Chapter 24. Improving Services | Community Tool Box

It all started when two emergency department physicians at St. Mary’s Community Hospital happened to have coffee together as their shifts overlapped. Dr. Kowalski, who was just coming off duty, was tired. “I must have seen 45 children today,” he told his colleague, Dr. Liu. “I know what you mean,” she answered. “I’ve been seeing a large number of children, too, and often for routine medical needs. I wonder what barriers families are facing in getting regular primary care.”

As the conversation continued, the two decided to look more closely at the numbers and talk with area pediatricians and family physicians about what they were seeing. They found that many families -- particularly those who were uninsured, underinsured, or enrolled in Medicaid -- were using the emergency department for care that could often be provided in a primary care setting. This contributed to longer waits in the emergency department and also suggested that many families were having difficulty accessing consistent, preventive care for their children.

A core group of pediatricians and emergency department physicians contacted organizations that worked with children, families, and health -- Head Start, the St. Mary’s Youth Development Corps, the local public health department, and others -- to better understand the problem and discuss possible responses. Out of those conversations grew the St. Mary’s Child and Parent Health Clinic, staffed by pediatricians and family practitioners and designed to provide free or affordable care to families with children. The clinic illustrates how community partners can identify an access gap and work together to develop a service that responds to community needs.

This chapter is about ways to develop and improve public and community services. That can mean anything from getting a broken streetlight repaired to starting a community-wide initiative involving several new programs. Either may contribute to solving a problem and improving quality of life. Improving services may be an intervention in itself, or it may provide important groundwork for broader community change.

Developing and improving services can also build relationships, trust, and infrastructure that make future efforts easier. In some sections of this chapter, that groundwork appears as collaboration among organizations and community members. In others, it takes the form of programs and services that support health, economic security, education, safety, participation, and overall well-being.

This opening section discusses what we mean by improving services and some ways organizations can work with communities to make services more useful, accessible, coordinated, and responsive. It provides context for the more specific information in the rest of this chapter.

What do we mean by developing and improving community services?

In a healthy community, people have meaningful access to the services, resources, and opportunities they need to live, participate, and thrive. Community services take many forms and often overlap. One way of thinking about them is to group them broadly into three categories.

• Foundational services include services and systems that help a community function, such as fire and emergency response, schools, public works, transportation, utilities, public administration, and public safety. These services are often built into local government structures and budgets.
• Preventive and quality-of-life services help strengthen community well-being and address conditions before they become more serious. They may include health care, adult education, workforce development, housing supports, youth development, recreation, arts and culture, environmental protection, and other community resources. What belongs in this category will differ across communities. For example, a community facing serious water-quality concerns might consider pollution prevention, cleanup, monitoring, and safe drinking water to be central community services.
• Responsive and emergency services help people meet urgent needs or respond to immediate crises. Examples might include food assistance, emergency shelter, crisis services, disaster response, harm-reduction services, or emergency financial assistance. These services are essential, but communities may also need to address the broader conditions contributing to the immediate need, such as housing costs, economic insecurity, gaps in health care, or limited transportation.

Foundational services are often supported through regular public funding, while preventive, quality-of-life, and emergency services may have less stable resources even when communities rely heavily on them. Improving community services therefore includes both responding to urgent needs and investing in the conditions that can reduce those needs over time.

Preventive services can reduce the need for some emergency responses, but they do not eliminate the importance of immediate assistance. Communities need both: long-term strategies that address underlying conditions and responsive services that help people remain safe and stable in the present.

Preventive and responsive services are often most effective when they work together. For example, a shelter serving people experiencing homelessness might also partner with housing organizations, workforce programs, health providers, benefits navigators, education programs, and other services identified as useful by residents.

Even strong programs may reach only a small portion of the people who could benefit from them. If a community has far more people experiencing homelessness than available housing or shelter capacity, improving services may require expanding capacity, changing the service model, investing in affordable housing, or developing additional approaches identified by people with lived experience.

In this context, developing and improving community services may mean establishing services where they didn't exist before; making existing services more effective; making existing services more widely available; improving access; and/or coordinating services so that organizations work together rather than requiring community members to navigate disconnected systems on their own.

Establishing services that didn’t exist before

When a needed service does not exist, planning, community participation, and resources become especially important.

If you’re starting from scratch, you should:

• Put together an organization, coalition, partnership, or working group, or work with an existing one
• Conduct a careful community assessment to understand strengths, priorities, gaps, and existing resources
• Plan the initiative with meaningful participation from people who may use the service, community partners, and others affected by the issue so the service is accessible, relevant, and responsive
• Identify the funding, staff, volunteers, partnerships, space, technology, and other resources needed to make the service sustainable

Your role may vary. You might participate as a coalition member, community resident, advocate, staff member, funder, volunteer, or leader of an organization developing the service. Whatever your role, the process is stronger when planning is shared with the people and communities most affected.

Making existing services more effective

Sometimes needed services already exist but are not producing the outcomes participants and communities want. The issue may involve service quality, accessibility, trust, staffing, cultural responsiveness, policies, eligibility requirements, location, communication, or other aspects of how the service is designed and delivered.

Improving an existing service requires listening to the people who use it as well as the people who provide it. Staff may see challenges that participants do not, and participants may identify barriers or priorities that staff have overlooked. Meaningful improvement usually takes time, testing, feedback, and adjustment.

Making existing services more widely available

A service may work well but lack enough capacity to serve everyone who wants or needs it. Increasing availability may require more funding, staff, volunteers, locations, technology, partnerships, or different service-delivery approaches.

For example, an English-language learning program serving Cantonese-speaking adults might have far more interested learners than available classroom space. Rather than simply leaving people on a long waiting list, the program could offer conversation groups, online learning, peer tutoring, community-based classes, or other supports while expanding its classroom capacity. These options should supplement rather than replace high-quality instruction when participants want formal classes.

Increasing access to services

Access involves much more than whether a service technically exists. Physical accessibility, transportation, cost, language, communication, technology, scheduling, childcare, privacy, trust, eligibility requirements, and location can all affect whether people can participate.

For people with disabilities, access may include accessible buildings and restrooms, captioning, sign language interpretation, accessible digital information, assistive listening systems, screen-reader-compatible documents, flexible communication methods, and reasonable accommodations.

Increasing access means identifying the barriers people actually experience and working with them to reduce those barriers.

Coordinating services

Another part of improving community services is making systems easier to navigate. When several organizations provide different services, participants should not have to repeatedly tell the same story, search for resources without guidance, or move between organizations that do not communicate with one another.

Coordination may include shared referral systems, warm handoffs, regular communication among organizations, clear consent procedures, case coordination when appropriate, and partnerships that reduce duplication and gaps.

All of these approaches may also involve advocacy, public education, and community engagement. Community members, public officials, funders, organizations, and other partners are more likely to support services when they understand the issue, see how the services contribute to community well-being, and hear directly from people affected by the issue.

Who should be involved in developing and improving community services?

Improving services is rarely the work of one person or organization. Strong efforts bring together people with different kinds of knowledge, experience, authority, and resources.

People who use or may benefit from the services

People directly affected by a service should have meaningful opportunities to help define needs, identify strengths and barriers, design solutions, and evaluate whether the service works.

• Their firsthand knowledge can help ensure that services reflect real priorities and circumstances
• Their participation gives people meaningful influence over decisions that affect them
• Shared decision-making can strengthen trust, relevance, and community ownership
• Participants and community members can help identify effective ways to share information and connect with others
• Their involvement can help organizations understand cultural, linguistic, historical, accessibility, and trust-related factors that influence participation

Other agencies, community-based organizations, and grassroots groups

Working with other service providers, community organizations, resident-led groups, and advocacy organizations can improve both individual services and the broader service system.

• It can help coordinate services into a more coherent system
• It allows organizations to address the same issue from different perspectives and areas of expertise
• It supports cooperative relationships, coalitions, collaborations, and partnerships
• It facilitates appropriate sharing of information, knowledge, and resources

Local and state officials

Local elected and appointed officials, state legislators, and agency staff may play important roles in funding, policy, regulation, infrastructure, and coordination related to community services.

• Community members and organizations can share information with officials about local priorities, barriers, and service gaps
• Officials may be able to help identify funding, policy, or administrative opportunities
• Early involvement can help decision-makers better understand how a service works and what long-term support it may need
• Collaboration can also help identify where policies, systems, or public investments create barriers that require broader solutions

The business community

Employers and businesses may have knowledge, relationships, space, funding, equipment, volunteers, employment opportunities, or other resources that can contribute to community-service efforts.

• Their community relationships may help build support for services and initiatives
• Improvements in transportation, health, childcare, education, housing stability, and other community conditions may also support workers, employers, and the broader local economy
• Businesses may contribute funding, volunteers, expertise, equipment, meeting space, internships, or other resources

The community at large

Broader community participation can strengthen planning and help services reflect local history, relationships, resources, and priorities.

• It can provide a wider range of ideas and information
• It can help organizations understand community history and how that history affects trust and service delivery
• It can strengthen community support and participation
• It may generate resources, relationships, volunteers, and other forms of support
• It can increase shared understanding of the conditions that support a healthy, inclusive, and thriving community

When should you seek to develop and improve community services?

Improving services should be an ongoing community effort. Still, some moments create particular urgency or opportunity.

• At the start of a broad, long-term community initiative. Building service improvement into the initiative from the beginning can strengthen both implementation and long-term impact.

An initiative addressing homelessness, for example, might combine immediate supports such as outreach and emergency shelter with affordable and supportive housing, health and behavioral health care, employment and education opportunities, benefits navigation, transportation, and other services identified by people experiencing homelessness.

• When a need or service gap becomes clear. New data, community feedback, changing conditions, or increased demand may reveal that existing services are insufficient.
• When current approaches are not working as intended. Participant feedback and evaluation may show that a service needs to change.
• When community members identify a priority. Resident groups, coalitions, advocacy organizations, youth councils, neighborhood organizations, or other community bodies may call attention to a gap or opportunity.
• When new funding or resources become available. Funding opportunities can create a chance to address long-standing priorities, particularly when the response is grounded in community input rather than shaped only by the funding source.

Options for developing and improving community services

The options outlined in the rest of this chapter include general approaches to improving services as well as strategies related to specific community needs. They should be adapted to local strengths, priorities, and conditions.

Developing and implementing programs to help people set and attain personal goals

These programs may include workforce development, substance use treatment and recovery support, health and wellness programs, parenting support, education, financial coaching, or other forms of assistance. Their purpose should be to support goals identified by participants and expand access to useful resources and opportunities.

Different programs require different types of expertise and support. Some may require licensed professionals, while others may rely on peer support, trained community members, volunteers, or a combination of approaches. The appropriate model depends on the service, the evidence supporting it, participant preferences, and community context.

Promoting coordination, cooperative agreements, and collaborative agreements among agencies

Community services are often stronger when organizations communicate, coordinate referrals, and understand one another's roles. When people use more than one service, coordination can reduce duplication and make systems easier to navigate.

Coalitions, regular interagency meetings, shared referral systems, community resource networks, or funding structures may all support collaboration. Whatever brings organizations together initially, maintaining trust and communication over time is important.

In a rural county, for example, a group of health, education, and human service organizations might come together to seek funding for young children and families. As the organizations work together, they may identify additional areas where coordination would strengthen services beyond the original grant.

Developing multisector collaborations

Partnerships among public agencies, community organizations, businesses, schools, health systems, residents, and other sectors can address issues that no single organization can solve alone.

For example, youth services might be strengthened through collaboration among youth organizations, schools, recreation programs, libraries, health providers, families, local businesses, young people themselves, and other community partners.

Developing employment programs

Stable employment with adequate pay and opportunities for advancement can be an important part of economic security. Employment programs can include several approaches:

• Employment preparation. Resume development, interviewing, workplace communication, transportation planning, digital skills, professional networking, and other skills participants identify as useful
• Education and employment training. Industry credentials, apprenticeships, technical education, digital skills, skilled trades, or other training connected to real employment opportunities
• Employment matching. Connecting people with jobs that fit their skills, interests, schedules, access needs, and goals
• Employment development. Working with employers to expand hiring opportunities, reduce unnecessary barriers, provide accommodations, create career pathways, and develop jobs that respond to both workforce and community needs

Developing programs for physical activity and recreation

Physical activity, recreation, arts, cultural activities, and opportunities for play and relaxation all contribute to quality of life. Community recreation can strengthen relationships, support physical and mental well-being, create opportunities for social connection, and provide spaces where people from different backgrounds interact.

Community recreation may include sports, walking and biking programs, public performances, arts programs, after-school and summer activities, community theater, music groups, accessible parks, nature programs, and many other possibilities.

Recreation should not be treated as an optional luxury. Safe, accessible, affordable opportunities for recreation and cultural participation are part of a healthy community.

Developing and increasing access to health and community services

A strong service has limited value if people cannot use it. Access may be affected by cost, transportation, service quality, trust, location, hours, language, disability accessibility, technology, eligibility requirements, privacy concerns, or how participants are treated.

Improving access therefore requires looking at both outreach and the design of the service itself.

Establishing peer education programs

Peer education can be effective when people prefer to receive information from others who share relevant experiences, identities, language, or community connections.

Examples might include young people educating peers about sexual health or substance use prevention, community health workers providing information about cancer screening, or people with lived experience helping others navigate health and social service systems.

Peer educators should be trained, supported, and compensated when appropriate, and they should not be expected to represent everyone who shares their identity or experience.

Expanding youth development and enrichment opportunities

Young people benefit from safe, welcoming, and engaging opportunities to connect with peers and supportive adults, develop skills, explore interests, contribute to their communities, and take on meaningful leadership roles.

In some communities, transportation, cost, limited programming, lack of accessible spaces, or underinvestment may restrict these opportunities. Expanding youth programs can help address those gaps.

Programs might include arts, sports, technology, recreation, civic engagement, employment, internships, mentoring, entrepreneurship, community service, environmental projects, media, or other activities young people identify as meaningful.

Young people should have meaningful roles in planning youth programs. Adults may misjudge what activities feel relevant, welcoming, or worthwhile. Youth advisory groups, listening sessions, paid youth leadership roles, surveys, and shared decision-making can help programs better reflect young people's interests and priorities.

Establishing school-linked health programs

Adolescents and young adults may face barriers to health care related to cost, transportation, confidentiality, insurance, scheduling, trust, or lack of age-appropriate services. Young people who are not currently enrolled in school may face additional barriers.

School-linked or school-based health services can improve access to primary care, mental and behavioral health services, sexual and reproductive health care, health education, substance use prevention and treatment, and other services relevant to adolescents.

Programs should be designed with youth input and should clearly communicate privacy, consent, accessibility, and confidentiality policies.

Implementing home visiting programs

Home visiting can make services more accessible for families, older adults, people with disabilities, people with limited transportation, and others who prefer or benefit from receiving support at home.

Home visitors may provide education, health support, parenting resources, care coordination, disability supports, or connections to community resources. Strong programs emphasize partnership rather than surveillance or judgment. Visitors should ask what participants want support with, respect privacy and autonomy, and build on existing strengths.

Home visiting can also help identify environmental or access barriers that may be difficult to understand in an office setting, allowing participants and visitors to explore practical solutions together.

Planning and establishing adult education and literacy programs

Adult education can support employment, health, civic participation, family goals, further education, and many other areas of life. Programs may include reading, writing, numeracy, digital literacy, English-language learning, high school equivalency preparation, or other learning opportunities.

Educational needs vary by community and by individual. Some learners may want English-language instruction, while others may be focused on digital skills, math, reading, workplace credentials, or preparation for further education.

Strong programs respect adult learners' goals, experiences, languages, and existing knowledge and give learners meaningful influence over what and how they learn.

Enhancing developmental assets for children

Children and young people benefit from supportive relationships, safe and welcoming environments, opportunities to contribute, access to learning and recreation, positive identities, and the resources needed for healthy development.

Communities can assess which supports are already strong and where additional investment or change is needed. Improvement may involve expanding programs, strengthening relationships, improving policies, investing in safer environments, or increasing young people's opportunities for leadership and participation.

Enhancing resources for youth development

Communities can support youth development through funding, staff, volunteers, facilities, transportation, mentoring, education, employment, arts, recreation, and opportunities for civic participation.

Resources do not need to be purely financial. Community members, businesses, schools, organizations, and institutions can contribute time, expertise, relationships, equipment, internships, space, and other forms of support.

Mentoring and youth programs should be built around young people's strengths and goals rather than defining participants as "at-risk" or treating adult guidance as a rescue strategy.

Enhancing childcare programs

Safe, reliable, nurturing, and affordable childcare is an essential resource for many families. Childcare can affect whether parents and caregivers are able to work, pursue education, attend appointments, participate in community programs, or meet other responsibilities.

Cost, limited availability, transportation, hours of operation, disability access, and shortages of qualified providers can all create barriers.

Improving childcare may involve expanding capacity, supporting and fairly compensating childcare workers, improving training and professional development, providing subsidies, increasing accessible options, developing employer-supported childcare, or investing in other models identified by families and providers.

Each of the remaining sections in this chapter discusses one of these options in greater detail. Whatever strategy a community chooses, improvement requires sustained attention. Programs and systems change over time, as do community priorities, resources, and conditions.

Think of community services as infrastructure that requires ongoing care. Buildings need maintenance, and so do programs, partnerships, policies, and systems. Regular feedback, evaluation, investment, and community participation can help services remain useful and responsive for as long as they are needed.

In Summary

Communities rely on many kinds of services: foundational public systems; preventive and quality-of-life services; and responsive or emergency supports. Developing and improving community services may involve creating new services, strengthening existing ones, expanding capacity, improving access, or coordinating systems so people can move through them more easily.

People who use or may benefit from services should have meaningful roles in planning, implementation, and evaluation, alongside community organizations, public agencies, businesses, funders, and other partners.

Improving services is not a one-time project. Communities change, needs and strengths evolve, and programs must adapt. Sustained investment, collaboration, accessibility, community voice, and ongoing learning are essential to building services that support health, opportunity, participation, and quality of life over the long term.

What do we mean by developing and improving services?

___A-level services are the essential services that make it possible for a community to exist as such – fire, police, schools, public works, local government

___B-level services exist to prevent problems and to maintain the quality of life in a community

___C-level services specifically exist to solve problems and correct deficiencies

You might develop and improve services by:

___Establishing services that didn’t exist before

___Making existing services more effective or more widely available

___Increasing access to services

___Coordinating services

Who should be involved in developing and improving services?

___The target population

___Other agencies, community-based organizations, and grass roots groups

___Local and state officials

___The business community

___The community at large

When should you seek to develop and improve services?

___At the start of a wide-ranging, long-term community initiative

___When a need makes itself clear

___When what you’ve been doing isn’t working

___When the community asks for a service

___When funding becomes available for something that’s been needed for a long time

Options for developing and improving services:

___Developing and implementing programs to help people set and attain personal goals

___Promoting coordination, cooperative agreements, and collaborative agreements among agencies

___Developing multisector collaborations

___Developing employment programs

___Developing programs for physical activity and recreation

___Developing and increasing access to health and community services

___Establishing peer education programs

___Enhancing supervised alternative activities for youth

___Establishing school-linked health programs

___Implementing home visitor programs

___Planning and establishing an adult literacy program

___Enhancing developmental assets for children

___Enhancing resources for youth development

___Enhancing child care programs

A PowerPoint presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

• Why is it important for organizations to work together?

