Reconnecting McDowell - Creating a village through partnerships

"It takes a village to raise a child" is an age-old saying that, quite frankly, often seems to be the opposite of what's seen in American society these days.  In fact, a study commissioned by State Farm in late July of last year revealed that only 25% of Americans surveyed knew their neighbors names. This says a lot about the depth of relationships that Americans have with the people that live the closest to them(1).

If McDowell County was one of the few areas that fostered the "village mentality", then Reconnecting McDowell is elevating it to a new level to solve the major challenges in this West Virginia county. McDowell County is ranked last in education in the state and 72% of its students live in households without gainful employment(2). Reconnecting McDowell's aim is to "make educational improvement in McDowell County the route to a brighter economic future"(2). Their approach has been to partner with the business, philanthropic, government, nonprofit, and labor sectors to tackle "poverty, underperforming schools, drug and alcohol abuse, housing shortages, limited medical services, and inadequate access to technology and transportation"(2). Click here to learn more about Reconnecting McDowell.

Reconnecting McDowell has shown just what partnerships can do - create "villages" - a community where everyone feels a sense of responsibility to make sure that the children and adults alike are doing well. In McDowell County, although they face tough challenges, there is hope in collective problem solving. The problems of society cannot be solved alone. Their complexities require collaboration amongst many sectors. Of course, Community Optimization will be paying attention to this effort and share its progress.


References:
(1) CBS Los Angeles. "Love Thy Neighbor? Most Americans Don’t Know Next-Door Names"
(2) Reconnecting McDowell website http://www.reconnectingmcdowell.org/

Lessons from Commonwealth Club's panel on using public-private partnerships to address jobs, education, and economic development

On September 20, 2011, the Commonwealth Club hosted a panel discussion on public-private partnerships and how they can be used to boost jobs, education, and economic development (see names of panelists below). The key points from the panel discussion were:

1. Partnerships are not just a monetary relationship, but a relationship in which the people in a community come together, identify the problems, and bring the necessary people to the table that can help address the problem.
2. Each sector (government, business, etc.) needs to re-think the roles they've played in the past and think about taking on different responsibility in the future.
3. Nonprofits need the government to be their voice and for corporations to invest in them, give them access to markets, and help strengthen their infrastructure (capacity building).
4. Other roles the government can play include getting peoples attention and creating incentives (being a catalyst) for partnerships.
5. To get more collaborations, organizational silos need to be broken down and instead organizations in all sectors need to look at problems with a team approach.
6. There needs to more discussion on shared issues in a community and employees need to hold their organizations accountable and push them to be part of these conversations.
7. Set goals and use this as a catalyst to get together - there's too much time spent on talking about and describing the problem and how hard it is to address.
8. There's a need for more convening across sectors with each organization really investing in the joint effort. 
9. Successful partnerships have real metrics and hold people accountable. There's failure when one sector tries to charge off in their own direction. 
10. How can people get involved? People and corporations can donate, volunteer, make in-kind contributions, and advocate on behalf of the public sector organizations.

The panel discussion brought together knowledgeable people that provided a good discussion on the wonderful uses of public-private partnerships to boost jobs, education, and economic development. With resources low and an elevated need for services, I hope that 2012 brings about more partnerships whether public-private or public-public.


On September 20, 2011, the Commonwealth Club hosted a panel discussion on public-private partnerships and how they can be used to boost jobs, education, and economic development. (Panelists: John Donahoe, CEO, eBay Inc.; Member, White House Council for Community Solutions, John Lee, Executive Director, The Bread Project, Nicole Levine, Executive Director, Women's Initiative for Self Employment for San Francisco and the Bay Area, Sid Espinosa, Director of Corporate Citizenship, Microsoft Corporation; Mayor, City of Palo Alto, Moderator: Sydnie Kohara, Broadcast Journalist) Source: Commonwealth Club of California

Derby and Derbyshire Road Safety Partnership: A partnership for safer roads

The Derby and Derbyshire Road Safety Partnership was established in April 2007 on the premise of reducing deaths and injuries on its county's roads. The partnership is composed of public sector entities - Derbyshire Police, Derbyshire County Council, Derby City Council, Derbyshire Primary Care Trust,
Derby City Primary Care Trust, Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service, Highways Agency, and Peak District National Park Authority. Education, road improvements, and policing are among its methods for attaining safer roads.

The Derby and Derbyshire Road Safety Partnership is a great example of different government agencies working together to address an issue. Road safety happens to be a very serious issue and its great to see the public sector come together to work on it. It seems like all the pieces of the puzzle are together except one - the private sector, specifically the car industry, since they play a huge role in road safety - they sell the cars, motorcycles, etc. that are on the roads. The car industry can help with the education efforts as well as donate money or sponsor roads for road improvements. This potential partnership between the private and public sectors will contribute to the overall highway safety.