COMMUNITY COLLABORATION
- Wraparound Oregon: Early Childhood in Portland is sponsored by a
school district serving mainly a child welfare population.
- By design, our grant site is multi-agency and multi-disciplinary in nature.
Getting Started:
- A local coalition, lead by the Chief Family Law Judge and major
champion, formed Wraparound Oregon as an initiative several years
ago with 12 people to help design a better system for our high
needs children and families. We wrote smaller grants initially and
hired an excellent Director. We received SAMHSA funding in 2005.
- With no one agency “owning” the efforts, we all took ownership and
developed guidelines, MOU’s, Interagency Agreements and built a
community governance structure.
- Agency Directors and middle managers and family members were
all involved from the beginning. So was philanthropy. This
combination was a key to success.
Process:
- Collaboration efforts have been on and off for about 20 years in
our community.
- Many, many meetings both big and small involving as many
stakeholders as possible. We kept refining the issues, reviewing
data, seeking input and looking for consensus.
- There were times when the going was very rough before trust was
built.
- Keeping the focus on the children and families instead of the
agencies helped us move through some very difficult times and
achieve good collaboration.
Barriers:
- The basic barriers were language and culture – we had to learn
each others systems and family languages and cultures- and that
takes time and a willingness to learn.
- Governance proved to be elusive and difficult to formalize. Our
goal was to create a ‘home’ for our initiative and make it legal
instead of just a group of interested parties coming together to
plan. It took five years to accomplish.
Sustainability:
- Our county mental health agency now hosts the wraparound team
and the System of Care with a community governance structure to
guide the efforts.
Future Steps:
- Pooled funding exists. Philanthropy continues to be interested in
funding portions of the efforts.
- Statewide law passed for Wraparound planning with funding
coming “off the top” from state budgets from various child serving
agencies.
Who
-
We Are:
Wraparound Oregon: Early Childhood
Sponsored by the Multnomah Education Service District
Portland, Oregon. Funded in 2005
Early Childhood focus, Birth to Eight
Wraparound Planning process with Facilitators and Family Partners.
Contacts:
- Rob Abrams, Project Director. 503-257-1708.
rabrams@mesd.k12.or.us
- Barbara Jorgensen, Principal Investigator. 503-257-1616.
bjorgens@mesd.k12.or.us
- Naomi Bledsoe, Social Marketer. 503-257-1728.
nbledsoe@mesd.k12.os.us
- www.wraparoundoregon.org
Key Tips/Strategies for Success:
- It is very important to not “own” the grant site. Contract out a lot
of the work in order to ensure community commitment and
strengthen accountability. Contract language is very important.
- Be strategic and intentional to fully support the family movement.
One of the major keys to success for any System of Care.
- Workforce Development and Training is another key component for
a successful System of Care. Invest in the infrastructure to build.
- Champions, Champions, Champions. From many disciplines.
- Get out of your comfort zone and be open to new ideas and learn
others points of view. Get out into your community all the time.
- Transparency. Ask for support. Let people know your struggles as
well as your successes.
- Social Marketing/Evaluation: What a good combination. Use it
often.
- Use your Federal Site Visits as a gift and a guide to your
community.
- Everything is based on the Values and Principles and all efforts are
for the children and their families – not for the various agencies. It
really helps to keep things in focus and builds trust, support and
collaboration – and funding.
- Remember, your job is to build a sustainable System of Care, not
enhance current service delivery.
Additional Resources:
- Use your TA Partnership resources. They are very good.
- A good article from the Harvard Business Review is “The Work of
Leadership” by Ronald Heifetz and Donald Laurie. www.hbr.org.
Product 4150.