• What are the different ways that organizations can work together?

• How do we choose among relationships?

• What are some of the challenges that organizations confront when they are working together?

• How do groups begin to build organizational relationships?

Why is it important for organizations to work together?

Community challenges are often too complex for any one organization to address alone. Issues related to education, employment, housing, health, the environment, public safety, and community well-being are often connected and shaped by many different systems and conditions.

Organizations also bring different strengths to the table. One may have strong relationships with residents, another may have specialized expertise, another may have funding or facilities, and another may have authority to change policies or systems. When organizations and community members combine these resources thoughtfully, they may be able to accomplish more together than they could separately.

This section is about organizations working together to accomplish shared goals. By networking, coordinating, cooperating, and collaborating, organizations can share information, reduce gaps and duplication, strengthen services, expand community participation, and work on challenges that require action across multiple organizations or sectors.

Working together can also broaden participation in community decision-making. Strong partnerships create opportunities for residents, organizations, institutions, businesses, and public agencies to contribute different kinds of knowledge and help shape decisions that affect their communities.

What could your organization accomplish by working together with others?

What are the different ways that organizations can work together?

Organizations can develop many different kinds of working relationships. Some relationships focus mainly on sharing information. Others involve adjusting activities, sharing resources, or jointly planning and implementing work.

No one type of relationship is always best. The appropriate approach depends on what the organizations hope to accomplish, the resources available, the level of trust among partners, and how much responsibility and decision-making they are prepared to share.

Networking

Organizations have a networking relationship when they exchange information in ways that help each organization do its work more effectively. For example, if a school and a community counseling center share current information about services available to young people, that is a form of networking. If community organizations share calendars of public events, they may be able to avoid scheduling conflicts and identify opportunities to support one another.

Networking generally requires less time and formal commitment than the other relationships described below, but it can still produce meaningful results.

Networking can also be a starting point for deeper relationships. For example, staff members from several nonprofit organizations might begin meeting regularly to exchange information about funding opportunities. As relationships develop, they may discover shared priorities and decide to work together on projects that benefit their organizations and the broader community.

Organizations can network in many ways, including meetings, community events, shared email lists or online workspaces, professional networks, conferences, and informal conversations.

Coordination

Organizations have a coordinating relationship when they adjust their activities so that services, programs, or resources work better together.

For example, a school and community counseling center might coordinate schedules so that counseling is available at times when young people can use it. Community organizations might coordinate major events to reduce scheduling conflicts. Health and human service organizations might create referral procedures so participants do not have to repeatedly navigate disconnected systems.

Coordination can reduce service gaps and unnecessary duplication. It can also make programs easier for community members to use. For example, students transferring from a two-year college to a four-year institution may face unnecessary delays if course requirements are poorly aligned. Similarly, people seeking health or social services may face barriers if several organizations require them to repeat the same eligibility or intake processes.

Coordination requires more communication, planning, and trust than simple networking, but it can significantly improve participants' experiences and the effectiveness of community services.

Cooperation

When organizations cooperate, they go beyond exchanging information and coordinating activities. They also share resources to help accomplish common goals.

Organizations may share staff time, volunteers, expertise, facilities, equipment, funding, technology, transportation, or other resources. For example, a school might provide space for a community counseling organization to offer evening services, while the counseling organization provides trained staff and resources.

Cooperation requires organizations to share some responsibility and decision-making. Partners need clear expectations about what each will contribute, how resources will be used, and how credit and accountability will be shared.

Collaboration

Collaboration involves organizations working together in ways that strengthen their collective ability to achieve shared goals. Partners may jointly plan programs, pursue funding, share expertise, develop new approaches, or build one another's capacity.

For example, a school and community counseling center might jointly seek funding to train staff from both organizations. Several community organizations might jointly design and host an event that advances a shared community priority.

Collaboration usually involves greater shared responsibility, decision-making, risk, and accountability than networking, coordination, or cooperation. Partners need to be clear about roles, resources, power, expectations, and how decisions will be made.

Strong collaborations also share recognition. When a successful project involves several partners, communications with funders, media, and community members should accurately acknowledge the contributions of everyone involved.

Collaboration can require substantial time and trust, but it can also create opportunities to address challenges that individual organizations cannot solve on their own.

Multisector collaboration

Multisector collaboration brings together organizations and community members from different parts of the community, such as public agencies, businesses, schools, health systems, nonprofit organizations, neighborhood groups, and resident-led organizations.

These collaborations are often used to address complex community issues that involve several systems at once. Examples may include improving access to health care, expanding affordable housing, strengthening educational and employment opportunities, improving transportation, supporting young people's development, or addressing environmental conditions.

For example, community organizations, schools, young people, employers, workforce programs, and local government might work together to expand employment and career opportunities for young people. Schools and youth organizations could bring knowledge about young people's interests and experiences; employers could identify career pathways and skills needed in local industries; workforce organizations could provide training and support; and young people could help shape the opportunities so that they are relevant and accessible.

Multisector collaboration is more complex than many other organizational relationships because partners may have different responsibilities, resources, priorities, cultures, and levels of influence. Effective collaboration does not require organizations to abandon their own missions, but it does require them to identify meaningful shared goals and decide how responsibility and decision-making will be distributed.

Building trust and agreement may take considerable time. Partners should also pay attention to differences in power and resources so that smaller organizations, community-based groups, and residents are not invited only to provide input while institutions with greater resources make the final decisions.

At its best, multisector collaboration gives community members meaningful roles alongside organizations and institutions in shaping decisions that affect their communities.

How do you choose among relationships?

Networking, coordinating, cooperating, collaboration, and multisector collaboration accomplish different things and require different levels of time, trust, skills, staffing, shared decision-making, and financial resources.

Choose a relationship that fits what you are actually trying to accomplish. More intensive collaboration is not automatically better. Sometimes organizations only need to exchange information or coordinate schedules. In other situations, shared planning, resources, and decision-making may be necessary.

Organizational relationships can also develop over time. Groups may begin by networking, build trust through successful coordination or cooperation, and later decide that deeper collaboration would be useful.

As you choose an appropriate relationship, consider:

• What does each organization or community partner hope to accomplish by working together?
• What kind of relationship is actually necessary to accomplish those goals?
• What resources are available, including staff time, skills, funding, facilities, technology, relationships, and community knowledge?
• Is there sufficient trust and commitment for the level of partnership being considered?
• How will decisions, responsibilities, resources, and credit be shared?
• Are there differences in organizational power, funding, or influence that need to be addressed?
• How will community members affected by the work participate in decisions?
• Does the partnership have enough capacity to follow through on the commitments it is making?

What are some of the challenges that organizations confront when they are working together?

Working together can produce significant benefits, but organizational relationships also take time and effort. Partners may have different goals, histories, cultures, resources, expectations, and decision-making processes. Recognizing these challenges early can help groups prepare for them.

Organizations may be accustomed to working independently

Organizations often develop their own programs, funding sources, procedures, relationships, and areas of responsibility. Working with others may require staff to spend additional time communicating, adjusting plans, or sharing decisions that were previously made internally.

Partners should be clear about what they gain from working together and which parts of their work should remain independent. Collaboration should add value rather than becoming an expectation that every organization must participate in every decision or activity.

Trust may be limited or may need to be rebuilt

Trust cannot be assumed. Organizations or communities may have histories of competition, broken commitments, exclusion, unequal partnerships, poor communication, or experiences in which information was gathered but community input did not influence decisions.

Building trust requires consistent follow-through, transparency, accountability, honest communication, and time. When trust has been damaged, acknowledging what happened and changing the practices that caused the problem may be necessary before a stronger relationship can develop.

Partners may need stronger communication and facilitation practices

Working across several organizations makes communication more complex. People may use different terminology, decision-making styles, timelines, communication methods, or expectations.

Clear agendas, accessible information, active listening, facilitation, written agreements, regular updates, and opportunities to clarify misunderstandings can help groups communicate more effectively.

Racism, discrimination, and unequal power can affect organizational relationships

Historical and ongoing racism, classism, ableism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination can shape relationships among communities and institutions. These issues should not be reduced to simple misunderstandings between individuals.

Partners may need to examine how resources, authority, representation, and decision-making power are distributed within the relationship. Organizations should also learn about relevant community histories and understand how previous experiences with institutions may affect trust.

Cultural differences in communication, leadership, decision-making, time, conflict, and relationship-building may also influence collaboration. Cultural humility, respectful curiosity, and ongoing learning can help partners work across differences without expecting one group to adapt entirely to another's norms.

Leadership may be unclear or concentrated in too few people

Collaborative work needs leadership, but effective leadership does not always mean one person directing everyone else. Depending on the partnership, leadership may be shared among organizations, residents, staff, and other participants.

Strong collaborative leadership helps create clarity, facilitate participation, manage conflict, maintain accountability, share information, and keep the group connected to its purpose. It also creates opportunities for new leaders to emerge rather than concentrating authority in the same people throughout the life of the partnership.

Past exclusion may affect people's willingness or ability to participate

People who have repeatedly been excluded from decisions, invited only after major choices have already been made, or asked for input without seeing any response may reasonably question whether participation will matter.

The solution is not simply to encourage people to speak up. Organizations should create meaningful roles, share decision-making power, provide accessible ways to participate, communicate how input is used, remove practical barriers such as transportation or scheduling, and compensate community members when substantial participation requires significant time or expertise.

Funders may require collaboration

Funders sometimes encourage or require organizations to collaborate. This can create useful opportunities, but a funding requirement alone does not create a strong partnership.

Organizations should be realistic about whether the proposed relationship makes sense, what each partner can contribute, and how decisions will be shared. When possible, partners and funders should allow enough time for relationships, roles, and agreements to develop rather than assuming that collaboration begins as soon as a grant is awarded.

How do groups begin to build organizational relationships?

The following guidelines can help organizations begin developing relationships that are useful, respectful, and sustainable.

Involve the stakeholders

Identify the people and organizations affected by the work or able to contribute useful knowledge, resources, or decision-making authority. Stakeholders may include organizational leaders, staff responsible for implementation, program participants, residents, community-based organizations, public agencies, businesses, funders, and others affected directly or indirectly.

Meaningful involvement can take different forms. Some people may participate in ongoing planning and decision-making, while others may contribute through advisory groups, listening sessions, surveys, interviews, or specific project roles.

Participation should be more than symbolic. People should understand what decisions are open to their influence, how their input will be used, and where decision-making authority ultimately rests.

For example, if several organizations are working together to expand counseling hours for young people, planning could involve counselors, young people, parents or caregivers, school staff, community organizations, and others who understand how the service is currently used and what barriers exist.

Establish one-to-one relationships, and begin to build trust

Organizational relationships are built partly through relationships among the people representing each organization. People who will share information, resources, responsibility, or risk need opportunities to understand one another's roles, perspectives, and expectations.

Relationship building might happen through individual conversations, small-group meetings, community events, retreats, informal gatherings, or facilitated discussions.

Whatever method you use, make sure to:

• Allow enough time for relationships to develop. Urgency may be real, but trying to force trust can create additional problems.
• Give participants opportunities to explain their organization, community connections, interest in the work, priorities, concerns, and expectations for the partnership.
• Establish expectations for honesty, confidentiality when appropriate, respectful communication, and accountability.
• Establish a tone of cooperation while allowing organizations to be transparent about areas where their interests may differ.
• Strengthen communication, facilitation, and conflict-resolution skills as needed.

Trust should continue to be attended to throughout the relationship. Successful work can strengthen trust, while missed commitments, exclusion from decisions, or poor communication can weaken it. When trust is damaged, address the issue directly rather than assuming it will resolve itself.

Clarify the goals each organization wants to accomplish

Each organization should clarify why it wants to participate, how it understands the issue, what outcomes it hopes to achieve, what resources it can contribute, and what limitations or concerns it has.

Partners should then identify where their goals overlap and where important differences remain. A strong partnership does not require everyone to have identical priorities.

Decide on an organizational relationship that makes sense

Once goals, resources, responsibilities, and expectations are clearer, decide what type of relationship fits the work. Partners may only need to network or coordinate, or they may decide that cooperation or collaboration is necessary.

Avoid creating a more complicated partnership structure than the goal requires.

Establish procedural ground rules

Early in the relationship, establish clear agreements for important procedures, such as:

• How decisions will be made
• Who will communicate publicly or speak to the media
• What information should remain confidential and what information can be shared
• How information will be distributed
• The responsibilities and authority of representatives
• How resources, expenses, and credit will be shared
• How disagreements and conflicts will be addressed
• How community members and other partners will participate in decisions
• Any other procedures needed to support transparency and accountability

Clarifying these expectations early can prevent misunderstandings. Important decisions should not be made informally by a small subset of partners when others who share decision-making authority have not had an opportunity to participate.

Learn how to listen

Listening is essential to organizational relationships. Partners need opportunities to explain what matters to them -- their goals, experiences, knowledge, concerns, and ideas -- and to know that others are considering what they say.

Listening does not require agreement. It requires enough attention and curiosity to understand another person's perspective before responding.

Groups can build listening into their meetings by making space for people who speak less often, using small-group discussions, providing several ways to contribute, summarizing what has been heard, and checking whether people believe their views have been represented accurately.

Build on points of agreement

Partners do not need to agree on every issue. Identify areas of shared purpose and determine whether useful work can begin there.

If organizations cannot agree on an entire strategy, they may be able to agree on a smaller project, shared principle, or first step. Successful work on one area can provide information and experience that helps partners decide whether deeper cooperation makes sense.

Do not treat disagreement as something that always needs to be eliminated. Differences can reveal overlooked concerns, competing priorities, or unintended effects that improve the final approach when they are taken seriously.

Practice cultural humility and learn about relevant histories

When organizations work across differences in race, ethnicity, culture, language, religion, socioeconomic background, disability, geography, or other experiences, partners may benefit from learning about one another's communities, histories, values, and organizational practices.

This includes understanding how discrimination, exclusion, disinvestment, or previous relationships with institutions may shape trust and expectations in the present.

Cultural learning should not require people to disclose painful experiences or speak for an entire community. Partners can use facilitated discussions, community histories, training, cultural events, and other approaches to strengthen understanding while respecting participants' boundaries.

The goal is not to erase differences but to build relationships in which differences can be discussed respectfully and taken into account when decisions are made.

Don't require organizations to give up their identities

Each organization has its own mission, relationships, culture, and responsibilities. Working together should not require every partner to become the same or give up what makes its work distinctive.

Partners should be clear about which responsibilities will be shared and which will remain with individual organizations.

Expect problems and disagreements -- and have patience

Setbacks and disagreements are normal in organizational relationships. When they occur, create space to understand the concern, determine what needs to change, and decide together how to move forward.

Avoid minimizing disagreements simply for the sake of maintaining harmony. Some conflicts reveal important problems related to decision-making, resources, representation, workload, or trust and should be addressed directly.

Celebrate progress, large and small

Recognizing progress can help partners maintain energy and connection over time. Celebrations may be informal or formal depending on the group -- a shared meal, recognition at a meeting, a community event, or simply taking time to acknowledge what participants have accomplished together.

Make sure recognition reflects the contributions of organizations, staff, volunteers, residents, and community partners whose work made the progress possible.

In Summary

Organizations can often accomplish more when they build thoughtful relationships with others. Networking, coordination, cooperation, collaboration, and multisector collaboration offer different ways to share information, align activities, combine resources, strengthen capacity, and work toward shared community goals.

Strong partnerships require more than bringing organizations into the same room. They depend on trust, clear goals, shared expectations, communication, appropriate distribution of responsibility and decision-making power, attention to inequities among partners, and meaningful participation from people affected by the work.

Organizations do not need to agree on everything or give up their individual identities in order to work together. By identifying areas of shared purpose, listening across differences, addressing conflict openly, and building relationships over time, partners can develop approaches that draw on the strengths and knowledge of the broader community.

Why should you work with another organization?

___You have considered what your organization wants to accomplish, and determined that another organization shares your goals, and you can accomplish them better together than apart

Which kind of organizational relationship is necessary to accomplish those goals?

___Networking

___Coordination

___Cooperation

___Collaboration

___Multisector collaboration

___Is there sufficient trust and commitment to support the kind of relationship you chose?

Resources are available for this kind of organizational relationship, such as:

___Time

___Skills

___Financial resources

___Community support

___Commitment of everyone involved

___If not, these resources can be accessed

You have considered how you will overcome the challenges that organizations confront when they are working together:

___People's belief that individual effort is more beneficial than cooperation

___ Mistrust

___A lack of communication skills

___ Racism and other forms of discrimination that keep people and organizations isolated from each other

___ A lack of strong leadership

___People's internalized sense of powerlessness

___Private and public funders requirements

You have decided if you will involve the following stakeholders:

___Leaders of the organizations

___Staff who will implement the programs

___Constituent groups of the organizations

___People who will be involved in the programs

___The larger community

___People who may be affected indirectly

You have begun to build trust with the other organizations:

___You have built some one-to-one relationships

___You have planned time for trust-building with the individuals who will be working together

___ Each person involved has had time to talk in the group about themselves, their organization, their stake in the issue and community, their interest in the partnership, and their concerns about the relationship

___The group has established guidelines that people will be honest with each other, respect confidentiality (when decided upon), and be responsible to the group

___A tone of cooperation has been established

___You have planned a time to build communication skills

___Each organization has clarified the goals they want to accomplish

You have established procedural ground rules for the following points:

___How decisions will be made

___Who will speak to the media

___What should be considered confidential

___How information will be distributed

___The role of representatives

___Any other important procedural guidelines

___People know how to listen to each other

___People are building on points of agreement

People have learned about each other's cultural group through:

___Cultural celebrations

___Discussions and exercises

___Hiring a trained facilitator when needed

___People in each organization are assured that they don't have to give up their identities

___People are prepared to handle problems and disagreements

___You celebrate every success

A PowerPoint presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

 

Can community members help solve complex problems?

Communities often face challenges that can feel difficult to address: gaps in education and health care, housing instability, economic insecurity, environmental concerns, public safety issues, and unequal access to opportunity. Many of these challenges are connected to one another and cannot be addressed effectively by a single organization or institution.

At the same time, communities contain a wide range of knowledge, relationships, skills, and resources. Residents, public agencies, businesses, schools, nonprofit organizations, neighborhood groups, and other partners may understand different parts of the same issue.

When these groups work separately or at cross-purposes, progress can be limited. When they build relationships, share information, and make decisions together, they may be able to address complex issues more effectively.

Community members do not need to wait for outside experts to define every problem or determine every solution. Professional and technical expertise can be valuable, but so are lived experience, local knowledge, cultural knowledge, and the perspectives of people most affected by an issue.

One approach communities use to bring these forms of knowledge and resources together is multisector collaboration, which is the focus of this section.

