M. Ware is Chief Executive Officer of YWCA of Metropolitan Dallas. Previously, Jennifer served as Chief Development Officer for Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, an agency serving 42,000 girls across 32 north Texas counties. She has also worked with organizations such as the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center and Baylor Health Care System Foundation. Jennifer is a member of Dallas Assembly and a graduate of Leadership Texas, Leadership Plano Class 22 and holds a BA in Psychology from Austin College.
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