Building Sustainable Regional Partnerships

Topic area: Partnerships & coalitions

CREEC Network, Sacramento, California -- In 1996, the California Department of Education's Office of Environmental Education launched a network of regional partnerships to strengthen environmental education across the state. The California Regional Environmental Education Community (CREEC) Network is designed to make it easier for classroom teachers to find and use high-quality environmental education resources.

Each region has an Advisory Council, regional Coordinator(s), and fiscal agent. State funding requires a local match, and decreases each year, with the aim of having each region become sustainable after 3-5 years.

Regional success varied greatly, and most were struggling to deliver services while simultaneously attending to necessary organization-building tasks like strategic planning, public relations, board development, and fund raising. In January of 1999, Community Matters was asked to provide assistance to each region, and to the state umbrella as well.

Community Matters began a systematic campaign of organization development and fund development, which has included:

• Education and training of regional Coordinators to increase knowledge, skill and comfort in areas like public relations, board development, and fund raising
• Assessment of regional plans and activities against our 10 Sustainability Indicators
• Developing individualized regional plans for organization and fund development
• Facilitating regional strategic planning meetings designed to create a shared vision among all stakeholders, build commitment, and outline 3-5 year plans
• Technical assistance in fund raising and board development

While it is difficult to assess the long-term impact of an intervention at its midpoint, preliminary reports indicate:

• Greater skill and comfort in organization-building activities
• Increased membership, clarity, and enthusiasm among Advisory Councils
• Greater readiness and capacity for fund raising

See: Building effective partnerships

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