Although the term "multisector collaboration" may sound technical, the basic idea is straightforward: people and organizations from different parts of the community work together toward shared goals.

What is multisector collaboration?

A multisector collaboration is a partnership that brings together participants from different sectors -- such as government, nonprofit organizations, businesses, schools, health systems, community-based organizations, resident groups, and individual community members -- to address issues that affect the broader community.

Multisector collaboration is often useful for addressing systemic problems.

Systemic problems involve several connected parts of community life rather than one isolated issue. Examples might include unequal educational opportunities, gaps in health care access, shortages of affordable housing, economic instability, environmental hazards, transportation barriers, or several related challenges occurring at the same time.

Multisector collaborations can help address these issues because different partners bring different forms of knowledge, authority, relationships, resources, and experience. No single organization has to understand or control every part of the solution.

Historical example: Baltimore multisector collaboration

Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD), an African American grassroots organization, developed a partnership with the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC), a major local business organization. The partnership focused on community concerns related to employment, education, and economic opportunity.

BUILD brought strong relationships with residents and knowledge of community priorities. GBC brought relationships with the business community and other institutions. The partnership later expanded to include local government and public schools.

Together, the participating organizations worked on efforts intended to strengthen educational opportunities, support students in completing school, and connect education with employment pathways.

The example illustrates how organizations with different constituencies and resources can identify shared interests and work together on issues that affect the broader community.

Complex problems often require responses that address more than one condition at a time. A community may need changes in services, policies, institutions, environments, and access to resources, as well as action by residents and organizations.

Multisector collaboration is particularly useful when progress depends on several organizations or sectors changing how they work rather than expecting one group to solve the entire problem.

What else makes multisector collaboration so different?

Multisector collaboration emphasizes cooperation across organizations and sectors

Organizations often operate in environments where they compete for funding, recognition, staff, participants, or influence. At the same time, many community goals require organizations to share information, coordinate activities, and combine resources.

Multisector collaboration creates a structure for identifying areas where cooperation can produce greater community benefit. Partners do not have to give up their individual missions or interests, but they do need to identify shared goals and determine where working together makes sense.

This can take time. Organizations may reasonably have concerns about sharing resources, decision-making, credit, or risk. Clear agreements, transparency, accountability, and trust can help partners work through these concerns.

Multisector collaboration can broaden community participation in decision-making

People who are directly affected by a community issue bring knowledge that institutions and professionals may not have. For that reason, residents and community-based groups should have meaningful roles in defining problems, developing strategies, making decisions, and evaluating results.

Participation should go beyond asking community members for opinions after major decisions have already been made. Strong collaborations clarify where decision-making authority rests and create opportunities for residents to influence the direction of the work.

Institutions also benefit from shared decision-making. Government agencies, nonprofit organizations, businesses, schools, and other institutions can make better-informed decisions when they understand community experiences, priorities, strengths, and concerns.

Multisector collaboration is complex

Collaboration across sectors rarely follows a perfectly predictable path. Participants may have different priorities, responsibilities, organizational cultures, timelines, resources, and expectations.

Plans may need to change as new information emerges, community conditions shift, or partners learn more about the issue. Flexibility is therefore an important part of collaborative work.

Multisector collaboration requires substantial time and resources

Multisector collaboration is usually a long-term effort. It can require considerable time for relationship building, community engagement, information gathering, planning, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation.

For that reason, collaboration should be used when the issue actually requires it. If a goal can be accomplished effectively through networking, coordination, or a smaller partnership, a full multisector collaborative may not be necessary.

Is your community ready for multisector collaboration?

Before initiating a multisector collaborative, consider whether it is the right approach for the community and issue at this time. Several questions can help.

Is there a clear reason for multisector collaboration?

Collaboration is more likely to gain support when people recognize that the issue affects several parts of community life or cannot be addressed by one organization alone.

For example, residents and organizations may recognize concerns related to deteriorating infrastructure, limited affordable housing, gaps in educational opportunity, transportation problems, environmental conditions, or reduced access to jobs and services.

If the issue does not yet require community-wide collaboration, a smaller group of organizations may begin working together while building relationships and learning more about the problem.

What is the level of trust among the different groups and sectors?

Some potential partners may already have strong relationships. Others may have histories of competition, exclusion, broken commitments, discrimination, or unequal power.

Avoid reducing mistrust to stereotypes or personality differences. A community organization may have legitimate reasons to question whether a larger institution will share decision-making power, follow through on commitments, or take community priorities seriously.

Building trust may therefore require more than informal relationship-building. Partners may need to acknowledge past experiences, clarify expectations, make decision-making more transparent, share resources more equitably, and demonstrate accountability over time.

Groups that have historically been excluded from institutional decision-making may need evidence that their participation will be meaningful and not simply symbolic.

Do people agree on how the issue should be understood?

Sometimes partners agree that a problem exists but understand its causes differently.

For example, if a community is concerned about increasing substance use among young people and community safety, participants may identify different contributing factors: limited youth opportunities, economic conditions, access to behavioral health services, school engagement, family and community supports, exposure to trauma, availability of substances, or other conditions.

Rather than deciding in advance that one explanation is correct, the collaborative can examine community data, lived experience, research, and input from people most affected. This process can help the group develop a more complete understanding of the issue before choosing solutions.

If multisector collaboration is not the right approach, organizations can use other forms of partnership that better fit the situation.

What are the first steps you should take in building a multisector collaborative?

When people begin a new collaboration, they may be eager to move immediately toward solutions. Taking time to establish relationships, roles, expectations, and shared understanding can make later action more effective.

Develop leadership across sectors and communities

Multisector collaboration benefits from leadership throughout the partnership. Leaders can help communicate a shared purpose, facilitate participation, address conflict, maintain accountability, and move the work forward.

Leadership should not be limited to people with formal titles or institutional authority. Residents, youth, people with lived experience, staff members, community organizers, and others may bring valuable leadership skills and relationships.

Collaborative leadership can also be shared. Different people may lead different parts of the work depending on their expertise, relationships, and responsibilities.

Communities can strengthen collaborative leadership through training, mentoring, facilitated learning, and opportunities for people from different sectors to develop skills together.

Identify a facilitator or facilitation team

Multisector collaboration often benefits from skilled facilitation. A facilitator helps create a process in which participants can communicate, make decisions, manage disagreements, and stay connected to the collaborative's purpose.

The facilitator may come from one of the participating organizations or may be an independent person or team. The most important qualities are trust, fairness, strong facilitation skills, and the ability to work effectively with the different groups involved.

Facilitation responsibilities may include:

• Planning and facilitating meetings
• Making sure participants receive information in time to prepare
• Creating opportunities for different voices to be heard
• Helping clarify agreements and disagreements
• Supporting conflict resolution
• Tracking decisions and responsibilities
• Helping maintain communication between meetings

These responsibilities can be shared among several people rather than placed on one individual.

Gather the information needed to understand issues and possible solutions

Collaborative decisions should draw on reliable information. Depending on the issue, this may include community data, research, budgets, environmental information, service-use information, public records, and other evidence.

Lived experience and community knowledge are also important forms of information. Quantitative data may show that a disparity exists, while residents can help explain how policies, services, or community conditions contribute to it.

When information is missing, partners may conduct research together. Joint data gathering can also help organizations develop a shared understanding of the issue.

Support community leadership and shared power

Multisector collaboration is strongest when community members have meaningful influence rather than being limited to advisory roles while institutions make the major decisions.

Shared power may include community members helping to:

• Build community support and participation
• Form coalitions and partnerships
• Develop facilitation, communication, and decision-making skills
• Develop community leadership
• Develop a vision and mission
• Set priorities
• Shape budgets, strategies, action plans, and evaluation

Communities do not all begin from the same position. Some have long-standing organizations and strong networks, while others may have experienced disinvestment, exclusion from decision-making, or divisions created by historical and current conditions.

Building community leadership may therefore require time, organizing, resources, relationship-building, and opportunities for people to participate in ways that fit their schedules and circumstances.

Recommendations for supporting meaningful community participation include:

• Community members should help determine the purpose and priorities of the collaboration
• Resident-led organizations and community coalitions should be included directly rather than assuming that larger institutions can speak for them
• Community members should have meaningful decision-making roles rather than being limited to providing advice
• The collaborative should be accountable to community members as well as participating institutions and funders
• Community priorities should meaningfully shape the collaborative's agenda
• Community members should help design strategies and action plans alongside professional and technical partners
• Community members should be compensated when participation requires substantial time, expertise, or ongoing responsibilities whenever resources allow

Historical example: Community-led collaboration in the Mid-Bronx

In 1974, residents, faith leaders, civic organizations, tenant associations, and block groups in the Crotona neighborhood of the Bronx formed a community-based coalition known as the Mid-Bronx Desperadoes (MBD).

After organizing locally, the coalition developed relationships with businesses, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and foundations. Its goals included improving housing, strengthening commercial areas, expanding employment opportunities, restoring services, and improving neighborhood conditions.

Over time, the coalition and its partners supported housing development and rehabilitation, career programs, neighborhood initiatives, and other community improvements. The example illustrates how resident-led organizing can form the foundation for broader institutional collaboration.

How do you continue to build and operate a multisector collaborative?

Once the groundwork has been established, partners can begin developing the structures and processes needed to carry out the collaborative's work.

Every collaboration will be different. The following steps should therefore be treated as general guidance rather than a fixed sequence.

Identify the stakeholders

Stakeholders include people and organizations that are affected by the issue, have relevant knowledge, influence decisions, control resources, implement programs, or may experience the effects of proposed changes.

Depending on the issue, stakeholders may include residents, people with lived experience, neighborhood organizations, businesses, public agencies, schools, health systems, service providers, advocacy organizations, property owners, workers, Tribal governments, youth, families, and others.

When identifying stakeholders, ask not only who has institutional power but also whose experiences and perspectives have historically been left out of decision-making.

Participation will vary. Some people may serve as ongoing members of the collaborative, while others may contribute through listening sessions, surveys, advisory groups, working groups, or other methods. The important point is that people should understand how their participation can influence the work.

Make a commitment to collaborate

Participating groups should agree on what collaboration means in practice. That may include sharing information, resources, decision-making, responsibility, and credit.

Partners should also commit to transparency. Important decisions should be made through the agreed-upon process rather than through informal conversations among only the most powerful organizations.

Establish procedural ground rules

Early in the process, partners should establish clear agreements about:

• How decisions will be made
• Who will facilitate meetings
• Who may speak publicly on behalf of the collaborative
• What information should remain confidential
• How information will be shared
• The authority and responsibilities of representatives
• How conflicts will be addressed
• How resources, expenses, and credit will be shared
• How community members will participate in decisions

Clarifying these expectations early can reduce misunderstandings and help participants hold one another accountable.

Strengthen collaborative process skills

Collaboration depends on skills that help people work together constructively. These may include:

• Active listening
• Facilitation
• Conflict resolution
• Negotiation
• Shared decision-making
• Cultural humility
• Giving and receiving feedback
• Problem solving

Facilitators, trainers, and experienced community members can help partners strengthen these skills. Learning together can also build the collaboration's capacity for future work.

Build trust and explore perspectives

Trust develops through experience. Partners need opportunities to understand one another's goals, responsibilities, histories, values, and concerns.

This does not require people to disclose personal experiences they would prefer to keep private or to speak on behalf of an entire community. Participants can instead discuss the experiences and perspectives that are relevant to the collaborative's work and that they are comfortable sharing.

Trust should continue to be monitored throughout the collaboration. If commitments are missed, decisions are made without appropriate participation, or partners feel excluded, address the issue directly and determine what needs to change.

Identify community issues and priorities

Collaborative partners should develop a shared understanding of the issues they hope to address. This may take time when different groups experience the issue differently or have different ideas about its causes.

For example, when examining substance use among adolescents, partners might consider access to prevention and treatment, youth mental health, economic conditions, family and peer supports, community environments, availability of substances, school engagement, transportation, recreation, and other factors.

Input from young people themselves should be part of understanding the issue. Their experiences can help identify barriers, resources, and possible solutions that adults or institutions may overlook.

Clarify a vision and develop a mission statement

Once partners have discussed community priorities, values, and desired changes, they can develop a shared vision and mission.

A clear vision can help participants understand the long-term change they are working toward, while a mission statement can guide goals, strategies, and action.

Continue to keep the process open and seek community input

Community participation should continue throughout the life of the collaboration rather than ending after initial planning.

Representatives should regularly return to the communities and organizations they represent for feedback, updates, and direction. Collaboratives can use public meetings, listening sessions, community forums, surveys, digital engagement, advisory groups, neighborhood meetings, or other methods that fit the community.

Make clear how feedback is used. Asking repeatedly for community input without showing how it affects decisions can weaken trust.

Historical example: Public participation in infrastructure planning

In Denver, local government created a large resident committee to help prioritize infrastructure projects for a proposed bond initiative. Participants from different parts of the community reviewed proposals and helped determine which projects would move forward.

The example illustrates one way residents can be given a direct role in difficult public decisions involving limited resources and competing priorities.

Create options for addressing community issues

Once the collaborative has developed trust, clarified its mission, gathered information, and received community input, participants can begin developing possible strategies.

Working groups, brainstorming, idea writing, focused discussions, the nominal group technique, and other methods can help generate multiple options before the group decides what to pursue.

Consider not only whether an option might work, but also who would benefit, who might experience unintended consequences, what resources would be required, and whether the people most affected consider the approach appropriate.

Formulate goals, objectives, and an action plan

The collaborative should translate its mission into clear goals, objectives, responsibilities, timelines, and action steps.

Tangible results matter, but results should reflect the priorities established with the community. Depending on the collaboration, goals might include improving water quality, increasing access to affordable housing, strengthening school engagement, expanding employment opportunities, improving transportation, or increasing access to health services.

Historical example: HandMade in America, Western North Carolina

HandMade in America brought together craft organizations, tourism representatives, businesses, educators, local governments, artists, and community members to explore how craft and related activities could contribute to sustainable community and economic development.

Early efforts included developing regional craft trails, creating a registry of craftspeople, integrating craft into school curricula, supporting downtown revitalization efforts, and establishing an institute focused on craft, creativity, and design.

The example shows how a regional asset -- in this case, craft traditions and creative industries -- can become the foundation for collaboration across multiple sectors.

Large goals can be divided into smaller steps. Early progress can help partners learn what works, strengthen trust, and maintain momentum while longer-term work continues.

Implement the action plan

Implementation requires clear responsibility, adequate resources, and continued coordination.

The collaborative may oversee implementation directly, participating organizations may take responsibility for particular strategies, or a separate organization or structure may be created when needed.

Continue involving community members during implementation. Conditions may change, strategies may produce unexpected results, and participants may identify adjustments that improve the work.

Evaluate the results

Evaluation should examine both what the collaborative accomplished and how the collaborative worked.

Ask questions such as:

• Are the goals and objectives being achieved?
• Who is benefiting from the changes?
• Are there groups that are not benefiting or are experiencing unintended effects?
• Do community members believe the work is addressing their priorities?
• Are decision-making processes inclusive and transparent?
• Are resources and responsibilities being shared fairly?
• What should be changed based on what has been learned?

Evaluation can help partners improve their strategies, strengthen accountability, and decide what should happen next.

Celebrate progress, large and small

Recognizing progress can help maintain energy and relationships during long-term collaborative work. Celebrations may range from a shared meal or acknowledgement at a meeting to a larger community event.

Make sure recognition includes the residents, community organizations, staff members, volunteers, institutions, and other partners whose contributions made the progress possible.

Continue the collaborative community

When a collaborative reaches one of its goals, consider whether the relationships, knowledge, and structures developed through the process can support future community priorities.

Not every collaboration needs to continue indefinitely. Partners may decide to continue, change their structure, reduce their activities, or conclude the collaboration once its purpose has been fulfilled.

Whatever happens, preserving useful relationships and documenting what was learned can strengthen the community's ability to respond to future challenges.

In Summary

Multisector collaboration brings together community members and organizations from different sectors to address complex issues that no single group can effectively address alone.

Strong collaboration requires more than gathering representatives around the same table. It depends on trust, reliable information, clear goals, strong facilitation, transparent decision-making, attention to differences in power and resources, and meaningful participation by people directly affected by the work.

Community members bring essential knowledge and should have opportunities not only to provide input, but also to shape priorities, strategies, implementation, and evaluation.

Multisector collaboration requires time and sustained effort, and it is not the right approach for every problem. When it fits the issue, however, it can help communities combine their strengths, improve coordination across systems, expand participation in decision-making, and develop solutions grounded in both professional expertise and community knowledge.

___You understand that multisector collaboration is a partnership of non-profit, private, and public organizations, and community members whose purpose is to solve problems that impact the whole community

___You understand that systemic problems are problems that involve a community's "systems" rather than one isolated area

___You understand that multisector collaboratives have the capacity to solve systemic problems, because they draw on the resources of all the sectors: Business, government, and nonprofit

___You understand that multisector collaboration is based on cooperation, rather than competition

___You understand that multisector collaboration makes democracy work better because it puts the decision-making process back in the hands of ordinary people

___You understand that multisector collaboration is a process that doesn't always go according to a neat plan

___You understand that multisector collaboration is a long-term enterprise in which the investment of time and resources is great, but so are the rewards

___You have determined that there a clear need for multisector collaboration

___You have determined that there is an appropriate level of trust among the different groups and sectors

___You have determined that people agree on what the problem is, or whether the problem will need to be defined

___You have trained leaders in all sectors that have the vision, commitment, and respect necessary to lead a collaborative

___You have identified a facilitator to bring the different groups together

___You have found the information necessary to understand issues and possible solutions

___You have promoted community empowerment

___You have identified the stakeholders

___You have made a commitment to collaborate

___You have established procedural ground rules

___You have taught potential participants process skills

___You have built trust, learned process skills, and explored beliefs

___You have identified problems

___You have clarified a vision and develop a mission statement

___You continue to keep the process open and get input from community members

___You have created options for solving problems

___You have formulated goals, objectives, and an action plan

___You have implemented the action plan

___You have evaluated the results

___You have celebrated every success, large and small

___You have continued the collaborative community

Example: Bioko Island Malaria Control Project

In 2002, the Bioko Island Malaria Control Project was formed. The Marathon Oil Corporation teamed up with business partners, local government, university researchers, and healthcare providers to successfully reduce the prevalence of malaria on Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea.

Tool: The Four Rules of Successful Collaboration

1. The scope of the collaborative project is clearly defined.

   What exactly do you want to accomplish together? For example, you may start with wanting to improve outreach efforts to youth in a particular neighborhood. What activities will be undertaken? And how will you know if outreach efforts have improved? As specifically as possible, describe the activities and the standards by which you will measure both activities and outcomes.

2. Each partner knows how the collaboration will advance the interests of its organization and clients.

   Beyond the common goals, what does each party want? Community organizers know that to make a coalition work, self-interest plays a critical role. One director may be worried about her organization's financial health, another director may want access to new services, and another may see working together as a way to gain power in the political process. Whatever the personal goals are of individual leaders or specific interests of individual organizations, it helps to be honest about them so that no important agendas remain "hidden." In addition to discussing what each party wants, it may also be important to address each party's fears and concerns.

