Partner Cafe Newsletter Publication April 2014 Edition
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The document describes the creation of Partner Caf辿, a forum that brings together individuals from different sectors to share resources and identify solutions to issues collectively. The Community Capacity Building Coordinator at the City of Seattle's Human Services Division created Partner Caf辿 to address the duplication of services between organizations and realize that collective efforts were needed to resolve challenges. Partner Caf辿 aimed to bridge gaps between diverse communities and sectors by promoting collaboration and consensus building through open communication and recognizing interdependence.
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Partner Cafe Newsletter Publication April 2014 Edition
- 1. I had the privilege of working at the City of Seattles Human Services Divi- sion. My role as Community Capacity Building Coordinator was to help organiza- tions close gaps in reaching diverse com- munities by becoming Assisting Partners with the Department of Health and Hu- man Services Washington Connection Portal. Working with a dynamic and visionary Supervisor Jess Chow, Planning and Development Specialist at the City of Seattle Human Services Division, listened to my desire to create a forum that would allow a cross section of individuals from all sectors to learn how to seek consensus face to face. Critical thinking of shared re- sources is essential to identifying how collectively we should be aware of how interdependent we were and how without direct interaction little could be truly ac- complished and impacted for change. Most Sectors were unwittingly duplicating services just a neighborhood and in most cases one policy apart of one another. Each doing exhaustive work with dedicated, albeit strained staff and leaders stretching budgets trying to address issues with fractured information. I had the enviable position of a macro view seeing that what was needed most was the reali- zation that only collectively could we dare to resolve issues and challenges by sharing our wealth of information and the genius of ideas and resources among us. Thus Partner Caf辿 was born and Collec- tive Impact began In the Beginning. Inside this issue: Who We Are. 2-3 Why We Care. Next Steps towards change 4 Inside Story 4 Inside Story 5 Inside Story 6 Partner Caf辿 Bridging the Gap across Sectors making the case for Collective Impact This months issue In the Beginning... Washington Connection Collaborative Impact Shared Knowledge Recognizing our Inter- dependence APRIL 2014 VOLUME 2 ISSUE 2 Caption describ- ing picture or graphic. Washington Connection.and the ACA The online DSHS Community Ser- vice Division hosted portal connects indi- viduals to state, city and federal benefits, programs and services. It offers a holistic one-stop shop that goes beyond what is politically referred to as government enti- tlements to actual resources for stability. Unknown to many, individuals can find links to a wide variety of services; employment, education, child-care, legal, long-term care, and housing as well as support for Native Americans and Medi- care Savings programs. Organizations encouraged to partner with DSHS as Assisting Agen- cies fostered by close ties to their commu- nities directly impacted while surfacing a need for true relationship. DSHS Community Service divisions clearly understand that community relation- ships strengthens an organizations ability to reach out and make lasting differences not always driven by empirical data. With the roll out of the Affordable Care Act many Agencies became Lead Organiza- tions through the Health Care Authority which uniquely positioned the Community Services division to serve on the front line connecting and restoring families across the state to concrete sustainable opportuni- ties ability to focus on bottom lines for change and measurable progress.
- 2. KiKu Hayashi, Com- munity Activist. Food Bank @ St Marys, Metropolitan Democ- ratic Club, Board Member Japa- nese American Citizens League.. Michael Twiggs, President & CEO, Twiggs & Associates, Inc.-The Garden of Eden an innovative approach to urban farming, creating a holistic approach to food access- nutri- tion policy offering better com- Rebecca Larsen, Case Manager-Childcare Resources is a private, non-profit child care resource and referral (CCR&R) agency that works with families and communities to ensure that all children have access to high quality, affordable early learning and school-age opportunities and experiences that enable them to succeed in school and in life. munity health, ecological integ- rity, food education, skills train- ing and job creation. Currently, COO at Maxine Mimms Academies Paul Valenti, Em- ployment CounselorMayors Office Senior Center- free- lance & contract writing -United States Army, Microsoft, City of Seattle, the Valenti Print Group, the University of Washington Dream Project & private clients Who We Are..to name a few United Way of King County John Pope, Program Supervisor at OSPIOffice of Superintendent of Public In- struction.