Model for Collaboration - Creating a Youth Engagement Alliance

The following  contains a list of suggestions towards the development
of an alliance to improve youth engagement, citizenship and
communities.  It is based on a model of collaboration that brings
together youth,youth organizations and funders to achieve this common
objective by sharing organizational strengths and staff to achieve a
common  purpose.

A) Hold a collaborative, professionally facilitated 3 day meeting with
key organizations in youth engagement field.Determine common areas and
objectives (via consensus), goals and time line towards improving youth
engagement and citizenship.

*Note-Each organization must have at least one youth staff
representative in attendance.

B) Develop interactive vision, mission and  plan of action.

C) Match youth organizational strengths to areas of need in agreed upon
plan of action.  Determine prospective roles and responsibilities from
aligned organizations.  Determine time, staffing and funding needs to
carry out each component of an interactive plan.  Create consensus on
plan and funding requirements for specified time period.

D) Match funding needs with each  foundations mission and objectives to
set up a collaborative funding strategy to accomplish agreed upon
plan.  Commit staff and resources to carry out plan  (per
organization).  Using development staff from each participating
organization, create joint proposal to foundation group to secure funds
for each required area of plan (can involve recommended for profit
organizations to fulfill one or more elements of the plan).

E) Involve/co-develop neutral technical assistance/management team to
link funders with organizational alliance.  This  team oversees
Implementation of mission and objectives and reports to all aligned
organizations and foundations to assure forward momentum and timely
fulfillment of agreed upon objectives, roles and responsibilities.Also
responsible for providing overall evaluation of the joint
project(s).  Process should be built in up front as part of strategic
planning sessions and include training/capacity building for each
organization and the group as a whole (includes assistance with the
development of each organizations specific processes, outcomes and long
term impact/evaluation methods (possible introduction on day three of
initial collaborative meeting).  Staff should be mainly generated from
recommendations of participating Foundations.

F) Create arbitration team (can be from legal cousel or participating
organizaions (1 per) and/ or foundations) should one or more
organization fail to fulfill their roles and responsibilities and
require removal/replacement. (As back up to technical
assistance/management team only.)

G) Hold Quarterly and/or bi-annual Executive director meetings to
discuss progress, successes, shortcomings and ways to better achieve plan
to improve youth engagement.  Again, at least one youth staff for each
organization must be in attendance or in phone conference.

H) Hold joint event to announce objectives, results, highlights of plan
and results to date.

I) Bi-Annual report back (while project is in progress) to all funders
with special emphasis on results generated from leverage and synergy of
collaborative effect.

J) Final report generated from Tech assistance/management team with
input from one representative from each organization.  Should point out
successes, shortcomings, areas to be improved etc. towards a second
collaborative funding cycle to improve youth engagement.  In other
words,lets learn from our mistakes, know we will have to make
adjustments/improvements (including adding/removing organizational
partners), and keep our sites on the overarching goal of improving youth
engagement and citizenship.

Peter Raducha
E.D.Youth in Action