3. Role and responsibilities have been defined; mechanisms for communication and joint accountability are in place.

   What can each party give? Even among "small" agencies, each with the same or similar missions and clientele, there will be differences in financial stability, management capacity, facilities, board leadership, and access to political power. What resources is each party able to give, and what is each willing to give to support the joint effort? (Collectively these resources must match the requirements of the project scope discussed in Rule 1. If they don't, either the scope it too broad, or you have the wrong mix of organizations at the table.) Beyond "who will do what by when?" how will you hold yourselves accountable? Regular meetings, financial incentives/penalties related to performance, other?

4. The relationship works: there is enough trust and respect among the key players to support the level of risk and interdependence involved in the project.

   The most difficult aspect of collaborations, and the least concrete, is the relationship between the partners. A low intensity project such as sharing information on service schedules does not involve "high stakes" and therefore requires less trust and the respect between partners. However, in a joint service contract the level of trust and the respect between partners is the intangible element that will either make or break the project: no contract can spell out every possible eventuality. Are we able to communicate effectively? Are the right people involved? Can the relationship among the participants support the kind of honest talk and genuine listening required to work together successfully?

From: Support Center for Nonprofit Management/National Minority AIDS Council, 1996.

A PowerPoint presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

• What are the barriers to access to health and community services?

• How do we remove barriers and increase access to health and community services?

• How do we find private funding sources?

• How do we improve physical and communication access?

• How do we make sure our program is effective and accessible?

• How do we reduce barriers to participation?

A service can exist and still be difficult or impossible for some people to use. A person with a disability may encounter an inaccessible building, website, or communication system. An immigrant or refugee community may face a long waiting list for English-language learning. A pregnant adolescent may live in a community with limited prenatal care or family supports. A workforce program may be located far from reliable transportation. A youth program may be available but may not provide the kind of support young people say they need.

In each case, the issue is not simply whether a program exists. Meaningful access also depends on whether people can find the service, reach it, afford it, understand it, use it, and receive support that is effective and respectful.

This section looks at barriers to health and community services and explores ways organizations and communities can reduce those barriers.

What are the barriers to access to health and community services?

Barriers to health and community services can take many forms. Funding may limit whether a service exists or has enough capacity. Physical, digital, or communication barriers may prevent people with disabilities from participating. Program design, outreach, eligibility requirements, cost, quality, or institutional practices may also limit access. Finally, circumstances in people's daily lives -- such as transportation, work schedules, childcare, language, housing instability, or concerns about trust and privacy -- can affect whether participation is realistic.

These barriers often overlap, so improving access usually requires looking at both the service itself and the broader conditions affecting the people who might use it.

Funding-related barriers to access

Adequate funding can affect both the availability of services and whether existing services have enough capacity to meet community needs.

Availability of services

Once a community priority or service gap has been identified, an important question is whether appropriate programs and resources exist to address it.

If they do not, possible reasons may include:

• Limited local resources. A community, county, state, organization, or other potential provider may not currently have the financial resources to establish or expand the service.
• Limited awareness of the need or priority. Decision-makers may not have accurate information about gaps in education, health care, transportation, housing, prevention, or other community services.
• Uncertainty about how to respond. Community challenges such as violence prevention, environmental contamination, housing instability, or gaps in health care may involve several causes and systems. Organizations may recognize the concern but need assistance identifying realistic strategies.
• Competing priorities or unequal influence. Governments, organizations, or funders may direct resources elsewhere, and communities with less political, economic, or institutional influence may have greater difficulty securing investment even when needs are well documented.

Decisions about funding are shaped by priorities, evidence, public attitudes, political processes, and available resources. Bias and discrimination can also affect which communities or issues receive attention. Community members who are directly affected should have meaningful opportunities to describe their experiences and participate in decisions about priorities and resources.

Whatever the reason for a service gap, understanding the cause can help communities determine whether the response should focus on funding, policy, public awareness, partnerships, service design, or several strategies at once.

Adequacy of available services

A service may technically exist but still lack enough capacity to serve the people who want or need it. Programs need sufficient staff, space, technology, equipment, supplies, accessibility supports, and other resources to provide timely and effective services.

Long waiting lists, limited hours, staff shortages, complicated intake procedures, or insufficient accessible options can all reduce meaningful access.

For example, an English-language learning program may have strong instruction but far more interested learners than available classroom space. Expanding access might involve additional instructors and classes, community-based or online options, conversation groups, partnerships with other organizations, or other approaches developed with learners themselves.

Physical, digital, and communication barriers to access

People with disabilities may encounter barriers in buildings, transportation, communication, technology, policies, or program design. Accessibility involves much more than providing a ramp.

Depending on the service and participants, access may include:

• Accessible entrances, routes, restrooms, seating, and emergency procedures
• Accessible parking and transportation
• Sign language interpretation and other effective communication supports
• Captioning and assistive listening systems
• Accessible electronic documents and websites
• Materials in large print, Braille, audio, plain language, or other appropriate formats
• Reasonable modifications or accommodations
• Accessible registration, scheduling, and communication systems

Accessibility should be considered during planning rather than addressed only after someone encounters a barrier. Organizations should also understand the disability-access requirements that apply to their programs and facilities.

Cost and limited resources can make accessibility improvements challenging, particularly for small community organizations. Even so, accessibility should be treated as an essential part of service delivery rather than an optional addition.

Programmatic barriers to access

Even when services exist and are physically accessible, aspects of the program itself may limit participation.

Limited outreach capacity

Programs may not have enough staff time, funding, relationships, or communication resources to make community members aware of available services. Outreach may also be overlooked during program planning.

Ineffective outreach

Outreach may be extensive but still fail to connect with the people the program hopes to engage. Information may be shared through communication channels people do not use, may not be available in relevant languages or accessible formats, or may not clearly explain what the service provides.

Strong outreach starts by asking community members how they prefer to receive information and which messengers, organizations, and communication channels they trust.

Limited trust or concerns about the program

People may hesitate to use a program because of previous experiences with the organization or similar institutions. Concerns may involve disrespectful treatment, discrimination, confidentiality, immigration or legal concerns, poor-quality services, cultural mismatch, inaccessible practices, or other experiences.

Rather than assuming that community perceptions are simply incorrect, organizations should listen carefully, determine whether changes are needed, and demonstrate accountability through their actions.

Affordability, eligibility, and administrative requirements

Fees can make services inaccessible to people who cannot afford them. Transportation, childcare, unpaid time away from work, technology, and other indirect costs can also affect affordability.

Eligibility rules can create additional barriers. A funding source may limit services according to income, insurance status, age, geography, or another requirement. Programs should explain eligibility clearly, avoid unnecessary documentation requirements, and help people connect with other resources when they do not qualify.

Program quality

A program that exists but does not provide useful, respectful, safe, or effective services does not offer meaningful access.

Areas to examine include:

• Staff preparation and support. Staff need the knowledge, skills, supervision, compensation, and professional development necessary for their roles.
• The effectiveness and relevance of programming. Organizations should examine what services are offered, when and where they are provided, whether they are accessible, whether they reflect current evidence when appropriate, and whether participants find them useful.
• Organizational culture and philosophy. Participants should be treated as partners with knowledge, strengths, goals, and agency. Organizations should avoid paternalistic approaches in which professionals are assumed to know what is best without meaningful participant input.
• Participant voice. People who use the program should have opportunities to provide feedback and influence how services are designed, delivered, and improved.

Individual and household circumstances that can affect access

People's daily circumstances can affect whether they are able to use services even when those services are otherwise available. These circumstances should not automatically be treated as personal shortcomings. Many are influenced by broader economic, social, organizational, or infrastructure conditions.

Transportation

Long travel distances, limited public transportation, transportation costs, inaccessible transportation, unreliable vehicles, or unsafe travel routes may all make services difficult to reach.

Program location

A location may be physically difficult to reach or may not feel welcoming, safe, familiar, or private to participants. Schools, government offices, health facilities, or other institutions may also carry different meanings for people depending on their previous experiences.

Ask participants which locations are convenient and comfortable rather than assuming that one site will work for everyone.

Program schedule

Work schedules, caregiving, school, transportation, religious observance, health needs, and other responsibilities can affect when people are available. Offering evening, weekend, flexible, virtual, or multiple scheduling options may improve access.

Childcare and caregiving

Parents and other caregivers may be unable to participate without reliable and affordable care for children, older adults, or family members with disabilities. Programs should consider whether on-site care, childcare assistance, family-friendly participation, scheduling changes, or partnerships with care providers could reduce these barriers.

The service may not reflect people's priorities

People may decide not to use a service because they do not consider it relevant or useful to their current goals. That does not necessarily mean they misunderstand the problem.

Programs should listen carefully to community members and ask whether the service addresses something people actually want support with. Sometimes additional information may help people make an informed decision. In other cases, the service itself may need to change.

For example, workers may decide that an education program is not currently useful to them because they are satisfied with their jobs and have other priorities. Rather than assuming that they are making the wrong choice, a program can clearly explain the opportunities the credential may provide while respecting workers' decisions about whether and when to participate.

Stigma, privacy, and trust

Some services carry stigma, or people may worry that seeking support will expose private information or lead others to judge them. Concerns may arise around public assistance, food assistance, literacy, mental health, substance use, sexual health, disability, housing, or other services.

Organizations can respond by protecting confidentiality, using respectful and non-stigmatizing language, clearly explaining privacy practices, treating participants with dignity, and involving people with lived experience in program design.

Cultural and language considerations

Language, cultural practices, religion, family expectations, previous experiences with institutions, and community norms may all influence how people experience a service. These considerations vary widely within every community and should not be reduced to assumptions about an entire culture.

Potential barriers may include:

• Information, registration, or services that are not available in languages participants understand
• Health, religious, family, or cultural considerations that affect how an individual views a particular service
• Program practices that conflict with a participant's responsibilities, values, privacy needs, or family circumstances
• Previous experiences that make people more comfortable seeking support through family, community networks, faith communities, or other trusted sources

Cultural humility means asking, listening, and adapting where appropriate rather than assuming that staff already understand another person's needs or beliefs.

How do we remove barriers and increase access to health and community services?

Improving access requires identifying which barriers are actually affecting participation and deciding which changes are within the program's or community's ability to make.

Some barriers require additional funding. Others may be reduced through changes in program design, partnerships, accessibility, outreach, scheduling, transportation, communication, or organizational practices.

Advocacy for recognition and funding

When expanded public funding or policy change is needed, organizations and community members may engage in advocacy to share information about the issue, explain the need for services, and participate in public decision-making.

Legislative advocacy

Depending on the issue, advocacy may include:

• Organize. Build a coalition or network of people and organizations that care about the issue and can coordinate their efforts.
• Develop relationships with policymakers and staff. Learn who works on the issue and how to communicate relevant community information to them.
• Understand the legislative and budget process. Learn when and where relevant proposals are considered and how members of the public can participate.
• Include people directly affected by the issue. Community members who choose to participate should have opportunities to speak for themselves and help shape the advocacy strategy rather than being used simply to illustrate someone else's message.
• Identify policymakers who are willing to engage with the issue.
• Provide clear information. Share relevant data, community experiences, program results, and information about service gaps or barriers.
• Inform and engage the broader community. Public meetings, media, community organizations, digital communication, and other channels can help people understand the issue and decide whether they want to participate.
• Contribute specific recommendations. When appropriate, organizations may provide policymakers with suggested policy or budget language based on their expertise and community input.
• Make participation accessible. Provide community members with clear information about public hearings, comment opportunities, meetings, or other appropriate ways to communicate with elected officials.

Local government advocacy

Local advocacy follows many of the same principles. Learn which elected officials, departments, boards, commissions, administrators, and staff have responsibility for the issue.

• Build a broad and well-organized group around the issue
• Understand which local officials and agencies have relevant responsibilities or authority
• Establish relationships with elected officials, appointed officials, and staff
• Share evidence and community perspectives about the need
• Provide accessible information to community members
• Use appropriate public processes to place issues before local decision-makers
• Encourage residents to participate in public decision-making through appropriate channels

Community advocacy

Community advocacy can help people understand an issue, identify possible solutions, and decide whether and how they want to participate.

• Share information. Use community meetings, organizations, newsletters, media, social media, websites, presentations, and other appropriate communication channels.
• Build relationships with trusted community partners, including resident leaders, faith and cultural organizations, businesses, service providers, and other networks relevant to the issue.
• Create meaningful ways to participate. Community members might join a coalition, provide testimony or feedback, help collect information, participate in planning, volunteer, or take other roles that fit their interests and capacity.

How do we find private funding sources?

Private funding can supplement or, in some cases, provide an alternative to public funding. Potential sources include foundations, community foundations, corporate philanthropy, individual donors, community fundraising, membership, fees for appropriate services, and partnerships with other organizations.

Foundations

Private, family, corporate, and community foundations fund many types of community initiatives. Finding an appropriate funder requires understanding both the community priority you hope to address and the funder's goals and requirements.

• Research potential funders. Foundation directories, philanthropy networks, community foundations, funder websites, and nonprofit resource centers can help organizations identify opportunities.
• Build appropriate relationships with funders. When funders invite communication, conversations with program officers can help organizations understand funding priorities, eligibility, and proposal requirements.
• Share information about the community priority and proposed response.
• Write a proposal that follows the funder's guidelines and clearly explains the need, community involvement, proposed activities, expected outcomes, budget, and evaluation plan.

Community foundations can be especially useful partners because they focus on particular geographic communities and may have strong knowledge of local organizations and priorities.

Community fundraising

Community organizations use many different fundraising approaches:

• Individual giving. Organizations may invite donations in person, by mail, through digital campaigns, recurring-giving programs, or other methods.
• Membership. Some organizations invite supporters to become members through annual contributions at one or more giving levels.
• Community events. Concerts, festivals, walks, community dinners, cultural events, and other activities can raise funds while also strengthening community relationships.
• Services, training, or products. When consistent with an organization's mission and legal requirements, earned revenue from consulting, training, educational materials, or other services may support programs.
• In-kind contributions. Businesses, organizations, and individuals may contribute space, equipment, supplies, professional services, technology, transportation, or other resources.

Fundraising strategies should reflect the organization's mission, capacity, legal responsibilities, and relationship with the community. Organizations should not assume that volunteers, participants, or community partners can continually provide unpaid labor or resources that should reasonably be included in a program budget.

How do we improve physical and communication access?

Improving accessibility may require financial investment, but it should also be part of routine organizational planning.

• Work with property owners and qualified professionals. When a rented facility creates accessibility barriers, discuss necessary improvements with the property owner and determine what changes are required and feasible.
• Plan accessibility improvements carefully. Structural changes should meet applicable building, safety, and accessibility requirements. Volunteer or donated labor may be helpful when appropriate, but accessibility work should not bypass professional expertise, permits, or safety standards.
• Provide appropriate accommodations and alternative service options. Depending on the circumstances, this may include relocating a meeting, providing remote participation, offering qualified sign language interpretation, captioning materials, providing accessible documents, or making other modifications that provide equitable access.
• Address digital access. Websites, forms, documents, videos, virtual meetings, and other digital tools should be usable with assistive technologies and designed with accessibility in mind.

Alternative service arrangements can be helpful when immediate barriers cannot be removed, but they should not become a permanent substitute for making regular services and facilities accessible whenever accessibility can reasonably be achieved.

How do we make sure our program is effective and accessible?

Funding alone does not guarantee meaningful access. Programs also need adequate capacity, effective outreach, community trust, strong service quality, accessibility, and ongoing participant feedback.

Increasing program capacity

Capacity may involve sufficient space, staffing, funding, technology, materials, language services, accessibility supports, and partnerships.

Space

Possible approaches include:

• Seeking donated or subsidized space from community organizations, institutions, businesses, or other partners
• Negotiating reduced rent or other shared-cost arrangements when appropriate
• Sharing space with another organization
• Offering services in multiple neighborhood locations or through mobile, virtual, or hybrid approaches when these improve access

Staff

Strategies for strengthening staffing may include:

• Sharing staff or specialized expertise with another organization
• Developing a volunteer program when the responsibilities are appropriate for volunteers and adequate training, supervision, and support can be provided
• Developing joint funding proposals with partner organizations
• Partnering with another organization to provide complementary services
• Investing in professional development. Staff may benefit from training, education, mentoring, credentialing, or other opportunities to strengthen skills needed for their roles.

Community-based organizations sometimes grow from volunteer or grassroots efforts into larger programs with new professional or credentialing requirements. When this happens, organizations should plan for the transition thoughtfully. Long-time staff and community members may bring valuable relationships, lived experience, and institutional knowledge, while some positions may also require specific professional qualifications. Training, career pathways, role redesign, and transparent communication can help organizations balance these needs.

Materials and equipment

Equipment, supplies, technology, and other resources may be purchased, shared with partner organizations, donated, leased, or included in grants. Plan for maintenance, replacement, accessibility, security, and staff training as part of the cost.

Developing effective outreach

People cannot use services they do not know about. Outreach should make information easy to find, understandable, accessible, relevant, and available through communication channels community members actually use.

Develop your outreach capacity

• If possible, designate staff members, community health workers, peer navigators, volunteers, or others with responsibility for outreach and relationship building
• Use communication channels appropriate to the community, including community media, social media, newsletters, websites, text messaging, local events, and other relevant options
• Work with organizations and networks that already have trusted community relationships
• Invite current and former participants who choose to do so to share information about the program, without pressuring them to disclose personal experiences
• Build relationships with resident leaders and other trusted community partners
• Use multiple approaches and adjust them based on community feedback

Watch for ineffective outreach

If outreach is not connecting people with services, examine both the communication strategy and the service itself.

• Provide information in relevant languages and accessible formats, using qualified interpretation and translation when appropriate
• Use plain, direct language that clearly explains what the program offers, who can participate, what it costs, and how to get started
• Share information in places and networks community members already use
• Use communication channels identified by community members as useful and trustworthy
• Partner with residents and community organizations that understand local communication networks
• Ask participants how they learned about the program and use that information to evaluate outreach strategies

Concerns about or lack of trust in the program

If community members have concerns about your organization or service, begin by listening.

• Ask what experiences or concerns are shaping people's views, take those concerns seriously, and make changes when needed
• If important information about the program is unclear or inaccurate, provide transparent information about what the program actually does rather than dismissing concerns as simply a misunderstanding
• If concerns reflect real problems, acknowledge them, explain how the organization will respond, involve affected community members in improvement efforts, and follow through
• Maintain ongoing communication rather than reaching out only when the organization needs participation or support

Affordability and eligibility

Organizations can explore sliding-scale fees, scholarships, subsidies, third-party reimbursement, grants, or other funding approaches to reduce direct costs to participants.

Eligibility rules should be explained clearly and applied consistently. When different funding sources allow different eligibility criteria, organizations may sometimes combine funding streams to expand access, provided that they follow all financial, grant, and reporting requirements.

