Public Engagement

United Way Innovation Network

The Challenge 

The Annie E. Casey Foundation and United Way have both pursued groundbreaking work to improve community conditions.  Recognizing the alignment between the AECF’s Making Connections initiative and United Way’s community impact agenda, United Way received a grant from AECF to explore the best practices for effective place-based, resident engagement work impacting education, income and health.

United Way Worldwide convened eight communities from across the country in an Innovation Network throughout 2009 to explore how this work can be effectively implemented to create sustainable community change. United Way Worldwide reached out to Collaborative Communications Group to assist in the learning and development of the Innovation Network.

Our Approach 

Collaborative supported this work through:

  • Facilitation of working group discussions to ensure successful consultation and decision-making
  • Shaping the content and agendas for three convenings of the Innovation Network
  • Building an online, interactive environment that will give participants in the Innovation Network an ongoing platform for continuing to connect, share and learn
Our Impact 

Collaborative was able to support the Innovation Network through its development and exploration of place-based, resident engagement work. Through the management of the three convenings, the Network was able to create tools and resources that have been combined into a toolkit for the entire United Way system.

The relationship with United Way Worldwide has grown and deepened, and Collaborative continues to support their work in a variety of ways.

Date Added: Mar 31, 2010
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Strategic Planning Process for the School District of Collier County, Florida

The Challenge 

The School District of Collier County wanted to develop a comprehensive strategic plan for the school district with input from not only district staff and teachers, but also community stakeholders.

Our Approach 

Collaborative teamed up the Education Foundation of Collier County (EFCC) to assist the district in developing and implementing its strategic plan. Two phases of work were identified for this 10-month project: Developing a vision and mission document and building operational plans.

In phase one, Collaborative worked with the superintendent, his cabinet, board members, and a strategic planning team of community stakeholders. With each of these groups, Collaborative did the following:

  • Facilitated discussions to identify the vision, mission and values for the school district
  • Synthesized notes and shared them will all groups to make sure everyone knew what each team was considering
  • Developed draft vision document, which was revised several times based on the feedback from each of the groups

In phase two, Collaborative and the EFCC worked with the superintendent to select members for eight operational teams. Each team consisted of a combination of internal and external members, including district staff, principals, teachers and community members. With guidance from Collaborative these teams did the following:

  • Developed an overall goal for their operational area
  • Created objectives, indicators and strategies for this goal
  • Considered implications of these efforts

During these efforts, EFCC conducted focus groups and outreach throughout the community to gain feedback about the draft document, operational team work and the overall process. This comprehensive engagement allowed the community to remain involved throughout the process.  

Our Impact 

The School District of Collier County has a strong vision document, which outlines the values and strategies for achieving the district’s vision. Through the comprehensive community outreach and engagement, this document truly reflects Collier County’s vision for education.

Learn more about what the community says about the process.

Date Added: Mar 30, 2010
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Transforming the High School Experience

The Challenge 

In 2008, the Alliance for Excellent Education was awarded a grant from the James Irvine Foundation to examine high school reform efforts in California to help inform the national dialogue on how to better prepare students for the rigors of college and career, while simultaneously increasing the high school graduation rate. 

The project specifically looks at the Linked Learning approach, which is grounded in a set of four guiding principles that focus on preparing students for postsecondary education and career; connecting academics to real-world applications; leading students to the full range of postsecondary opportunities; and improving student achievement. 

The Linked Learning movement in California grew out of an effort to address the poor and inequitable student outcomes that have persisted throughout the state for decades—a trend that plagues every state in the union. 

Collaborative is supporting the Alliance in the organization’s efforts to draw out the applicable lessons from California’s efforts to transform the high school experience and determine how best to share those implications with national stakeholders to help inform federal policy.

Our Approach 

Collaborative worked in partnership with the Alliance, the James Irvine Foundation and ConnectEd—a group charged with advancing practice, policy, and research for Linked Learning—to develop a comprehensive and effective communications plan to help inform national education stakeholders of the impact of California’s Linked Learning Approach. 

The efforts focused on a two-day rollout to Congressional staff, officials from the Obama administration and the larger policy community both to inform them of the specifics of the Linked Learning approach, but also to connect the approach to the larger implications for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Action. 

Collaborative helped to develop a Hill briefing that included a broad range of stakeholders from California, including representation from the state department of education, the state teachers’ union, a local chamber of commerce, a community-based advocacy group, and a district implementing Linked Learning.

Our Impact 

Collaborative moderated a well-attended Hill briefing that included representatives from the James Irvine Foundation, ConnectEd and other supporters who shared their on-the-ground experience in building support for and implementing the Linked Learning approach in California. The briefing was held before a range of audience members, including Congressional staff, officials from the Obama administration, state education officials, local education agency staff, national education groups and the press. The briefing resulted in a lively discussion in which panelists shared their viewpoints, experience and knowledge on what is happening in high school reform in California and how it applies to federal policy. 