-OSPI is the primary agency charged with overseeing K-12 public education in Wash- ington state. John works with the states 295 school districts to administer basic education pro- grams and implement education reform on behalf of more than one million public school stu- dents. OSPI is housed in the Old Capitol Building in Olym- pia. Tania Rzhoudrovska, Immigration Assistance (Russian & Ukraine) St. James Cathe- dral "While we do not support illegal immigration we are com- mitted to helping all persons regardless of their legal status... Our goal as a community of disciples is comprehensive immi- gration reform to provide legal pathways for family reunifica- tion, guest workers and those seeking citizenship. Lynette Juska, Pro- gram Manager Employment Ser- vices, ENSO offers state of the art employment supports for people throughout the state of Washington by using an indi- vidualized planning process, choice in design of individual- ized supports/implementation strategies, and personalized re- source department. Learn more about ENSO. Louis Mendoza, Vol- unteer Initiatives Manager at Jess Chow, Planning & Development Specialist-City of Seattle Human Services Division and co-creator of Partner Caf辿. Trena Cloyd has been the Airport Jobs Program Man- ager since 2007. She has devoted over 25 years in the Hospitality, Human Resources, and Customer Service industries. Her passion has always been about helping others from all walks of life, and then knowing that she and her team have made a positive out- come in the lives of their clients and job seekers that come through their doors in both the Airport Jobs and Airport Univer- sity programs . www.airportjobs.org Jesus Bervis It only takes a moment to make some- ones day, or even change some- ones life. I discovered that a few years ago. I was working as a volunteer interpreter one day when a client came into the doc- tors office to get prenatal care. I was surprised to see her crying and saying I was not expecting to have someone able to understand me. The doctor was able to help her and the eligibility specialist there was able to enroll her in Medicaid. That day not only changed that young ladys life but mine as well. I have been with NeighborCare Healths Eligi- bility Team as their Manager ever since. Ty Ahlquist, Per- formance and Quality Manager- DSHS Community Services Division provides programs to support the Mission of the De- partment of Social and Health Services. When we provide ser- vices, we work diligently to honor Our Commitment to our Customers. Karl Allison, CSO Administrator-State of Washing- ton. Karl oversees DSHS CSO offices in King and Snohomish County. Patti Bowers, M.S. TESOL, International Diversity Multi-Cultural Bilingual (Spanish) Specialist Washing- ston State Public Schools. Page 2 PARTNER CAF Participants & partners City of Seattle HSD NeighborCare Health Port Jobs King County Health DSHS-Community Services division Center-Stone Community for Youth United Way of King County Childcare Resources Inc Global-to-local Mayors Office Senior Center St James Cathedral Multicultural Families Keep It Clean K.I.C. Unleash the Brilliance Catholic Community Services Apprisen Financial Service UW School of Nursing Solid-Ground ENSO Seattle Goodwill Race & Social Justice Initiative
- 3. Felicia Yearwood, Civil Rights AttorneyAdvance Justice Clarence Gunn, La- bor Relations Specialist/ Community Organizer. Kathy Tan, DSHS Washington Connection Com- munity Access Consultant Sharon Dizer, Case Manager at Seattle Goodwill. Enrique Cardenas, 20 yr. Army Vet-Youth Leader and Administrative Manager Raquel Stewart, Au- thor/ Reiki Practitioner Kelly Perkins, Manag- ing Director, West Coast Opera- tions at Apprisen Financial ticultural and cross-generational world and by acknowledging and coming to terms with our inter- dependence we can all share the blessing of opportunities made possible through intentional inclusion and open communica- tion. I have made it my life's purpose to seek , find and ac- knowledge individual's gifts and then connect their abilities and talent to others so that they can identify challenges, learn to work across ideologies and design methods and share ideas towards productive solutions. We are a Global Village and by remaining teachable we are able to live our best lives in a diverse commu- nity, uniquely qualified to ad- dress issues that affect all of us and become willing to work together towards solving them. Collective Impact-true synergy and vision-changing how we get things done Large-scale social change requires broad cross- sector coordination, yet the so- cial sector remains focused on the isolated intervention of indi- vidual organizations. Substantially greater progress could be made in allevi- ating many of our most serious and complex social problems if nonprofits, governments, busi- nesses, and the public were brought together around a com- mon agenda to create collective impact. Published in the Stanford Social Inno- vation Re- view, Winter 2011. By John Kania & Mark Kramer We live in an amazingly intricate mul- Page 3 PARTNER CAF .. City of Seattle Office of Emergency Management Office of Superintendent Public instruction OSPI WA health Benefit Exchange Within Reach Pike Market Senior Center Bread of Life Mission Aloha Inn Somalie Center ACRS UW School of Social Work Seed of Life Techno-access Seattle University Jewish Family Services Consejo Counseling Vivian heller, Human Resource and Sales professional Enrique Cardenas, 20 year Army Vet John Willoughby, Counselor-Score Chapter 143, Wichita, Kansas-30+ years of college administration & teach- ing 20 years of Success Motiva- tion Inc/Leadership Manage- ment International sales/ counseling Ruthie Stark- Redman, Program Manager Lake County NAACP-Ohio Lemmell Brown, CEO & Patent Holder-KIC (Keep it Clean) medical device covers. Life is an accumulation of experiences that move us from where we were to where we are. How you make the jour- ney is a testament of who you are. Arriving does not determine your character; it's a testament to your tenacity. Vivian Heller, Social and Community Ser- vice Specialist My passion is implementing Education along with Social Services to create a successful environ- ment for all people with nu- merous barriers. I have a strong belief that with the two of these joined anyone can accomplish their goals