Organizations should also consider whether accepting a particular funding source would create restrictions that conflict with the organization's mission, community commitments, or ability to provide equitable access.

Program quality

Program quality is central to access. A program may be available, affordable, and easy to reach but still fail participants if services are ineffective, disrespectful, unsafe, or poorly matched to people's goals.

Conduct an evaluation of your services

Evaluation can include outcome data, participant feedback, staff reflection, service-use information, accessibility reviews, and community feedback.

Ask:

• Are participants receiving useful and respectful services?
• Are participant-defined goals being supported?
• Do participants feel safe, heard, and included?
• Who is using the service, and who may still face barriers?
• Are staff adequately trained and supported?
• Are there patterns in who leaves the program or is unable to participate?

If evaluation identifies concerns, address them

Evaluation is useful only if organizations are willing to learn from what they find. When concerns are identified, develop a plan, assign responsibility, make changes, and continue gathering feedback.

• Review relevant research and evidence. Research can help identify approaches that have been effective in comparable situations, while community context and participant experience help determine whether those approaches fit locally.
• Learn from other programs. Examine how similar organizations design services, involve participants, support staff, address accessibility, and evaluate outcomes.
• Ask current and former participants and staff what would improve the program. Include their feedback in redesign and decision-making.
• Implement changes and continue evaluating. Give new approaches enough time to be assessed while remaining willing to adjust them when evidence or participant feedback indicates that changes are needed.

Program improvement may also require examining underlying assumptions. If participants are treated only as recipients of services rather than people with expertise and agency, changing forms or procedures alone may not be enough. Organizations may need to shift toward greater partnership, shared decision-making, and respect for participant-defined goals.

How do we reduce barriers to participation?

People may be balancing employment, caregiving, housing costs, health needs, transportation, education, and many other responsibilities. Programs can increase participation by understanding those circumstances and reducing unnecessary barriers rather than expecting participants to adapt entirely to the program.

Transportation

Transportation solutions will vary by community.

• Provide or coordinate transportation. Some programs operate vans or shuttles when resources, licensing, insurance, accessibility, and staffing allow.
• Support ride-sharing or mileage reimbursement. Organizations may help participants coordinate rides or reimburse transportation costs according to current organizational policies and applicable requirements.
• Provide public transportation support. Bus passes, transit cards, or transportation vouchers may reduce participation costs.
• Consider safety as well as availability. Ask participants what transportation arrangements would help them feel comfortable traveling to and from services.
• Partner with other transportation providers or organizations.
• Bring services closer to participants. Satellite sites, mobile services, home-based services, and accessible virtual options may reduce transportation barriers.

Program location

Choose locations based on accessibility, transportation, privacy, safety, familiarity, and participant preferences.

Avoid assumptions that particular neighborhoods or institutions will automatically feel unsafe or intimidating to everyone. Ask community members directly how they experience different locations and why.

Some organizations successfully bring services into trusted community settings such as libraries, schools, community centers, faith communities, neighborhood organizations, housing sites, or participants' homes when appropriate.

Example: Community-based conversations

A substance use prevention program seeking stronger relationships with Spanish-speaking residents might partner with trusted community members to hold small conversations in homes, community centers, faith communities, or other familiar settings.

Rather than arriving only to deliver information, outreach workers could listen to community concerns, answer questions, provide information in Spanish, and learn what additional resources participants would find useful. Community partners could help shape both the content and format of future sessions.

The strength of this approach is not that a particular culture prefers home meetings; it is that services are designed through trusted relationships and offered in settings community members identify as comfortable and accessible.

Program schedule

Schedule services around participants' availability whenever possible. Employment, school, transportation, caregiving, health, religious observance, and family routines may all affect attendance.

Rather than assuming that particular groups -- such as mothers, women from a particular culture, or shift workers -- are available at specific times, ask participants which schedules would work best.

Options might include morning, evening, weekend, rotating, drop-in, virtual, or hybrid schedules.

Childcare

Childcare can be a significant participation barrier. Programs may be able to:

• Partner with licensed or qualified childcare providers
• Help participants identify trusted childcare resources or community networks when appropriate
• Provide on-site childcare that meets applicable safety, staffing, licensing, accessibility, and facility requirements
• Provide childcare subsidies or reimbursements when funding permits
• Design family-friendly activities in which children can participate when appropriate

Ask parents and caregivers which arrangements would actually help rather than assuming that one childcare option will work for everyone.

The service does not align with community priorities or perceived needs

If people do not see a reason to participate, start by asking why.

• Listen to community members. They may identify priorities that differ from those assumed by program staff or funders.
• Work with trusted community partners. Community organizations and residents can help explain available services and can also tell the organization when its message or service does not fit community needs.
• Provide clear information. Give people enough information about possible benefits, limitations, costs, risks, and alternatives to make their own decisions.
• Be willing to change the service. Low participation may sometimes indicate that the service, rather than the community, needs to change.

Stigma, trust, and concerns about using the service

Some people may have concerns about how they will be treated, whether their information will remain private, whether the service will respect their identity and circumstances, or what participation may communicate to others.

Listen to those concerns without describing participants as resistant, hostile, embarrassed, or unwilling. Build trust by providing respectful service, protecting privacy, following through on commitments, and making changes when community feedback identifies problems.

Trust generally develops through repeated experience rather than a single outreach campaign. Organizations should maintain relationships with communities even when they are not actively recruiting participants.

Cultural and language considerations

Cultural responsiveness begins with humility and relationship-building rather than assumptions about what a particular group believes or needs.

• Recruit and support staff with relevant community relationships, language skills, and lived experience. Do not assume that one staff member represents everyone who shares a particular identity.
• Provide ongoing learning opportunities for staff. Cultural humility, anti-bias practices, disability inclusion, language access, and community history may all be relevant.
• Provide language access. Use qualified interpreters, translated materials, bilingual staff, accessible communication, and other appropriate approaches.
• Question your assumptions. Ask community members what works for them and remain willing to change organizational practices that create unnecessary barriers.

In Summary

Meaningful access to health and community services depends on more than whether a program exists. Funding, capacity, physical and digital accessibility, affordability, eligibility rules, transportation, childcare, language, scheduling, service quality, trust, and other conditions can all influence whether people are able and willing to participate.

Improving access therefore requires looking at both community circumstances and the design of services themselves. Organizations can advocate for resources, build partnerships, strengthen accessibility, improve outreach, reduce practical barriers, evaluate program quality, and involve participants in decisions about how services are designed and improved.

Most importantly, avoid assuming that low participation means something is wrong with the people the program hopes to serve. Ask what barriers exist, listen to community members, recognize their strengths and priorities, and be willing to change the program when necessary. Access improves when services are not only available, but also affordable, accessible, effective, respectful, trustworthy, and responsive to the communities they are intended to support.

___You can identify barriers to access to health and community services

___You are able to reduce the barriers and increase access to health and community services

___You can advocate for recognition and funding

___You can make sure your program does the job

___You are able to increase program capacity and develop effective outreach

___You can properly deal with negative perceptions of the program

___You know how to ensure your program is affordable

___You have ideas on how to increase program quality

___You can creatively deal with transportation, scheduling, and childcare problems

___You are able to get the target population to view the issue as a problem

Example 1: The Brandywine Center: In Pennsylvania, Wealthy County’s Poorer Residents Get A Healthy Place To Live

Although Chester County, Pennsylvania, has been considered one of the richest counties in the country, seven percent of its half-million residents live in poverty. Coatesville, a city of 13,000 people, is one such low-income pocket. To combat this problem, the Brandywine Health Foundation (BHF) constructed the Brandywine Center, a community hub. The four-story building houses health and dental services on the first floor, behavioral care on the fourth, and 24 units of affordable senior housing on the two middle floors. The BHF is committed to working toward both improved neighborhood conditions and improved health in this low-income community.

Contributed by Lia Thompson, University of Kansas, Community Tool Box Intern.

 

Example 2: Community Health And Literacy Center: A Health, Literacy & Recreation Hub

The Community Health and Literacy Center, formed out of a collaboration between the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the City as unexpected partners, worked together to bring a neglected neighborhood both improved access to health care and health, promoting recreation and literacy opportunities.

The center, which opened in the spring of 2016, is a first-of-its-kind hospital-city partnership. The project includes a CHOP pediatric clinic; a full-service community health center run by the city’s department of public health; a branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia; and a modern recreation center with a playground and green space, run by the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation. It offers welcoming outdoor space for the neighborhood and an indoor community meeting space. The location has excellent public transit access, with a subway stop on site. CHOP and the city are working to integrate services and programming as a way to have more of an impact on improving population health.

Contributed by Lia Thompson, University of Kansas, Community Tool Box Intern.

 

Example 3: Vita Health & Wellness District: Health at the Center of a Neighborhood Transformation

The Vita Health & Wellness District project was established through a partnership between the Stamford housing authority and Stamford hospital to revitalize an impoverished inner city area, in Stamford Connecticut, into a mixed-income community with expanded neighborhood services centered around a sustainable urban farm. Addressing the social determinants of health provide a framework for managing the neighborhood transformation in ways that would support and strengthen the existing community.

The Vita project is a great example of how a hospital can fulfill the Affordable Care Act’s mandate to engage its community by partnering to address the social determinants of health. The project also demonstrates how a forward-thinking community development organization can effectively partner with the health sector to pursue comprehensive community revitalization that could not have been achieved otherwise. These are still early days in what promises to be a fruitful and long-lasting partnership.

Read more about the Vita Health & Wellness District project on the Building Healthy Places Network blog.

Contributed by Lia Thompson, University of Kansas, Community Tool Box Intern.

 

Example 4: Rolling Hills Apartments: Weaving Together Opportunities for Healthier Lives for a Diverse Immigrant Community

Twin Cities LISC, a local community development financial institution, has partnered with local organizations and city agencies to create quality affordable housing with improved healthcare access, including constructing a Federally Qualified Health Center. LISC also employed community health advocates to weave together the isolated health-related efforts in the neighborhood of focus into a cohesive health agenda. More specifically, they connect and help support existing efforts, identify and help address gaps, and facilitate the conversations and activities that sustain collaboration.

Learn how social determinants of health are being addressed to build healthier lives for immigrants in St. Paul, Minnesota in this Community Close-Up from the Building Healthy Places Network.

Contributed by Lia Thompson, University of Kansas, Community Tool Box Intern.

 

Example 5: Community Development 2.0—Collective Impact Focuses a Neighborhood Strategy for Health

The East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) has built health into its strategic plan, and in the neighborhood revitalization work of The San Pablo Collaborative (SPARC), convened by EBALDC, health is the first priority. The San Pablo Area Revitalization Corridor neighborhood that stretches between downtown Oakland and Emeryville is considered to be one of the poorest and most disadvantaged areas of Oakland, California. Life expectancy in this area is up to 20 years lower than the neighboring area, Oakland Hills. SPARC works tirelessly to address the physical, social and economic factors-“social determinants”- that shape residents’ health in the San Pablo Avenue Corridor. SPARC partners work collectively in order to create an overall healthier environment for residents throughout the neighborhood. The California Hotel has been successfully preserved as affordable housing and a grocery store has been brought to this long abandoned neighborhood.

Learn how social determinants of health are being addressed to build healthier lives for the most disadvantaged areas of Oakland, California in this Community Close-Up from the Building Healthy Places Network.

Contributed by Lia Thompson, University of Kansas, Community Tool Box Intern.

 

Example 6: Revitalizing People and Place with a Healthy Food Hub Origin

Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, the founders of what became Broad Community Connections (BCC) began to attend community meetings, and investigate with their fellow community members how to rebuild a city in disarray. These discussions highlighted many of the problems that many central New Orleans resident had faced even before the storm, including but not limited to economic disadvantage, community disinvestment, health disparities, and lack of access to many needed goods and services. BCC was designed to revitalize Broad Street, a commercial thoroughfare running through the heart of the city and to connect several of the central city neighborhoods.

Founded in 2008, BCC set its sights on improving health and improving economic vitality in the area. Ultimately, the ReFresh project provided a high-quality grocery store to a low-income food desert and created a multi-faceted hub to improve healthy food access and local food systems, foster community connectivity, support youth development, and anchor economic development.

Read more about the ReFresh project in New Orleans on the Building Healthy Places Network blog.

Contributed by Lia Thompson, University of Kansas, Community Tool Box Intern.

 

Example 7: Under One Roof: Health Care and Social Services in the Same Place

The Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC) is the largest community development corporation based in Arizona. CPLC is committed to building stronger, healthier communities as a lead advocate, coalition builder, and direct service provider. CPLC helps more than 200,000 people through programs in four areas–housing, economic development, education, and health and human services. CPLC recognizes that the needs of the families it serves are complex as a family rarely approaches the CDC with only one need. As a result, CPLC sought to establish cross-sector partnerships that would more effectively and holistically meet the needs of families.

Read more about CPLC on Rooflines - The Shelterforce Blog, from the National Housing Institute.

Contributed by Lia Thompson, University of Kansas, Community Tool Box Intern.

 

Example 8: Supporting Childhood Wellness Through Healthy, Affordable Housing

In a low-income Philadelphia community, for-profit and non-profit developers have partnered to create Paseo Verde, a high-quality housing development highlighting resident and community health. The development prides itself on making healthy housing accessible even for families in poverty. This one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartment complex, Paseo Verde, supports children’s health through its environmentally sustainable design, on-site health center and pharmacy, resident service programs, and social service programs.

Read more in the profile from How Housing Matters.

Contributed by Lia Thompson, University of Kansas, Community Tool Box Intern.

 

Example 9: Housing and Soccer: A winning Team in East New York

Soccer is more than a game for many residents in a low-income Brooklyn neighborhood, as it has the potential to provide residents with an opportunity to a better life. HELP USA is an organization that provides shelter, housing and jobs to homeless and at risk people across five states. In addition, HELP USA through a partnership is able to provide medical and dental services and an after-school program. In recent years, HELP USA has incorporated soccer into its-after school program through its affiliate, Street Soccer USA (SSUSA). SSUSA and HELP USA’S goals align perfectly, as both organizations seek to improve health, education, and employment outcomes for the disadvantaged by using sports to teach life skills like punctuality and dependability.

Read more about HELP USA on How Housing Matters.

Contributed by Lia Thompson, University of Kansas, Community Tool Box Intern.

 

Example 10: The Hunger Hack

After a storm led to the cancellation of a church event in the Washington, D.C., suburbs last year, Tierney Screen found herself in a room filled with 3,600 unclaimed paper lunch bags, each containing a sandwich, fruit, chips, and cookies. Unable to distribute them by herself and the thought of having to toss them in the garbage pained her. A few months earlier she met a student who spoke about a website she and some other students created in which restaurants and community establishments could donate excess food to organizations that feed the hungry. Screen decided to call the student, Maria Rose Belding, who explained how to post the lunches on the site and within four hours, a nearby food pantry claimed them. The bags would be handed out to homeless people in Washington D.C.

Read more about The Hunger Hack.

Contributed by Lia Thompson, University of Kansas, Community Tool Box Intern.

 

Example 11: Creating Healthy Neighborhoods through Member Involvement

In New York City, there are an estimated 3 million people who live in a food desert, “an area with limited access to affordable and nutritious foods, particularly in a low-income area” (USDA). The majority of those directly affected are people of color.

In 2013 South Bronx, New York held a “day-long community conversation at the Food, Faith, and Health Disparities Summit to decide which actions could make their neighborhoods healthier.” There were 150 community members in attendance who were elderly, people of color, and those living in poor communities. All of these individuals are people who are directly affected by the lack of nutritious food sources in their community. 

The summit was planned by New York Faith & Justice, Faith leaders for Environmental Justice, and Riverside Church; all of them concerned about food and health disparities in NYC. They went into it without solutions ready to implement, but instead listened to the community members with open ears and collectively came up with a plan on how to make improvements.

Community members are being asked to vote for those who support “creating food policy that includes everyone.” These organizations are giving community members a chance to change their own neighborhoods, and empowering them to take a stand for the health of their friends and family.

A PowerPoint presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

Apprenticeship has long been one way people learn from others who have experience in a particular skill or trade. A new apprentice might begin with basic tasks and gradually develop greater knowledge and responsibility by working alongside more experienced people. As their own skills grow, they may begin helping newer apprentices learn as well.

Peer education works on a similar principle. The word "peer" refers to someone who shares meaningful experiences, circumstances, identities, roles, or connections with others. A peer education program involves people learning with and from others who share some of those experiences or perspectives.

Peer education can address many areas, including health, education, community development, navigating services, employment, and advocacy. Peer educators may be volunteers or paid staff, depending on the program. What makes the relationship peer-based is not whether someone is paid, but the value placed on shared experience, mutual respect, and learning from one another.

Peer education can help spread useful information and skills throughout a community while also strengthening relationships and leadership. Participants may become peer educators themselves, and educator and learner roles may change over time as people share different forms of knowledge and experience.

In some ways, peer education can be similar to mentoring, support groups, or skill-sharing programs. Peer education, however, has an intentional learning or information-sharing purpose and emphasizes reciprocity rather than assuming that knowledge flows only from one person to another.

"Peer education" is used here to describe a broad range of activities, from formal peer tutoring to community outreach, navigation, workshops, and informal education. Not every approach described in this section will apply to every program. Adapt the ideas to the goals, community context, and preferences of the people involved.

What is peer education?

Peer education is a learning relationship among people who share experiences, identities, circumstances, or community connections that are relevant to the topic. Peers might share age, neighborhood, language, culture, profession, disability experience, caregiving responsibilities, recovery experience, or another meaningful connection.

The goal is not to assume that people with one characteristic are all alike. Rather, shared experience can help create trust, understanding, and opportunities for people to learn from someone who understands aspects of their circumstances firsthand.

Peer education works best when the relationship is grounded in mutual respect. Peer educators may have specific training or knowledge, but participants also bring valuable expertise from their own lives. Information, experiences, questions, and strategies can move in both directions.

Peer learning can be especially powerful when participants have opportunities both to learn and to teach. Explaining information to someone else can deepen understanding, while hearing different experiences can expand everyone's knowledge.

In a strong peer education program, the educator often acts as a facilitator, resource, and partner rather than as the person who has every answer. When a peer educator does not know something, they can help identify reliable information, connect participants with appropriate resources, or learn alongside them.

Peer education does not have to be one-on-one. It may involve groups, teams, workshops, outreach, online communities, or reciprocal learning arrangements. Roles may change depending on the topic. Someone who is learning in one area may have knowledge or experience to share in another.

Shared experience alone does not automatically make someone an effective educator. Peer educators need preparation, clear roles, ongoing support, appropriate supervision, and access to reliable information. Programs should also establish boundaries for situations that require professional expertise or referral.

Different types of peer education programs

Peer education programs can take different forms depending on community priorities, participant preferences, available resources, and the type of knowledge or skills being shared.

A tutoring program for high school students, for example, may work well in a school or library. Adults who had difficult experiences with formal education may prefer a community setting or online option. Parent-to-parent programs may need to consider childcare, transportation, scheduling, and family responsibilities. Programs involving older adults or people with disabilities should consider accessibility from the beginning.