Date Added: Mar 24, 2010
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The National AfterSchool Association Hosted 2009 Convention

The Challenge 

The National AfterSchool Association (NAA) wanted to bring together afterschool professionals from across the nation to share best practices and to learn about new resources in the field.

Our Approach 

Having assisted with workshop coordination at the 2008 Convention, Collaborative had the experience, insight and creativity to successfully support the NAA's 2009 convention. Collaborative coordinated the workshop planning and preparation, as well as the Web site development, convention registration, exhibition sites, specials events, plenary sessions, networking events, site visits and participant activities.

Our Impact 

Speaker management included scheduling both the keynote speakers and workshop sessions.  This year's convention featured the following keynote speakers:

  • Sir Ken Robinson, an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation, and human resources
  • General Colin Powell, former Secretary of State
  • Jeff Corwin, host of Animal Planet's The Jeff Corwin Experience

Collaborative facilitated the request for proposal process for workshop presenters.  With our strategic knowledge of the afterschool field, we reviewed proposals and selected content. The workshops were carefully planned to ensure an exciting and diverse suite of offerings. 

Collaborative also assisted NAA in the planning and execution of site visits and networking events. Site coordination occurred for the following:

  • Forums with a special speakers and panel discussions
  • Informal networking events and receptions
  • Facilitated discussions on timely afterschool topics
  • Invitation-only focus groups and research-based discussions
  • Membership meetings

Convention registration was a coordinated effort among NAA, Meetings Management Group (MMG), and Collaborative.  NAA supplied the content, MMG provided experienced management of convention planning, and Collaborative coordinated the efforts, fielded questions, and designed and maintained the convention Web site.

Date Added: Mar 13, 2010
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Creating a Community Vision for Education in Collier County, Florida

The Challenge 

The Education Foundation of Collier County (EFCC) sought assistance with community engagement to bring the community together in a time of turmoil on education issues.  

Our Approach 

Collaborative teamed up with EFCC to implement a comprehensive community engagement effort, called Connect Now, which included the following:

  • Structure and facilitation of a steering committee representative of all key stakeholders.
  • Design, coordination, facilitation and documentation of conversations among residents across all neighborhoods.
  • Design, facilitation and documentation of cross-sector community-wide forums that build and solidify a community vision for public education.

Collaborative’s experience leading similar efforts gave confidence and support the leadership effort played by EFCC in creating and moving Connect Now forward.

Our Impact 

The Connect Now process allowed the community to have ownership of its vision for education. Through Collaborative’s efforts, the EFCC and community stakeholders gained the ability to facilitate effective conversations about education. Building this internal capacity within the community allowed this community to continue discussions, which would lead to the school district’s decision to develop a district strategic plan.

Learn more about what the steering committee members said about this process.

The final product – a statement from the community about the future of education. That statement is serving as the foundation for organizational and school district planning.

Date Added: Mar 30, 2010
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Telling the Story of Mobile County, Alabama

The Challenge 

Collaborative and the Kettering Foundation wanted to tell the story of the meaningful and widespread engagement in Mobile County, Alabama.

Our Approach 

Collaborative worked with the Mobile Area Education Foundation (MAEF) to bring out the deep, meaningful and widespread engagement that took place in Mobile County in the past three years.  Furthermore, it wanted to highlight the various historic, civic and cultural conditions in the community that made this engagement possible.

In addition to MAEF, Collaborative met with other key participants including:

  • Yes We Can campaign
  • PASSport to Excellence strategic plan for Mobile County public schools
Our Impact 

Collaborative's publication work demonstrates how it can actively engage communities to promote education, produce concise and informative products, and disseminate this information-offering examples of how other communities could utilize similar strategies to promote positive change.

Date Added: Mar 13, 2010
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Bringing Communities Together to Eradicate the Achievement Gap

The Challenge 

The Kettering Foundation wanted to know how local education funds (LEFs) in six American cities implemented community forums to determine how the achievement gap is defined and expressed in public education systems, and the causes and possible solutions for closing this gap. The Foundation had created tools for moderators and participants of community forums, and sought to understand how these tools in practice surfaced important themes.

By supporting forums in six cities-Washington, DC; Corpus Christi, TX; Minneapolis, MN; Bridgeport, CT; New Orleans, LA and San Francisco, CA, the Foundation sought answers to the following key questions:

  • How do people in communities rename the issue known as the academic achievement gap?
  • What is happening in the six communities as a result of the public dialogues?
  • What are the challenges associated with using public dialogue to engage communities to address the achievement gap issue?
Our Approach 

Since late 2007, there have been 25 community forums about the achievement gap in these six cities, engaging over 1,500 participants from a wide range of backgrounds, including those of Somali, Hmong, Hispanic, Korean, Native American, White, African American and Chinese descent. Educators, superintendents, principals and teachers participated in the conversations.

