Collaboration between the philanthropic, business, and government sectors leads to $30 million in aid in Connecticut

A collaboration of state officials, the business community, and the nonprofit sector resulted in a whopping $30 million in aid. The collaboration sought this funding for economic development efforts in Connecticut's urban areas which have suffered as a result of the recession. For more on this story, which was featured in the Hartford Business Journal Online, click here.

This is one example of how collaborations truly pay off. There is strength in numbers - well in this case expertise and resources.  If you have a goal and you are able to gather everything (e.g. resources, expertise) that you need to accomplish that goal, then you are more likely to succeed because you have everything that you need.

The results are in on Microsoft's "Elevate America" state voucher program

From February 2009 to August 2010, Microsoft partnered with states and the District of Columbia to provide free computer skills training to help the unemployed get the training they need to get back to work and under-skilled workers get more training as part of their Elevate America Initiative. In the end, Microsoft distributed more than 800,000 training and certification vouchers to the states and the District of Columbia who then distributed the vouchers to these individuals.

Overall this program had many successes and helped many people across the nation. Like all great things, there's always room for improvement and  Microsoft details their lessons learned, including the policy implications of the program, in their report titled Elevate America’s State Voucher Strategy to Promote Employability Lessons Learned.