Some common forms of peer education include:

Formal education programs

In formal peer education programs, trained community members help others develop particular skills or knowledge. Examples may include adult literacy, English-language learning, digital skills, academic tutoring, financial education, health education, or employment preparation.

Programs may be one-on-one or group-based and may take place in libraries, schools, community centers, workplaces, homes, or virtual settings. Participants should have options that support privacy, accessibility, and comfort.

Programs should pay attention to differences in education, income, professional status, language, or other forms of power that may exist even when people consider one another peers. Training can help educators avoid paternalistic approaches and maintain relationships based on respect and partnership.

Outreach programs

In outreach-based peer education, educators connect with people in settings and networks they already use rather than expecting everyone to come to a formal program.

This approach can be especially useful with young people, people experiencing homelessness, people who use drugs, immigrant and refugee communities, and others who may face barriers to traditional service settings or have limited trust in institutions.

For example, a youth sexual health program might train young people to share accurate information about healthy relationships, consent, sexually transmitted infection prevention, HIV prevention, contraception, and available confidential health services. Peer educators might provide information at schools, youth centers, community events, or through appropriate digital channels.

Outreach should involve more than delivering information. Peer educators can also listen to community concerns, identify barriers to services, connect people with resources, and bring community feedback back to the organizations responsible for programs and policies.

Workshops

Peer educators may lead or co-facilitate workshops on topics relevant to their communities. Workshops may be one-time sessions or part of an ongoing series.

Topics might include health, navigating community resources, financial skills, employment, violence prevention, parenting, civic participation, disability resources, or other areas identified by participants.

For example, participants in an adult education program might receive training as peer health educators and later help facilitate workshops on preventive health, nutrition, navigating health care, chronic disease prevention, or other priorities identified by the group. Participants can help determine which topics are useful rather than having the curriculum selected entirely for them.

On-demand or by-request peer education

Some programs make trained peer educators available when community members want information or assistance.

Examples might include:

• Academic support, adult literacy, English-language learning, or homework assistance
• Information that helps people understand their options and make informed decisions about health, housing, education, employment, or other areas
• Help navigating systems such as housing, public benefits, unemployment services, health care, disability services, or Social Security

For example, people with firsthand experience navigating public assistance systems might receive training in program requirements, participant rights, and available resources and then serve as peer navigators for others.

A strong peer navigation model does not simply do everything for the participant. Instead, peer educators can explain options, help people understand procedures, support them as they make decisions, and build their confidence in navigating systems themselves when that is their goal.

Situation-specific peer education

Situation-specific peer education focuses on a particular skill, challenge, or experience.

For example, experienced workers might help colleagues prepare for a professional certification. Young people and adults might participate together in violence-prevention education. People with lived experience of a health condition might help others understand how to navigate services and community resources.

Peer mediation and conflict-resolution programs are another example. Participants address immediate conflicts while also developing communication and problem-solving skills that can be used in future situations.

Positives and limitations of a peer education program

Advantages of peer education

Peer education can work particularly well in some circumstances. Possible strengths include:

• Community knowledge and relationships. Peer educators may understand local circumstances, systems, language, and community networks in ways that strengthen communication and trust.
• Strong opportunities for connection. Peer educators who are already part of a community may be able to connect people with information and resources through existing relationships.
• Growth for educators and participants. Reciprocal learning can build knowledge, skills, confidence, relationships, and leadership for everyone involved.
• Community leadership development. Peer educators may gain experience in facilitation, communication, advocacy, navigation, and program leadership.
• Greater responsiveness. Peer educators can help organizations understand when programs, messages, or services do not reflect community experiences or priorities.

Peer education may sometimes cost less than other approaches, but low cost should not be its primary purpose. Peer educators contribute real knowledge, labor, and expertise. Programs should budget for compensation, stipends, transportation, childcare, training, or other supports when appropriate rather than assuming peer work should always be unpaid.

Circumstances where peer education programs can be useful

Peer education may be especially useful:

Where formal services are limited or difficult to access

• Where funding or professional services are limited
• Where community members have limited trust in outside institutions or where language and communication barriers exist
• Where community members have specialized knowledge that is not readily available through formal services
• Where geography, transportation, disability access, scheduling, or other barriers make centralized programs difficult to use

Where shared experience strengthens communication or trust

Examples might include:

• Young people who may be more comfortable discussing some issues with other young people
• Communities that have experienced discrimination, exclusion, or harmful interactions with institutions and value information from trusted community members
• People who prefer support from someone with a similar gender identity or lived experience for a particular issue
• Immigrant, refugee, Indigenous, linguistic, or cultural communities where shared language or community knowledge supports communication
• People who share experiences such as disability, chronic illness, military service, caregiving, recovery, displacement, bereavement, or trauma

Shared identity should never be assumed to guarantee trust or compatibility. Individuals within every community have different experiences and preferences.

Where information needs to move quickly through community networks

During a public health emergency or another rapidly changing situation, trained community members can help share accurate information through trusted relationships and in formats that work for the community.

Where the program is designed to build ongoing community capacity

Participants may become peer educators, mentors, facilitators, navigators, or community leaders themselves. This can help knowledge and leadership remain in the community beyond the life of a particular grant or project.

Where peer leadership itself is important

Peer mediation, youth leadership, recovery support, disability peer support, and similar programs demonstrate that people directly affected by an issue can contribute expertise and leadership in addressing it.

Circumstances where peer education programs might not be useful or sufficient

• Where specialized professional expertise is required. Peer educators can complement professional services but should not be expected to provide clinical, legal, educational, or other services beyond their training and role.
• Where an appropriate peer network has not yet been developed. Programs may need time to build community relationships and recruit people who want to take on peer roles.
• Where peer education is being considered mainly as a substitute for adequately funded professional services. Peer programs should add community knowledge and connection, not be used simply as a low-cost replacement for services requiring trained professionals.
• Where another communication method better fits the goal. Digital education, public information campaigns, professional instruction, or other approaches may be more appropriate depending on the topic and audience.

Planning a peer education program

Effective peer education requires thoughtful planning before recruitment and implementation begin.

General rules

Mutual respect and shared learning are at the core of peer education.

Peer educators may have additional training, but programs should recognize that participants also bring knowledge and experience. Educator and participant roles may change over time, and people should have opportunities to contribute in ways that fit their interests and abilities.

Plan the program with the community, not simply for the community.

This means:

• Potential peer educators and participants should have meaningful roles in planning
• The program should build on community strengths and respond to priorities identified through community engagement, assessment, or both
• Planning should consider what has already been tried, what community members found useful or ineffective, and what existing organizations and resources can contribute
• Program design should consider accessibility, language, transportation, childcare, technology, compensation, and other participation needs from the beginning

Initial questions

Before choosing a program model, consider:

What is the purpose of the program?

Are participants developing academic skills? Sharing health information? Learning to navigate services? Supporting community leadership? Building knowledge about violence prevention, housing, employment, or another community priority?

The answer will influence the design:

• Academic learning may work well in one-on-one, small-group, or collaborative learning settings
• Community information may be shared through workshops, outreach, support groups, digital communication, or community events
• Community change efforts may combine peer education with leadership development, outreach, organizing, and opportunities for participants to become educators themselves

Who do you hope will participate?

Be specific about the community or communities involved without reducing people to a label. Participants might include parents and caregivers, young people, people experiencing homelessness, people seeking employment, people with particular health conditions, or community members more broadly.

How will you define "peer" in this program?

Which shared experiences or connections are relevant? A peer educator working with people experiencing homelessness, for example, might have lived experience of homelessness, experience navigating housing systems, strong community relationships, or another connection relevant to the role.

Where and how would participants prefer to connect?

Consider community centers, libraries, schools, workplaces, shelters, health centers, parks, homes, virtual spaces, or other settings identified by participants as accessible and appropriate.

What type of interaction will participants find useful?

Some people may prefer informal conversation, while others may prefer structured classes, workshops, online communication, one-on-one support, or group learning. Ask rather than assume.

Are there successful programs or evidence-informed approaches you can learn from?

Existing programs can offer useful models, but approaches should still be adapted to local circumstances and community input.

Program structure

Whether educators are volunteers, paid staff, or both, the program needs enough structure to operate effectively.

Responsibilities may include:

• Recruiting peer educators and participants
• Developing and continually improving training
• Connecting participants with appropriate peer educators, groups, or resources
• Scheduling
• Providing supervision, coaching, and support
• Responding to concerns, conflicts, or safety issues
• Maintaining appropriate records and protecting privacy
• Program evaluation and ongoing improvement
• Coordinating referrals when participants need professional services beyond the scope of peer education

Programs also need clear communication systems so educators and participants can receive updates, ask questions, address scheduling changes, and obtain support. If the program has formal funders, designated staff should also manage reporting and accountability requirements.

Setting up a peer education program

Recruitment of peer educators and participants

Recruitment should explain clearly what the program offers, what peer educators do, what participants can expect, and how people can become involved.

Useful recruitment methods may include:

Media and digital communication

• Paid advertising when appropriate
• Public Service Announcements and other donated media
• Press releases, community news, newsletters, and local media
• Press conferences, interviews, guest columns, or other media opportunities when appropriate
• Websites, social media, text messaging, messaging apps, email, and other digital communication used by the community

Community outreach using flyers, posters, and other materials

Libraries, grocery stores, laundromats, schools, recreation centers, workplaces, community centers, health facilities, faith communities, housing sites, and other community spaces may all be useful locations depending on whom the program hopes to engage.

Announcements through trusted community networks

Community organizations, resident groups, schools, cultural organizations, faith communities, health providers, social service organizations, and other trusted networks may help share information.

Direct communication

Mail, email, text messaging, phone calls, or other direct communication may be useful when organizations have appropriate permission and follow privacy requirements.

Personal outreach and word of mouth

Recommendations from friends, relatives, peer educators, community members, or organizations people already trust can be especially effective.

Whatever approach you use:

• Use language and formats participants can understand and access, including translated materials when needed
• Explain clearly what the program offers and what participation involves
• Review language and images for unintended stereotypes, stigma, or assumptions
• Share information through places and communication channels participants already use
• Focus recruitment messages on opportunities, goals, useful resources, connection, and participant strengths rather than portraying people as problems to be fixed or using stories of adversity without clear consent

Programs should also decide how peer educators will be selected. Screening should be connected to the actual responsibilities and safety requirements of the role rather than assumptions about a person's background.

Depending on the program, screening may consider communication skills, reliability, understanding of program values, willingness to maintain confidentiality and boundaries, required professional credentials, or safeguarding requirements.

Programs involving children or other settings with specific safety requirements should follow applicable background-check, reporting, licensing, and organizational policies. A person's disability, history of receiving services, recovery status, or other lived experience should not automatically be treated as a reason they cannot serve as a peer educator.

Peer educator orientation and training

Peer educators need preparation and ongoing support whether they are paid or volunteer.

Orientation can help potential educators understand:

• What the program is trying to accomplish and what responsibilities peer educators will have
• The program's values and approach, including mutual respect, participant choice, partnership, accessibility, confidentiality, and appropriate boundaries
• Participant perspectives and priorities. Whenever possible, current or former participants should help shape orientation and training and should be able to speak for themselves about their experiences.

Training should model the same respect and participation expected in the program. Peer educators bring existing knowledge and experience, and training should build on those strengths rather than treating them as blank slates.

Important areas of training may include:

• Facilitation and education methods
• Accurate and current information related to the program's subject
• Program curriculum or educational materials when applicable
• Program values, community context, and the purpose of peer education
• Practical tools, resources, activities, and referral information
• Opportunities to practice and receive constructive feedback
• Opportunities to observe experienced educators or facilitators when appropriate
• Opportunities to learn directly from participants and community members
• Confidentiality and privacy
• Professional and personal boundaries
• Cultural humility and inclusive communication
• Disability accessibility
• Trauma-informed approaches when relevant
• Recognizing misinformation and identifying reliable sources
• Knowing when and how to refer someone to a qualified professional or emergency resource
• Safety, mandatory reporting, or other legal responsibilities when applicable

At the end of training, programs may use individual conversations, practice sessions, certificates, or other methods to review readiness and identify additional support needs.

Peer educator supervision and support

Ongoing supervision, coaching, or consultation helps peer educators strengthen their skills and respond to challenges.

Support should focus on learning and problem solving rather than simply monitoring whether people followed rules. Supervisors can provide constructive feedback, help educators think through difficult situations, reinforce boundaries, connect them with additional resources, and identify when a situation requires professional involvement.

Peer educators may also benefit from regular opportunities to meet with one another. Shared reflection can help educators exchange strategies, identify common challenges, reduce isolation, and recommend improvements to the program.

Continuing education should respond both to program needs and to topics peer educators themselves identify as useful.

Policies for peer educators and participants

Clear policies help peer educators, participants, staff, and volunteers understand expectations and know what to do when concerns arise.

Policies may address:

Peer educator time commitments and compensation

Programs should be clear about expected hours, scheduling, length of commitment, reimbursement, stipends or wages when applicable, and what happens when someone needs to step away from the role.

Peer educator rights and responsibilities

• Procedures for cancelling or rescheduling sessions
• Expectations that participants receive timely communication when plans change
• Procedures for substitute educators when needed
• Expectations related to respectful behavior, confidentiality, boundaries, accessibility, and the partnership between educator and participant

A clear peer educator role description

Peer educators should understand what they are responsible for, what falls outside their role, who can help when questions arise, and what professional or emergency referrals are available.

A process for peer educators to raise concerns

Programs should establish ways for educators to discuss workload, safety, program practices, conflicts, supervision, or other concerns without fear of retaliation.

A process for participants to raise concerns

Participants should know how to provide feedback, raise complaints, request accommodations, report inappropriate behavior, or ask to work with another peer educator.

A process for addressing conflict, harmful behavior, or safety concerns

Policies should apply fairly to peer educators, participants, staff, and volunteers. When young people participate, they should have meaningful input into policies that affect them whenever possible.

Personal safety, privacy, and security

Policies may address meeting locations, transportation, digital communication, emergency procedures, confidentiality, recordkeeping, harassment, service animals, accessibility, and other issues relevant to the program.

Programs may find it useful to create an accessible handbook or digital resource describing the program's purpose, roles, policies, contact information, safety procedures, compensation or reimbursement practices, privacy expectations, and available supports.

Program evaluation and refinement

Peer education programs should regularly examine how well they are working and use what they learn to improve.

Evaluation should reflect the program's goals and the priorities of educators, participants, and community partners.

Possible areas to examine include:

• Participation and reach. Numbers of educators and participants, frequency of activities, participation over time, and which communities are or are not being reached
• Peer educator and participant experiences. Do people find the program respectful, useful, accessible, supportive, and relevant to their goals?
• Program implementation. Are activities being carried out in ways that reflect the program's values and intended approach?
• Participant-defined outcomes. Depending on the program, these might include increased knowledge, skills, confidence, connection, ability to navigate services, progress toward educational goals, or other outcomes participants identify as meaningful.
• Community-level outcomes. When appropriate, programs can examine broader changes related to their goals while being careful not to assume that a community-wide change was caused solely by one program.
• Community perceptions of the program. Do community members believe the program is useful, trustworthy, accessible, and responsive?

Evaluation should not rely on assumptions about what confidence, motivation, or success "looks like." Eye contact, clothing, posture, speaking style, or other culturally and individually variable behaviors should not automatically be treated as evidence that someone's self-esteem or well-being has improved.

Possible ways to gather information include:

• Surveys
• Interviews
• Phone, video, or in-person conversations
• Program records and participation data
• Observation when appropriate and with attention to privacy
• Evaluation or feedback forms
• Peer educator and participant reflections or self-reports
• Community listening sessions or input forums

Collect only the information needed to understand and improve the program. Protect confidentiality, explain how information will be used, and avoid creating unnecessary documentation burdens for participants or peer educators.

A useful evaluation process should:

• Include feedback from peer educators, participants, staff, and other relevant community partners
• Take place regularly
• Focus on learning and improving practice
• Include a process for responding to feedback and making changes
• Share important findings with participants and community partners when appropriate

In Summary

Peer education can be an effective way to share information, build skills, strengthen relationships, and develop community leadership. Its value comes from shared experience, mutual respect, and the recognition that participants as well as educators bring knowledge to the learning process.

Strong peer education programs include:

• Meaningful community participation in program design and operation
• A clear purpose and understanding of the people and communities involved
• A coordinating structure that provides clear roles and reliable support
• Inclusive and accessible recruitment of peer educators and participants
• Training that reflects the values, methods, responsibilities, and boundaries of the program
• Ongoing supervision, peer support, and opportunities for continued learning
• Clear policies regarding expectations, rights, privacy, safety, compensation, accessibility, and ways to raise concerns
• Regular evaluation that incorporates participant and community feedback and leads to meaningful improvements

Peer education is strongest when people with lived and community experience are treated not simply as inexpensive messengers, but as knowledgeable partners whose expertise, time, leadership, and contributions are valued.

___You understand what a peer education program is

___You recognize the different types of peer education programs

___You know how to use the peer education program advantages:

• Low resource costs
• The potential of a high degree of contact
• Growth for both educator and learner

___You know under which circumstances a peer education program will be useful

Planning and setting up a peer education program:

___When planning the program, you addressed the following issues:

• General rules
• Initial questions
• Program structure

___You have recruited peer educators and learners

___You have oriented and trained your peer educators

___You can supervise and support your peer educators

___You have set up personnel policies for educators and learners

___You have evaluated and refined your program

Example 1: The Learning Center (TLC)

At a community college where the peer tutoring center was run by the counseling department, peer tutors -- all of whom were students, and some of whom were in fact receiving tutoring in some areas while providing it in others -- were trained in counseling skills as well as education. The assumption was that academic problems often carried with them, or were caused by, other issues that affected learning.

Their training made tutors aware enough to suggest that a learner might be pressured by parental expectations to do well in a particular course, or that she thought of herself as stupid whenever she was faced with a particular type of problem. Through these kinds of observations, and well-placed encouragement and support, tutors were often able to help learners overcome the non-academic difficulties that were keeping them from success in the classroom. The support of the counselors, both as supervisors for the tutors and as backup when students' problems were more than tutors could address, also added greatly to the success of the program.

The Learning Center proved the most successful program of its type in the state community college system. Begun in 1976, it is still running -- based on the same set of assumptions -- nearly 25 years later.

Example 2: Computer Literacy

When an adult literacy program received a new computer with an internet account, the instructor and some learners applied for and got a grant to teach students to use it. Six volunteers from among the program's learners were trained in basic computer skills and the use of the internet. These six then each taught several other learners what they had learned. Now, several years later, computers have become an integral part of the program...and so has the peer education by which new students learn how to use them.

The power of peer education in this situation resides in the peer educators' ability to understand the roadblocks that students often experience when confronted with computers for the first time, and to say truthfully that they've been there, too. The pressure that is almost always inherent in learning from someone who "knows" is nonexistent in this situation, and students are able to gain skills and confidence much more quickly than they might in a class.

