Collaboration is receiving increasing visibility in recent years; funders are requiring collaboration as a way to ensure services are not duplicated and address complex problems while local community agencies see collaboration as a way to broaden their reach.

Last fall we concluded fifteen months of original research into collaboration in five Minnesota communities. These communities were recipients of the federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant, and had school district, law enforcement and mental health partners. We had the opportunity to present lessons learned at the Minnesota Association of School Administrator's conference on Friday, March 15. Chief among our findings, and one that participants most related to, is that collaboration may take longer than "going it alone", but there is much greater potential for systemic change when working with a broad base of support. Similarly, it is important that a structure is well-defined, as are a broad vision and goals, but that individual partners have the opportunity to shape the specific steps.

See a .pdf version of our presentation here.