PROGRAM REVIEW FOR CENTERS AND INSTITUTES
Center/Institute:
Center for Community Collaboration
Director/Administrator:
Michelle G. Berelowitz, MSW
College/Academic unit:
Human Services Department
College of Health and Human Development
Contact Information:
College of Health and Human Development
EC 685
714 278-5681
Date:
January 31, 2008
Name of primary authors if different
From Director/Administrator:
Self-Study
1. Mission
In 2001 University Extended Education and the College of Health and Human Development
formed a partnership and established the Center for Community Collaboration.
The mission of the Center for Community Collaboration (CCC) is to strengthen children, youth
and families in collaboration with public agencies and community based organizations through
the cooperative activities of the College of Health and Human Development. (HHD) CCC
promotes opportunities for enhanced professional development and inter-professional
collaboration, applied scholarship, research and dissemination of results and community capacity
building and technical assistance. The Center has identified seven core principles that guide its
operations one of which is to “understand and implement outcomes based accountability”. The
mission is linked to the University mission and provides students the opportunity to apply
teaching in the classroom to the experiences of individuals and organizations in the community
and the field of human services.
2. Goals and Activities
The Center has identified several goals which include Applied Scholarship and Research,
Professional Development and Community Capacity Building. All goals have strategies and
related activities. For example, under the goal that deals with applied scholarship and research a
strategy is to conduct collaborative research that informs, supports and strengthens the
community. The supporting activity – the Center works collaboratively with the Orange County
Children and Families Commission of the county and Orangewood Children’s Foundation on the
production of the Annual Report on the Conditions of Children in Orange County. A strategy
that supports the goal of professional development is to increase the number of degreed and
certified professionals in the helping fields to this end the CCC host/co-host an annual forum on
the condition of children focused on homeless children in Orange County. In addition, CCC
assists the community in capacity building in many ways including providing training in the
community to non-profit organizations on such topics as program evaluation, grant writing, and
data management.
3. Resources and Sustainability
The Center relies on community partnerships, grants and University support in order to fulfill its
mission and goals and attendant activities. The Center director is an adjunct faculty member in
the Department of Human Services. The Director does not receive release time for her work; she
is compensated within each grant for her contribution to the deliverables and requirements of the
grants. In order to complete deliverables on each project the center relies on faculty, temporary
staff and paid student interns. Total funding for the Center has declined from $436,498 in 200405 to $78,045 in 2007-08. For sustainability CCC is dependent on the continued support of
HHD and the exploration of additional grant opportunities. The Center has not been as
successful in recent years with grant funding.
4. Organizational Structure and Governance
The Center at present does not have a formal Advisory Board. At one time there was a Board of
Fellows composed of faculty and community members. The Center director reports to the Dean
of the College of HHD and is noted that the Dean and Associate Dean act as advisors. CCC
provides an annual report submitted to the Dean.
5. Highlights and Accomplishments
A most important accomplishment of the CCC is the publication of The Annual Report on the
Conditions of Children in Orange County. This publication is an example of public/private
collaboration between Orange County, Children and Families Commission of Orange County,
the Social Services Agency, Orangewood Children’s Foundation and the Center for
Demographic Research. CCC was awarded the Family and Community Violence Prevention
grant through the U.S. Office of Minority Health for the establishment of a family center
program based on school site. The grant program was housed at the CONECTATE Family Life
Center and focused on an after school program for elementary school children.
6. Planning and Strategic Outlook
CCC participates in annual review conducted by the Dean. There is ongoing discussion as to the
role of the Center in the development of evaluation and research regarding family well-being.
Emerging is a discussion around the concept of a coalition of Center Directors interested in
collaboration and sharing resources. CCC has been included as a participant in a grant proposal
to create a Health Institute. The Center’s ability to sustain itself is largely dependent on the
acquisition of external funds.
7. Viability
The viability of CCC as mentioned above is dependent on the support of HHD and the successful
procurement of external funds. The self-study reports that there are barriers to successful
administering of small grants in the University system including indirect costs and IRB process.
The self-study identifies a number of these barriers to viability. For example, the center was
approached by community organizations to conduct needs assessments and capacity building
activities for contracts ranging from $9,000-$20,000. But because of the relative small amount of
these contracts, it is not financially practical to administer these projects through the Center.
The Center nevertheless, has offered recommendations to advance the mission of the Center one
such recommendation is to pursue collaborative relationships with other Centers on campus to
leverage resources both internally and externally.
8. Appendices
13th Annual Report on the Conditions of Children in Orange County, 2007
Summary and Recommendation(s)
The Center for Community Collaboration has a clearly defined mission which is to strengthen
children, youth and families in collaboration with public agencies and community based
organizations. The Center has well articulated goals: Applied Scholarship and Research,
Professional Development and Community Capacity Building. A series of programs and projects
support each goal. A most noted contribution to the community is the collaborative publication
Annual Report on the Conditions of Children in Orange County. There is presently no formal
Advisory Board. The Center is well aware that viability and sustainability are greatly connected
to the ability to acquire external funds. External funding has declined during the last three years
despite a proactive attempt to acquire funds. The Center cites several barriers mostly
bureaucratic in the administration of small grants/contracts. The Dean indicates that there are
ongoing discussions to improve operational efficiency. A more substantive approach to assist
the CCC and other such centers is the proposal to establish Health Promotion Research Center.
This Research Center would assist Center directors with handling the ins and outs of their grants
and contracts. A proposal for start-up is now being considered by UniHealth Foundation.