Example 3: La Leche League

This organization, started in 1956 to encourage new mothers to breastfeed their babies, has grown into a huge international organization that has contact with over 100,000 mothers each day. It is a peer education program, with a leader certification program for volunteers, all of whom are experienced breastfeeding mothers. These women act as mentors and group leaders for groups of first-time nursing mothers, encouraging and answering questions, facilitating discussion, and providing and encouraging peer support. The model has worked so well that it has lasted more than 40 years, and has helped to change the cultural attitude toward breastfeeding in this country and others.

Example 4: University of Zimbabwe/Southern African Training School Without Walls: Partnerships Against AIDS

The University off Zimbabwe and the SAT School Without Walls work with local organizations and NGOs (non-governmental organizations, i.e. community-based non-profits) to identify and contact the groups most at risk for HIV infection in an area where the infection rate is enormous -- as much as 40% in some areas and among some groups. Leaders or respected members of at-risk groups -- female sex workers, miners, etc. -- are trained as peer educators, and work within existing informal social networks to educate and change the behavior of other members of those groups. The result has been a decline in the rate of infection and an increase in the use of condoms and other safe-sex practices.

A PowerPoint presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

Author's Note: This section was originally informed by nearly 20 years of experience in adult education, including 13 years helping to found and run The Literacy Project, a community-based adult literacy program in western Massachusetts. Much of the discussion and many of the examples grew from that experience. The perspective reflected here emphasizes collaborative management, learner-centered adult education, community participation, and the role literacy can play in helping people pursue goals that matter to them. - Phil Rabinowitz

• What is adult literacy?
• Why start an adult literacy program?
• How do you plan an adult literacy program?

Adult literacy has long been an important part of education and community development. Over time, the way literacy is understood has expanded. Reading and writing remain central, but adults may also need or want support with numeracy, digital technology, English-language learning, health information, financial information, civic participation, workplace communication, and navigating increasingly complex systems.

Literacy is also shaped by opportunity and access. Adults come to programs with different educational experiences, languages, abilities, cultural knowledge, work histories, and goals. Some may want to strengthen reading or writing skills; others may want to earn a high school equivalency credential, communicate more confidently in English, help their children with schoolwork, use technology, pursue education or employment, or participate more fully in community life.

Adult literacy programs can support these goals while also strengthening communities. This section provides an overview of adult literacy and guidance for planning a program. The next section discusses how to establish and operate the program in the community.

What is adult literacy?

Adult literacy is broader than simply being able to read or write. Literacy involves using information, language, numbers, communication, and increasingly digital tools in ways that help people accomplish goals in their everyday lives.

Literacy also depends on context. Someone may read and write fluently in one language while learning English. A person may be highly skilled in a trade but want help completing online forms. Another person may read comfortably but want support with math, digital technology, or workplace writing.

For that reason, literacy should not be treated as a simple division between people who are "literate" and "illiterate." Adults have different strengths and learning goals, and literacy develops across a range of skills and settings.

Components of adult literacy

Adult literacy programs may address several areas depending on community priorities and participant goals:

• Reading: Developing the ability to understand and use written information for purposes that matter to the learner, such as work, education, family life, health, community participation, or personal interests.
• Writing: Developing the ability to communicate ideas and information effectively in forms relevant to the learner's goals, from messages and forms to workplace documents, applications, correspondence, and creative writing.
• Numeracy: Understanding and using numbers and mathematical information in everyday situations such as budgeting, measuring, comparing prices, interpreting data, managing medication schedules, or completing workplace tasks.
• English-language learning: Supporting adults who use languages other than English in developing speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills in English when those skills are relevant to their goals. These programs may also be called ESOL or ESL programs.
• Digital literacy: Using computers, smartphones, email, websites, online forms, communication platforms, and other technologies to find information, communicate, learn, work, and access services.
• Information and media literacy: Finding, understanding, evaluating, and using information from print, digital, news, social media, and other sources.
• Health, financial, workplace, and civic literacy: Applying literacy and numeracy skills to specific areas of life, depending on what participants want and need to accomplish.

The uses of literacy

Literacy becomes meaningful through how people use it. Adults seek literacy education for many different reasons, and those reasons should help shape the program.

Common goals may include:

• Employment and economic goals. Participants may want to strengthen workplace skills, qualify for training or advancement, apply for jobs, change careers, start a business, or communicate more effectively at work.
• Family and personal goals. Adults may want to read with their children, help with schoolwork, communicate with family members, manage household information, pursue hobbies, or simply experience the satisfaction of learning.
• Community and civic participation. Participants may want to understand community issues, communicate with public agencies, vote, advocate for themselves and others, participate in community organizations, or take on leadership roles.
• Further education. Adults may want to earn a high school equivalency credential, enter college or technical education, complete professional training, or continue learning for its own sake.

When planning an adult literacy program, begin with the goals learners identify for themselves. Program staff may offer information about additional opportunities, but learners should have meaningful influence over what they work toward and how their progress is defined.

Why start an adult literacy program?

Communities may develop adult literacy programs because residents have identified a need for additional educational opportunities or because literacy education supports broader community goals.

Community priorities and opportunities

Before establishing a program, listen to community members and examine available information to understand what kinds of learning opportunities people want, what already exists, and what barriers may be limiting participation.

Reasons for developing adult education or literacy services may include:

• Employment and economic opportunity. Workers and job seekers may want literacy, numeracy, digital, English-language, credentialing, or workplace skills connected with employment and career goals. Employers and workforce organizations may also identify skills that are increasingly important in local industries.
• Immigration and multilingual communities. Some immigrants and refugees may want opportunities to develop English-language skills while building on the languages, education, professional experience, and knowledge they already have. Language access may also be important across health care, schools, government, employment, and other community institutions.
• Family learning. Parents and caregivers may want skills or resources that help them support children's education, communicate with schools, use digital learning systems, or pursue educational goals alongside other family members. Children's educational outcomes are shaped by many factors, so family literacy should be viewed as one possible support rather than as a way of assigning responsibility for children's achievement to parents.
• Health and access to services. People may benefit from support understanding health information, forms, medication instructions, insurance information, public health guidance, or digital health systems. Organizations also have a responsibility to communicate information clearly and accessibly rather than placing the burden entirely on individuals.
• Quality of life and community participation. Adult education can expand opportunities for learning, social connection, leadership, creativity, civic participation, and personal growth.

A literacy program as part of a larger initiative

Adult literacy may also be one part of a broader initiative related to education, health, economic security, workforce development, community participation, or other priorities.

Examples include:

• Violence prevention and community safety
• Substance use prevention, treatment, or recovery support
• Community health
• Civic engagement and voter education
• Economic and community development
• Workforce development and career training
• Education initiatives
• Early childhood and family learning initiatives
• Initiatives designed to expand economic opportunity and reduce barriers associated with poverty

Literacy education should complement these efforts rather than being treated as an explanation for complex problems such as poverty, unemployment, health disparities, or community violence. Those issues are also shaped by policies, institutions, economic conditions, discrimination, access to services, and other factors.

How do you plan an adult literacy program?

Adult literacy programs are sometimes created quickly in response to a new funding opportunity or an identified service gap. Even when timelines are short, programs benefit from involving learners and community members in planning and from continuing to adapt after services begin.

The following steps describe an ideal planning process. They can also be used to review and improve a program that is already operating.

Step 1: Assemble a planning team

A planning team should reflect the community and include people with different kinds of expertise. Most importantly, adults who currently use or may use literacy services should have meaningful roles in planning rather than being consulted only after the program has been designed.

Potential participants include:

• Current and former adult learners. Their experience can help the group understand what makes education accessible, respectful, useful, and relevant.
• Local government and public agencies. Planning, economic development, workforce, human services, libraries, and other agencies may have useful information or resources.
• Libraries. Libraries often provide education, technology, information, meeting space, and connections with residents from many parts of the community.
• Community-based and human service organizations. Organizations working in housing, employment, disability services, immigrant and refugee support, health, family services, and other areas may understand barriers affecting potential participants.
• Schools and adult education providers. Schools, adult education programs, community colleges, family learning programs, and other educators can help identify existing resources and gaps.
• Health providers and community health organizations. They may identify opportunities to strengthen health literacy, digital access, language access, and connections between education and health services.
• Employers and workforce organizations. They may provide information about local employment opportunities, workplace skills, schedules, training, and career pathways.
• Labor unions and worker organizations. These groups may contribute knowledge about workers' goals, workplace education, and employment conditions.
• Community institutions and organizations. Community centers, cultural organizations, neighborhood groups, recreation programs, service organizations, veterans' organizations, and others may bring important community relationships.
• Faith and spiritual communities. When relevant, these organizations may provide trusted relationships, meeting space, volunteers, information, or community connections.
• Other trusted community members. Resident leaders, peer educators, community health workers, local business owners, advocates, and others may understand strengths, communication networks, and barriers that formal organizations overlook.

Step 2: Assess community priorities, opportunities, and barriers

Once a planning team is assembled, examine what educational opportunities already exist, what people want, which communities may be underserved, and what barriers affect participation.

Useful information sources may include:

• Census, workforce, education, and other community data. These can provide information about education, employment, language use, income, transportation, internet access, and other conditions relevant to planning.
• Schools and education systems. Graduation, adult education, multilingual education, special education, and continuing education data may help identify patterns and resources.
• Community organizations and service providers. These organizations may identify recurring barriers involving forms, digital systems, employment requirements, language access, transportation, or other areas, but they should avoid making assumptions about individuals' literacy based only on observation.
• Focus groups, listening sessions, surveys, and interviews. Include people who currently use adult education as well as people who might be interested but have not participated.
• Resident-led groups and trusted community networks. Community centers, cultural organizations, neighborhood groups, worker organizations, businesses, libraries, faith communities, and informal networks may help identify priorities and barriers.

For example, a community assessment might show both a large multilingual population and limited access to English-language education. Rather than assuming what residents need, planners could meet with community organizations and prospective learners to ask what kinds of classes, schedules, locations, and learning goals would be useful. Enrollment interest, community feedback, and available data could then guide the size and design of the program.

Be careful about treating "need" and "demand" as fixed quantities. Low enrollment does not necessarily mean that few people would benefit from or want a program. Cost, childcare, transportation, scheduling, language, disability access, previous experiences with school, privacy concerns, technology, or lack of awareness may all affect whether people enroll.

Instead of asking only how many people are currently willing to attend, ask what conditions would make participation realistic and worthwhile.

Step 3: Design a program with learners and the community

Several questions shape program design: What learning opportunities will be offered? Who will participate? Who will operate the program? What educational approach will be used? What staff and resources will be needed? How will the program be funded and evaluated?

What services will the program provide, and for whom?

The program might provide adult basic education, high school equivalency preparation, English-language learning, numeracy, digital literacy, family learning, workplace education, or a combination of services.

Decide who the program is intended to serve based on community priorities, program purpose, available resources, and legitimate funding requirements. Avoid unnecessary eligibility rules that exclude people who could benefit.

Funding may limit participation according to factors such as age, residence, income, employment status, or other criteria. Make requirements transparent and, when possible, connect people who do not qualify with other appropriate resources.

What organization or partnership will operate the program?

Adult literacy programs may be operated by:

• Federal, state, or local public agencies through funding, partnerships, or contracted providers
• State education, workforce, labor, or human service agencies and their local partners
• Local governments
• National, state, or regional literacy and education organizations
• Community-based organizations
• Employers and workforce partnerships
• Community colleges, universities, and other higher education institutions
• School systems and education partnerships
• Libraries, labor organizations, Tribal organizations, faith communities, and other community institutions

The strongest arrangement is one that can provide quality instruction, accessibility, reliable administration, community trust, and meaningful learner participation.

What are the program's educational assumptions?

Adult education should recognize learners as adults who bring knowledge, experience, skills, culture, language, responsibilities, and goals of their own.

Programs that treat learners mainly as people with deficits to correct may recreate negative educational experiences and reduce participants' sense of ownership. Learner-centered programs instead build on existing strengths and give participants meaningful roles in identifying goals, choosing learning strategies, and evaluating progress.

That does not mean instruction should be unstructured or that educators should avoid providing expertise. Effective programs combine strong teaching with respect for adult learners' agency and experience.

For example, learners in an adult education program might identify transportation as a major community barrier. A class could use that real issue to practice reading public information, analyzing schedules and budgets, writing letters or proposals, speaking at meetings, conducting research, and evaluating possible solutions.

Learning connected with real community concerns can strengthen academic skills while also giving participants opportunities to apply those skills to goals they identify as meaningful.

Adult education can support people in gaining greater access to information, choices, opportunities, and community participation. The goal is not for programs to "empower" people as though power is something staff give them, but to reduce barriers and create opportunities for learners to build and use their own knowledge, skills, relationships, and influence.

What will take place in the learning environment?

There is no single curriculum or teaching method that works for every learner. Strong programs generally:

• Use teaching approaches that are accessible and responsive to participants rather than simply reproducing educational experiences that did not work well for them
• Recognize and build on adults' existing knowledge, languages, skills, and life experiences
• Connect learning with practical and personally meaningful situations
• Develop critical, analytical, creative, and information-evaluation skills alongside academic content
• Help learners identify short- and long-term goals and develop strategies for pursuing them
• Create opportunities for participants to learn with and from one another when they want to
• Strengthen reasoning and problem-solving skills
• Provide appropriate challenge and support so learners can work through new ideas while knowing that help is available
• Use accessible technology and build digital skills when relevant
• Provide appropriate accommodations for learners with disabilities

Will the program use paid staff, volunteers, peer educators, or a combination?

Staffing decisions should be based on program goals, learner needs, required expertise, resources, and the responsibilities of each role.

Paid instructors can provide continuity, preparation time, coordination, assessment, and specialized expertise. Volunteers and peer educators can also contribute important skills, relationships, flexibility, and community knowledge.

Programs do not need to treat these models as competitors. Many effective programs use combinations of professional educators, trained volunteers, peer educators, and community partners.

Whatever staffing model is used, instructors and tutors should understand adult learning and should not simply transfer assumptions or methods designed for children into adult education.

Strong paid-staff programs often include:

• Sufficient paid time for teaching, preparation, learner support, documentation, coordination, and professional development
• A shared understanding of program values, goals, and educational approaches
• Hiring practices that consider relevant skills, adult education experience, cultural humility, accessibility, and ability to work collaboratively
• Regular staff communication, reflection, supervision, and professional development
• Meaningful opportunities for staff as well as learners to participate in decisions that affect their work

Volunteer programs can also provide valuable education and support, particularly when volunteers receive strong training and supervision and their roles are well matched to their skills.

Volunteer programs may offer one-on-one tutoring, small groups, digital skills support, conversation practice, homework assistance, career support, or specialized help. Programs should provide several learning options when possible rather than assuming one-on-one tutoring is best for everyone.

Privacy can matter to some learners, particularly because stigma around adult literacy continues to exist. Programs should protect confidentiality while also working to reduce the shame or stigma associated with seeking educational support.

To work well, a volunteer program should include:

• Role-appropriate screening. Interview potential volunteers and evaluate whether they understand the responsibilities, values, boundaries, and expectations of the role. Background checks or other safeguarding procedures may be appropriate when required by the setting or population served. Screening should be connected to actual safety and role requirements rather than using broad assumptions about a person's history, disability, recovery status, or other personal characteristics.
• Strong initial training. Volunteers should receive enough preparation to understand adult learning, the program's approach, accessibility, confidentiality, boundaries, instructional strategies, and the resources available when they need assistance.
• Ongoing learning. Provide continuing education based on volunteers' needs, learner feedback, and changes in curriculum, technology, or community circumstances.
• Regular supervision and support. Volunteers should have someone available to help them reflect on their work, address challenges, and strengthen their practice.
• Clear expectations. Explain expected schedules, communication, length of commitment, confidentiality, cancellations, and other responsibilities before a volunteer begins.
• Recognition and appreciation. Recognize volunteers' contributions in ways that are meaningful to them and consistent with the program's culture.
• A reliable administrative structure. Someone needs responsibility for recruitment, training, matching, scheduling, supervision, records, communication, and problem solving.

Programs should also consider whether work currently assigned to volunteers should instead be paid. Reliable, ongoing responsibilities that require substantial expertise or time may warrant compensated positions when resources allow.

How will you evaluate the program?

Program design should include a plan for evaluating both educational outcomes and participants' experiences.

Areas to consider include:

• Participation and access: Who is enrolling? Who may still be missing? Are waiting lists, eligibility rules, transportation, childcare, scheduling, language, disability access, cost, or technology limiting participation?
• Continuation and completion: Are learners able to remain in the program long enough to work toward their goals? If people leave, what reasons do they give?
• Learner experience: Do participants find instruction respectful, useful, accessible, relevant, and supportive?
• Staff and volunteer experience: Do staff and volunteers have the training, time, resources, supervision, and working conditions needed to do their jobs well?
• Attendance: What attendance patterns exist, and what do learners say about barriers such as work schedules, transportation, health, childcare, or other responsibilities?
• Participant-defined goals: Are learners making progress toward goals they have identified as important?
• Educational progress: Depending on the program, this might include growth in reading, writing, numeracy, English-language skills, digital literacy, completion of credentials, or transition to further education and training.
• Other outcomes identified by participants: Learners may value greater confidence using technology, increased ability to navigate services, employment progress, participation in children's education, civic engagement, stronger communication, or other changes connected with their goals.
• Staff development: Are staff and volunteers continuing to strengthen their knowledge and skills?
• Continuous improvement: Does the program respond to learner feedback, new evidence, changing technology, and changing community circumstances?
• Resources and infrastructure: Are funding, space, technology, accessibility, staffing, and partnerships adequate?

Evaluation should not assume that learners who leave have failed or that low attendance automatically means people do not value the program. Ask participants directly about the conditions affecting their participation.

Learners should also help determine which outcomes matter. Academic progress is important, but not every meaningful result will appear on a standardized assessment.

How will the program be funded?

Adult literacy programs may use several funding sources. Each comes with different requirements, restrictions, reporting expectations, and levels of flexibility.

• Public funding. Federal, state, county, municipal, workforce, education, or other public funds may support adult education. Eligibility, application, reporting, and program requirements vary, so organizations should understand them before accepting funds.
• Foundation funding. Private, family, corporate, community, and education foundations may support adult education, workforce, language access, digital inclusion, civic participation, or related goals. Grant size, duration, eligibility, and restrictions vary widely.
• Community and philanthropic funds. Community foundations, local charitable funds, giving circles, and other philanthropic organizations may support programs that address local priorities.
• Fundraising and individual giving. Programs may seek donations from individuals, businesses, alumni, community members, or other supporters and may hold events or campaigns when appropriate.
• Membership or recurring giving. Some organizations develop ongoing relationships with supporters who contribute regularly.
• Endowment and planned giving. Mature organizations may build long-term financial stability through endowments, bequests, or other planned gifts.
• Earned income. Some organizations generate revenue through training, consulting, curriculum development, contracts, or other mission-aligned services, subject to applicable financial and legal requirements.
• Employer and institutional partnerships. Employers, colleges, health systems, libraries, unions, and other institutions may provide funding, paid release time, space, technology, instructors, or other resources.
• In-kind support. Donated space, equipment, internet access, transportation, childcare, professional services, or materials can reduce program costs.

