Community partnerships face a number of challenges in organizing themselves and establishing an infrastructure for action. A key turning point for partnerships is represented by the implementation of initiatives and it is also where the theory of collaboration turns into the reality of action. This paper will examine success that Community Care Networks had in implementing their initiatives and the factors that helped or hindered their ability to do so. The data analyzed for this paper comes from reports through the course of the three-year demonstration period. CCN staff devoted substantial energy at the beginning of the demonstration program to assist CCN partnerships in identifying measurable goals for the initiatives that they wanted to implement (Bogue et al., JHPPL 1997). Specifically, for the 25 CCN sites, a total of 524 specific action steps that related to approximately 150 initiatives were identified for implementation. We combined data from a final report with information on the nature of each action, perceptions of partnership structure and operation among key stakeholders, and community characteristics to identify factors associated with success or failure in implementing planned initiatives. These data will help us to understand how initiatives progressed, what key events affected barriers and facilitators to progress, and the roles of leadership, financial, and political support in partnership success. The results of this paper will provide important insights to partnerships on why initiatives may or may not achieve planned objectives, how progress can be enhanced, and what CCN partnerships learned about implementing initiatives along the way.
Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to identify barriers and facilitators to implementing initiatives with a community partnership. Participants will be able to identify the importance of leadership, financial and political support in partnership success.
Keywords: Partnerships, Community Collaboration
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Community Care Network Project, Evaluation
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.