1. Engaging Community Partners A Strategic Approach to Building Capacity and Bolstering DN Success

2. Welcome and Introductions • Celia Gonzalez Lozano Director of Strategy and Planning Communities In Schools of Chicago • Dr. Heather ClawsonVice President of Research, Evaluation, and InnovationCommunities In Schools National

3. Purpose of the Session • To provide participants with guidance on how to identify and effectively engage community partners to assist in the execution of DN work related to the four Pillars with particular emphasis on expanding capacity to deliver tiered interventions. • To provide members of local DN teams with an opportunity to reflect on how community partners are currently engaged within their DN sites and identify ways to enhance and better define how the DN partners collaborate in this area.

4. Getting Started Using the sticky notes on your table, record the answers to each of the following questions and post on the flip chart around the room: • In which of the 4 Pillars do you have the greatest need to engage community partners? • In which of the 3 Tiers do you have the greatest need? • What are the greatest challenges to engaging community partners to support the work of DN?

5. DN Four Pillars and Three Tiered Interventions Diplomas Now

6. DN Four Pillars and Three Tiered Interventions

7. Framework for Engaging Community Partners • Identify needs • Determine alignment/fit • Formalize partnership(s) • Collaborate • Evaluate

8. Steps 1 – 2: Making Good Choices • What is the need for the partnership? • How is the need determined? • Who is responsible for determining the need? • Who are potential partners? • How are partners identified?

9. Criteria for Alignment • Background of the community partner (what do we know?) • Beneficiaries (who do they work with?) • Mission/program (what do they offer?) • Reach (where, how often, and how many of our schools can they support?) • Sustainability (is this a short-term or long-term partnership?) • Evidence-base (do we know if they are effective?) • Other (what is the collective benefit of a partnership?)

10. Steps 4 – 6: Making It Happen • Who conducts the outreach to the partner(s)? • How is the partnership formalized (or is it)? What does that process look like (MOU)? • How are partners engaged? • Who coordinates their involvement with DN? • How is performance evaluated? • Who is responsible for monitoring their engagement?

11. Table Top Exercise • Review the scenario placed at your table. • Identify one priority need that you can anticipate based on the scenario • Complete the table by assigning the need to a DN Pillar and, if applicable, a Tiered Intervention • Identify one or more potential community partners that could build local capacity to EFFECTIVELY address this need

12. Table Top Exercise (Continued) • As a “surrogate” team: • Complete a profile on one of the community partners based on information you currently know about the partner; determine who on the a local DN team should be responsible for completing the profile OR • Begin to complete the Action Plan template that will help you move through the stages of engagement, execution, and evaluation of the partnership.

13. Table Top Exercise Report Outs • What need did you decide to address? • What community partner did you decide to engage? • How did you determine roles/responsibilities among members of a local DN team? • What will successful engagement look like? • What challenges, if any, do you anticipate?

14. Wrap Up • Key Take-Aways • Next Steps

15. Thank you! Comments, Questions, and Contact Info: Celia Gonzalez Lozano at clozano@chicagocis.org Heather Clawson at clawsonh@cisnet.org