Getting Together: Ideas for Effective Collaborations

Practice Meets Theory

EFFECTIVE COLLABORATIONS ARE NEEDED IN BOTH LARGE AND SMALL communities to solve problems as simple as beautifying the neighborhood and as complex as youth violence. Bringing two or more groups together to achieve a common purpose creates a critical mass that can be more effective than small, separate activities or programs. Yet collaborations can fail even when the motivation of the prospective partners is good. It can happen when they skip over the necessary first steps: agreeing on the reason for collaborating and examining what it takes to establish and sustain their new relationship.

This pamphlet provides a combination of theory and hands-on practitioner experiences to guide potential collaborators. For purposes of this discussion, the term collaboration includes all types of mutual efforts, such as partnerships, coalitions, joint ventures, mergers and others. These efforts can range from informally convened groups to highly formal organizations. In the area of violence prevention, SAMHSA recommends that your collaborations be more formal than informal, with clear guidelines, roles, responsibilities, and procedures.

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