Collaborating with Community-Based Organizations Through Consultation and Technical Assistance

Community groups and human service organizations are under a tremendous amount of pressure to strengthen their programs and measure the effectiveness of their work. These challenges have prompted many to seek consultation and technical assistance in order to better plan, develop, and evaluate their services and resources and be more responsive to the needs of funders and the community.

In this volume, practitioners and researchers present methods and strategies for assisting and collaborating with groups and agencies serving families. Helping a community or organization involves many tasks (reaching out to the community, building leadership, developing and planning for action) and requires specialized knowledge and skills. Contributors combine a research-based, theoretical framework with practical guidance to explain this process and offer cross-cultural case studies in a wide range of settings.

The book begins with a discussion of the role of the coach or capacity-building consultant and the related but distinct activities of consultation, technical assistance, and service. The value of empowerment theory, adult learning theory, and change theory, among other theories, are outlined. Special emphasis is placed on the importance of cultural competence-the need to balance diverse needs, ethical mandates, and dilemmas is crucial. The book concludes with a detailed, step-by-step guide for helping an agency or program perform a self-evaluation.

Skilled consultation and assistance enable organizations to better support and strengthen families. While this book is grounded in research, it also reflects the lived experiences of each contributor and illuminates the complex yet vital role of the consultant.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Organizational and Community Capacity Building: Mediating Change in Family-Serving Organizations and Groups, by Arlene Bowers Andrews and Patricia Stone Motes 2. Consulting to Organizations and Community Groups: Defining and Distinguishing the Provision of Technical Assistance, by Patricia Stone Motes, Judith Ann Whiting, and Jeannine P. Salone 3. Cultural Competence: At the Heart of Capacity Building, by Peg McCartt Hess and Andrew Billingsley 4. Collaboratives: Avenues to Build Community Capacity, by Anita Floyd 5. Putting It All Together: Building Capacity for Strategic Planning, by Paul Flaspohler, Angela Ledgerwood, and Arlene Andrews 6. Building Capacity for Self-Evaluation Among Community Agencies and Organizations, by Vicki Crocker Flerx Conclusion Appendix. Sample Generic Outline for Final Evaluation Report Index

About the Author :
Patricia Stone Motes is associate director and research associate professor at the Institute for Families in Society (IFS), University of South Carolina. Peg McCartt Hess is an independent consultant and former associate director at the Institute for Families in Society (IFS) and former professor at the University of South Carolina College of Social Work and the Columbia University School of Social Work. Patricia Motes (Ph.D., South Carolina State University, Clinical-Community Psychology) is the Associate Director for Planning and Development at the Instititue for Families in Society (IFS), University of South Carolina. Peg Hess (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign) is the IFS Associate Director for Research and Scholarship. She is the former Associate Dean of the School of Social Work, Columbia University and Professor of Social Work. Her books include Nurturing the One, Supporting the Many (Columbia, 2002) and Child Welfare for the 21st Century (Columbia, 2005).

Review :
This book offers useful insights into collaborating with community-based organizations. -- BryanWarde Families in Society I read "Learn or Die" and found myself intrigued and frankly, a littleuncomfortable. So I read it a second time and found that it made merethink many aspects of my own management style and the guidance I provideour portfolio companies. What hit me like a ton of bricks from Ed's research was the realizationthat the current approach based on traditional management techniques andperformance metrics was unlikely to be both effective and sustainable inthe rapidly changing, Darwinian world of venture capital investing andtechnology innovation. His vision of the learning systems and culturalcommitments that define a truly high performance organization is a mustread for any business that wants to prepare itself to meet the challengesand succeed in todays business environment-before its too late. -- Frank H. Foster, Managing Partner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Frontier and the Gideon Hixon Fund