- 4. I didnt start Partner Caf辿-Bridging the Gap across Sectors with a clear vision of how it would operate and what the logistics would have to be to address what I saw as an over accumulation of well intentioned organizations and government agencies working in well-designed vacuums. All I knew for sure was that the very people each existed because of, and yes organizations, government agencies, institutions across all sectors exist for the sole purpose or illusion there of, of making life a better place for its people, or at least that is the intention direct or in-direct as it may be by creating products and services to be used by and for people. Yet, year after year many of the same problems and challenges not only remain but have gotten progressively worse. No amount of money, MBAs doctorates or years of tacit knowledge seems to have put a dent in the basic challenges of providing people with equal access to value when it comes to services and opportunities upon which they could build a stable life for themselves and their families. Some will argue that it is up to the individual to make a decent life for themselves and I certainly would agree, to a point. But for the vast majority decent is relative and changes per zip code, culture, genders and age. I may not have the answers yet, but this one thing I know, we need to have all sectors engaged in actual collaborative communication and execution derived from a consensus of coordinated planning in which each brings to the table the single focus of working as a unit towards a shared goal, one project at a time. Below is a excerpt on Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work by Fay Hanley- Brown, John Kania, & Mark Kramer Jan. 26 2012. The writers wrote that five key conditions had to exist in order to distinguish collective impact from other types of collaboration: I have adopted them as Partner Caf辿s guiding principles as we grow... A common agenda, All participants have a shared vision for change including a common understanding of the problem and a joint approach to solving it through agreed upon actions Shared measurement, Collecting data and measuring results consistently across all participants ensures efforts remain aligned and participants hold each other accountable Mutually reinforcing activities, Participant activities must be differentiated while still being coordinated through a mutually reinforcing plan of action Continuous communication , Consistent and open communication is needed across the many players to build trust, assure mutual objectives and create common motivation The presence of a backbone organization. Creating and managing collective impact requires a separate organization (s) with staff and a specific set of skills to serve as the backbone for the entire initiative and coordinate participating organizations and agencies This is a huge order for the most polished organization. But it is in my humble opinion that the only way forward in accomplishing change and addressing disparities' that affects all of us whether directly or indirectly is to work collectively and transparently together. We each come with a unique set of innate talents and far too many of our people have had their voices prematurely silenced because our vision is narrow and ideologically tainted. When I spoke to my then Supervisor Jess Chow about what I saw, we were neck deep in completing a Logic Model for bet- ter cross communication and effectiveness. Our reality was that on a floor that housed no less than five departments, no one was sharing information. Few of us knew what the other actually did and we surely weren't aware of the data that would have saved time and money when addressing issues that affected the very people we were all there to serve. Partner Caf辿-Bridging the Gap across Sectors may not be for everyone, but everyone exists and depends on a cross section of all sectors working together to create sustainable opportunities...I often say that if any one of us were truly doing our jobs to eliminate today's problems, we would measure our suc- cess by the fact that we would be committed to working ourselves out of a job and moving on to the next challenge-problem-issue. Cheri D Coleman Phone: 253-988-1703 Home: 253-985-1732 E-mail: Cherid615@gmail.com http://www.linkedin.com/groups/ Partner-CafeBridging-Gap-across- Sectors-5100898?trk=my_groups-b Bridging the gap..steps toward Change... together, we can do amazing things... serving the world, Collectively Impacting our neighborhoods One conversation at a time............ Find us on Linkedin! Partner Caf辿-Bridging the Gap across Sectors Cheri D Coleman, Founder & CEO Partner Caf辿-Bridging the Gap across Sectors 3215 71ST AVE Ct W #206 University Place, WA 98466 Cultures coming together to create change-one con- versation at a time.