Collaborative attended at least two forums in each of the six participating cities and also conducted more than 20 follow-up interviews with educators, parents and students impacted by the achievement gap discussions.

Collaborative analyzed findings and compiled a report of key themes and future potential steps for the Kettering Foundation to take when seeking to engage communities in deliberations about aspirations and actions for educational quality.

Our Impact 

Collaborative's efforts helped to reveal the nuances and understandings used in different communities when it comes to deliberations on the achievement gap. We found that communities repeatedly narrowed the focus from a broad academic concept of an achievement gap to more personal and local framings.

For example, minority students in Bridgeport compared the actions of White students to their own. Administrators in Minneapolis noted that members of ethnic groups who participated in conversations expressed a concern that the White power structure did not understand or honor their stories and did not help their children reach their full potential. This resulted in conversations around how to help all children reach their full potential.

Ultimately, the Kettering Foundation received a thoughtful analysis of themes from nationwide discussions, and an understanding of how their materials worked in practice to support local dialogue that leads to change.

Date Added: Mar 13, 2010
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Dynamic, Online Professional Development Promoted throughout Arkansas

The Challenge 

The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) wanted to increase user registration and activity on Arkansas IDEAS, its premiere online professional development portal for educators.

Our Approach 

Our approach was to create a series of promotional materials, Web site content, and implementation strategies that the ADE could distribute to a variety of prospective users.

Our first step was to create materials that demonstrate the benefits of IDEAS to district and school administrators. Once they understood the value of the online portal, they could then promote it within their district or school. We created a promotion plan and an implementation strategy that ADE staff could use to talk about and promote IDEAS with administrators at the district and school level.

Next, we developed an implementation plan for administrators, to help them introduce and promote IDEAS in their school or district. The plan is accompanied by supporting resources including IDEAS talking points, sample email language, a PowerPoint presentation and a promotional poster. We recommended all of these resources be available to administrators in a centralized location on the IDEAS Web site.

Our Impact 

To measure the impact of these promotional activities, we recommended that ADE staff track their efforts and monitor Web site traffic and email click through rates to track ongoing promotional efforts against goals. The intent is to be strategic about outreach efforts and to consistently monitor, adjust and improve the process to achieve desired results.

Date Added: Mar 13, 2010
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Using Interactive Technology to Communicate Critical Information on Access and Equity in Public Education

The Challenge 

The Schott Foundation conducted a detailed study on the state of public education in the United States, resulting in the release of the report Lost Opportunity: A 50 State Report on the Opportunity to Learn in America. The report explores disparities in quality and proficiency, as well as access and equity in public education. The Foundation wanted to take the findings from their printed report and make them available on their Web site in a user-friendly format.

Our Approach 

Our approach was to present the information in an interactive, online map of the United States. Individual states are colored along a spectrum of performance, from red (poor performance) to blue (high performance). This color-coding approach enables visitors to view comparative snapshots of state performance in public education. Users click individual states to view specific data on access, or the chance that a disadvantaged student will have access to a high performing school compared to a white, non-Latino student; proficiency, or the percentage of eight graders who scored proficient or above on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) reading exam; and cost, or the total economic burden carried by state taxpayers because of inequity.

Our Impact 

This work supports The Schott Foundation's national Opportunity to Learn initiative. As the initiative expands and gains traction, the information found in the map will be essential to communicate the current disparities found in public education and motivate key stakeholders to drive change.

Date Added: Mar 13, 2010
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Assessing the Potential of a Community Education Organization in Hartford, CT

The Challenge 

The MetroHartford Alliance (MHA) asked Collaborative to assess the future potential of a local education fund (LEF) in Hartford, CT, and to help the Alliance solidify the establishment of the LEF.

Our Approach 

Collaborative assisted with the research and discovery process, benchmarking of comparable LEFs, design and facilitation of the Hartford Education Collaborative’s meetings, and developed an initial business plan for the potential LEF.

Our Impact 

Collaborative’s efforts have resulted in the development of a strategic plan for the local LEF, which the firm continues to support with guidance. We also created a Web site to help decision makers build understanding of local and national issues relevant to the future of education in Hartford and the role(s) such an organization might play in the community, with the school system and in relation to other existing nonprofits.

MHA also asked Collaborative to provide its Leadership Recruitment Services to help lead a national search for the executive director of the new LEF to ensure the organization begins strongly in its efforts to improve civic engagement in Hartford.

Date Added: Mar 12, 2010
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