Funding diversity can make a program more resilient. Heavy dependence on one source may create problems if priorities or budgets change. At the same time, organizations should not pursue funding that requires them to abandon important commitments to learners, accessibility, quality, or community participation.

Once you've developed a plan, involved learners and community partners, identified resources, and secured enough initial support to begin responsibly, you're ready to move into the next phase: establishing the program in the community.

In Summary

Adult literacy includes reading, writing, numeracy, English-language learning, digital literacy, and other skills people use to pursue goals in work, education, family life, health, civic participation, and everyday life.

Strong adult literacy programs begin by listening to learners and communities. They identify existing strengths and resources, examine barriers to participation, and create learning opportunities that reflect participants' goals rather than assumptions about what adults "lack."

Program planning should consider who will participate, what learning opportunities will be offered, which organization or partnership will operate the program, how instruction will be designed, how staff and volunteers will be supported, how accessibility will be addressed, how success will be evaluated, and how the work will be sustained financially.

Most importantly, adult learners should be partners in the process. They bring languages, knowledge, work experience, relationships, culture, responsibilities, and goals of their own. Adult education is strongest when programs build on those strengths while expanding people's opportunities to learn, participate, and pursue what matters to them.

You understand the components of adult literacy:

___Reading

___Writing

___Math

___English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL)

___Cultural literacy

___You have addressed the issues of community need and larger initiatives when starting an adult literacy program

Planning an adult literacy program:

___You have assembled a planning team

___You assessed the need

___You have designed a program to meet the demand

___You decided which services the program will provide

___You know which entity will run the program

___You know what the program's educational assumptions are

___You know how the program will be funded

Example: Portraits of some actual adult literacy learners

Kate

Kate and her two small children lived on a farm with her boyfriend, a car that sometimes ran, several animals, and Kate's welfare check. When her older daughter was three, Kate noticed that she was learning to read, and panicked...because Kate herself couldn't read at all. Her daughter was about to surpass her while still a toddler. Motivated to an extent she had never before dreamed about, Kate nursed her cranky Volkswagen beetle out of the hills three times a week to attend classes at the literacy program in the nearest large town, a 40-mile round trip.

Kate learned for the first time that she was profoundly dyslexic. Armed with this knowledge, a great deal of intelligence, and fierce determination, she set herself to learning to read. About three years after beginning classes with a reading vocabulary of twelve words, Kate took and passed the five GED (General Educational Development) tests and got her high school equivalency diploma. Reading was still not easy for her, and probably never would be, but she could read and understand anything she wanted to.

According to Kate, the most difficult piece of learning for her was realizing that she no longer had to lie. She had gotten so used to faking things and to deceiving people in order to cover up her inability to read that she had started lying and dissembling even when she had no reason to. "I had to change my whole personality," she said. Kate has taken some college courses, and now works for a local human service agency.

Paul

Paul was 18, but a very old 18. His parents had kicked him out three years before, and he'd survived the streets on his own since then, involved in things that no adolescent should even have to know about, let alone participate in. Now old enough so that he no longer had to hide from the child welfare system that he dreaded more than the streets, he came to the literacy program after a try at going back to high school simply didn't work. A high school counselor had told the literacy staffer that Paul was "the worst kid I've ever seen." The book Paul was reading - for pleasure - when he came in, a book he had probably stolen, was Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Paul - who, far from being a problem, proved to be funny, engaging, and extremely intelligent - settled into a GED class, occasionally working, but more often talking about his dream of going to Costa Rica. After a few weeks, much to the chagrin of the staff, he disappeared, not only from the program, but from the area. No one could find out where he'd gone...until the program got a postcard from Costa Rica.

Six months later, Paul was back, tanned and ready to get serious. He roared through GED preparation, passed the tests, and disappeared again.

The program had no contact with Paul until six years later when he dropped in for a visit with his daughter. He now had a wife and family, a master's degree, and a job as a counselor in a youth program, where he was "trying to keep kids from going through what I did."

Denise

Denise had been labeled "mentally retarded" since she was four. Now in her twenties, and mired in an abusive marriage to a much older man, she had come to the literacy program to learn to read better and to try to get her GED because her husband wanted her to "bring in some money." She could read at about fourth grade level, couldn't manage to write at all, and was absolutely hopeless at solving even the simplest arithmetic problem. She wore ragged and often torn clothes, walked with her face cast down, never looked anyone in the eye, and kept her heavy body hunched over as if to protect herself. She ate junk food constantly.

Denise became part of a mutually supportive group of women students, and her reading began to improve. It was discovered that she had some short term memory problems that kept her from being able to remember sequences, the root of her problems with math. She and the teacher devised some ways around her difficulties, and she began to learn math as well. With the encouragement of other students, Denise started dressing better and standing straighter. She dropped many of her "mentally retarded " characteristics, and started losing weight. Ultimately, she got a restraining order against her husband and moved out.

Continuing to progress, Denise was chosen as one of several spokespersons for literacy on a local TV station. She appeared in a Public Service ad, looking poised and happy, and talked about how much she had learned, and how much better she felt about herself. After the ad had run several times, strangers stopped her on the street to tell her how impressed they were, and how they were happy for her.

Denise had been strong enough to leave her abusive marriage behind, strong enough to start believing that she was a worthwhile person who could learn, strong enough to be willing to appear in public in order to encourage other learners to come in out of the cold. But she wasn't strong enough to endure praise. Not long after the TV ads appeared, she began skipping classes, then stopped coming altogether. She dropped out of sight for a while, until one of the other students realized that she was one of a group of homeless people living in the woods just outside of town. Some of the women she'd been close to and one of the teachers made contact with her, and she talked about coming back...but she never did. Denise could deal with failure and humiliation, but the prospect of success was too frightening for her.

Tool 1: Components of Adult Literacy

Reading

"Functional literacy," the level at which people have enough reading ability to function in their lives, is often set at fifth grade, but there are problems with this assumption. First, fifth grade level means something different for an adult than it does for a child, because the adult, with more experience and a larger vocabulary, may be able to get more out of a text at that reading level. Another issue is that much of our daily reading is, in fact, at higher levels: newspapers are written at sixth to eighth grade, for instance (except for the N.Y. Times, which is higher still), and car repair manuals for mechanics are often written at as much as twelfth grade level. Yet another question here is what "functional" means, if an adult reading at fifth grade level can't help her tenth grade child with history or English homework. Thus, the level of reading that actually corresponds to "literate " is still unresolved, although various grade levels have been suggested as the standard. (In fact, it is probably unrealistic to talk about grade levels at all when referring to adults.)

Writing

When most people think of "literate" writing, they assume prose that's "correct:" no spelling errors, proper grammar. But there's a lot more to good writing than correct spelling and grammar, although those are a start. And with spell- and grammar-checking available with one computer keystroke, the whole complexion of "correctness" has changed. The key here is, once again, function: what do people need in order to get through their lives? To write a letter (or perhaps an e-mail) to a relative or friend or a child's teacher or the editor of the local paper, to fill out a check or a job application, to file an accident report... these are the kinds of tasks that most people need to be able to complete relatively easily and without embarrassment. If they want to go on to higher education, or to use their writing to inform or influence people in the larger world, they need to be able to analyze concepts and information, and to construct a logical written framework for their ideas. In all cases, the key to written communication is clarity. So perhaps the easiest way to describe written literacy is that it's the ability to write whatever is necessary in clear and reasonably accurate prose. An individual's needs determine the level at which writing becomes "functional" for him.

Math

The word "numeracy" has been used to denote mathematical literacy. It refers to the ability to perform the basic mathematical operations - addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and whatever else -normally needed in everyday life. The reality is that most adults, even those who got A's in high school math, can't divide fractions or set up algebra problems any more, because they haven't used any of that knowledge in 20 years. They can, however, balance their checkbooks, figure out percentage discounts, calculate their gas mileage, do their taxes, make change, and determine how much that Disney World vacation will cost - the types of tasks that most people need math for.

Reading, writing, and math at all levels are generally lumped into Adult Basic Education, or ABE. Technology, particularly computer literacy (basic computer skills, such as word processing, use of e-mail and the Internet, etc.), is now starting to be considered part of ABE as well in many states.

English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL)

Immigrants (and some others - Spanish -speaking Puerto Ricans, for instance, who are American citizens) are at a disadvantage if they can't speak, understand, read, and write the majority language. ESOL instruction, which teaches these skills, is also a component of adult literacy. Adults may be literate in their own language, but that doesn't help if they don't know the language they need. This whole issue is further complicated when an immigrant's native language works very differently from English in some way - written in pictographs, for example, where each symbol represents a whole word, rather than a sound, as in Chinese - so that their native language literacy doesn't easily carry over.

Many adult immigrants, especially refugees from Third World violence or poverty, may not be literate in their own languages at all. Debate rages in the ESOL community about whether to try to teach them to read and write in English, or to first teach them in their native language (Native Language Literacy). There are fierce proponents of both philosophies, each side convinced that the other is hurting students by its approach. There is no real end to the controversy in sight, and the issue is often resolved in individual programs by the availability of resources.

Cultural literacy

To a great extent, the adult education movement in the United States began as an effort to bring cultural literacy - a basic exposure to the ideas, people, and writings that shaped western thought - to the poor and uneducated. The purpose here was both to educate the masses for their own benefit, and to integrate them into the larger American society. There are still many educators who see cultural literacy as of major importance. E.D. Hirsch, in his best seller Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987), made the case that a background of common knowledge was necessary both to facilitate learning (it provides mental hooks on which to hang new knowledge and skills) and to make possible communication and common purpose among all members of an increasingly diverse society. In many states, cultural literacy is named as one of several foundation elements of adult literacy.

Virtually since the beginning of the American adult literacy movement, there has been argument over what constitutes the proper purpose and aim of the field. Three factions, often mutually hostile, have traded sway many times over the years. The first looks at adult literacy as purely an academic endeavor: the sum total of adult literacy work is teaching adults the skills they lack. The second faction touts the role of cultural literacy: people need to know how to read primarily so they can gain the general knowledge that serves as background to American life, and the teaching of that knowledge must be part of a literacy program. The third faction sees literacy as a road to social change: literacy skills provide the poor and disenfranchised with a means of making their voices heard, and of driving the political machine, rather than being run over by it.

In reality, adult literacy instruction in fact should contain all three of these elements. Certainly the skills themselves are necessary, since, without them, adults remain silenced and unable to function to their potential. The general knowledge that serves as cultural wallpaper reveals the assumptions behind much of what is written, and therefore makes it understandable (not to mention providing both intellectual enjoyment and exposure to the ideas and workings of truly original minds). A strong argument can certainly be made that if the acquisition of literacy doesn't serve to help those adults in poverty or other difficult circumstances to change their situations, it has done them no good whatsoever. It makes sense that adult literacy programs should in fact address all three of these areas.

Tool 2: Who are adult literacy learners?

Most Americans are surprised at the number of people who need adult literacy services, both nationwide and in their own area ("But we don't have anyone like that here " is a quote I've heard hundreds of times, often in towns where 30 or 40% of adult residents lack high school diplomas). If they think of adult literacy learners at all, they often picture either the poorest of the poor - the homeless, sharecroppers living in falling-down one-room shacks in the rural South, or urban children with rats running across their beds - or people who are somehow inferior, who just don't try hard enough. In fact, learners in literacy programs have a broad range of abilities, interests, backgrounds, and economic situations.

While it's almost impossible to characterize "the adult learner," there are some characteristics that are common to many learners in adult literacy programs:

• They are often low-income. The lack of skills, while not a barrier for some, acts for most people to limit their employment possibilities. Although they are certainly represented on the welfare rolls, adult literacy learners are most often the "working poor," people who work long hours at (often two or more) low-paying jobs, and still struggle to stay above water financially.
• All circumstances being equal, they are somewhat more likely to be female than male. Women seem to find it easier to admit that they need help than men do. They are also slightly less likely to work full time, and therefore to have more time to attend classes. (This last is often offset by the fact that many are single mothers of small children, and therefore need day care in order to participate.)
• Many have learning disabilities which make reading, writing, or math difficult for them. Although the question of just how much of adults' difficulty with basic skills is due to learning disabilities is controversial, no one would deny that a significant number of those in adult literacy programs have neurological, visual, or other specific problems that complicate their learning process.
• A large number - a majority in some areas, particularly parts of the Northeast and the Southwest - are non-English speakers enrolled in ESOL classes.
• Relatively few are under 25. It is notoriously difficult to attract young high school dropouts to programs. They have just left school, after all, and usually don't want anything to do with it again. In addition, many are working, have their own money for the first time, and think they're doing just fine. They can't see how difficult life will be in a few years on seven or eight dollars an hour.
• They come with a broad range of skills. There are relatively few actual non-readers in American society, although most literacy programs see some. There are many, however, who read at fourth or fifth grade level, and thus may have difficulty completing employment applications, understanding ballot questions, or helping their children with homework. There are many others, particularly those seeking a GED or other high school credential, who have very good reading, writing, and math skills.
• Their range of ability is probably very similar to that of the general population. It is easy to think of those with poor skills as stupid, but in fact, as in the population as a whole, most are average. A few are quite a bit above average, a few below. But, as a group, they present themselves very much like any other group of people.
• Regardless of their ability or intelligence, they tend to think of themselves as stupid. Even those who have been successful economically and otherwise -- many learners have good jobs, or even own their own businesses -- have still been told by teachers, family, and others that they don't measure up because of their lack of skills or lack of a diploma. For most learners, this is the most difficult barrier to overcome.

Tool 3: Myths About Adult Literacy

A note: Most of the myths that follow refer to literacy as it applies to native English speakers. Where appropriate, the experience of ESOL learners is cited as well. It is important to remember that, in many states, a sizable minority, or even a majority, of students in literacy programs are ESOL learners, and that their experience is different from that of English-language learners. They span a broader range of educational backgrounds - from none at all to professional degrees - and a broad range of cultures as well. Many are extremely poor, and at the mercy of the welfare system; others, through hard work and frugality, own homes and small businesses. The variation is such that it is virtually impossible to talk of a "typical " ESOL learner.

Myth 1: Literacy rates are in a decline.

Actually, more people can read and write better at the turn of the millennium than at any other time in history. But the literacy needs of the average person have changed drastically in the last two or three generations. At a time when the vast majority of the population earned their living with their hands and the strength of their backs, reading and writing were helpful, but not necessary. Now, when so much work, at least in the developed world,depends upon high-level technical and other complex skills, lack of basic skills is a tremendous disadvantage, and literacy needs are much greater than ever before. (Consider the simple fact that using a computer depends on being able to read, often at a high level.)

In addition, the past two decades have seen immigration to the U.S. exceeded only by that at the beginning of the twentieth century. Immigrants - Spanish speakers, for instance, including American citizens from Puerto Rico - now constitute a sizable minority in many cities in the Northeast. Many of these immigrants are, in fact, quite literate, but not in English.

Myth 2: Learners in adult literacy programs all start out as non-readers.

In a comprehensive adult literacy program, learners start at many different levels. Very few, in fact, can't read at all. Many start out reading at or below fourth or fifth grade level, meaning that they can read signs and simple prose, but can't easily read newspapers, magazines, or novels. Other learners are primarily pursuing a high school credential (a GED or other form of adult diploma), and may have quite sophisticated skills. Still others read and write well, but need to learn basic math skills in order to advance - or to stay - in their jobs. In ESOL programs, some learners may even have advanced degrees from respected universities, but in languages other than English; others may be totally illiterate, or only barely literate, in their own languages as well as in English.

Myth 3: Most adult literacy learners are dyslexic.

Dyslexia is a word used for a complex of neurological and other factors that make it very difficult for some people to learn to read, write, and/or calculate. It accounts for only a small fraction of the learning disabilities that many adult literacy learners struggle with.

There is much disagreement in the field as to how much adult illiteracy is the result of learning disabilities. Often, adult learners have had so many negative factors in their lives - poverty, parental abuse, substance use, constant moving, abandonment, ill health, language barriers, etc. - that it is difficult to determine what role learning disabilities play. A large factor seems to be the childhood exposure to and importance placed on printed matter. Children who grow up surrounded by books, magazines, and newspapers; who are read to from an early age; who see the importance of print in their parents' work and intellectual lives; and who are themselves encouraged to read generally learn to read easily and well. Those who have the opposite experience often have difficulty with reading.

Myth 4: If you have a high school diploma, that's a guarantee of your skills.

Many high school graduates have little or no reading, writing, or math capacity. They are granted diplomas through programs that are little more than baby-sitting, or are rewarded for not making trouble for twelve years, or are smart enough to get their work done by others. Nearly 20% of the students at The Literacy Project had high school diplomas, and many of those graduates were actual or near non-readers. Remember that most dropouts are in at least ninth or tenth grade when they leave school, and often leave because of difficulties in keeping up: another two years of school may not have dramatic results.

Estimates of functional illiteracy vary tremendously, from as high as 45% of adults to (most commonly) about 20% to as low as 10%. In Massachusetts, with a total population (adults and children) of just under six million, there are nearly 900,000 adults without high school diplomas or GEDs. Based on experience, I'd estimate conservatively that half of them probably read and write at below eighth grade level; and that half of that group - nearly a quarter of a million people - probably read at below fourth grade level. And that doesn't consider either the ESOL population or those who have high school diplomas and still have literacy issues.

Myth 5: Adults who manage to grow up unable to read or write well are just plain stupid.

This is probably the most widespread and most damaging of the myths about illiteracy. As explained above, many adult literacy learners have learning disabilities that affect their ability to deal with print in the same way that missing a limb affects one's ability to play basketball. (This is almost an exact analogy, in that some people with missing limbs learn to play basketball, anyway -- but almost always using different strategies from other players, and only by dint of a huge amount of extra effort. Very much the same is true for learning disabled people who nonetheless learn to read well.) Studies continually show that dyslexics, as a group, are significantly above average in intelligence, rather than below. Furthermore, it is difficult to fault the intelligence of people who lack a basic element of the equipment necessary to navigate twentieth century life, and yet manage anyway, often quite well.

While it is true that the overwhelming majority of learners in adult literacy programs are poor, they represent, in most states, no more than five percent of the adults who could benefit from reading, writing, or math instruction. Many of the others don't sign up because they are ashamed or afraid that their experience will be humiliating. But many simply don't feel they need the service because they are doing well. They have good jobs or own businesses that support them and their families, they are good parents and model citizens, they enjoy their lives, and very few of their family, friends, and neighbors have any idea that they can't read or write or calculate well. They have learned to compensate through native intelligence, extraordinary feats of memory, and occasional white lies. Unlike the hapless heroes of movies and TV shows about illiteracy, they will probably never be "caught," and will continue to live successfully and happily with their limitation.

Myth 6: Very few adults in America have any literacy problems.

The National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) commissioned by President Bush, found, in results published in 1993, that 47% of adults in the United States had difficulty with several common tasks (reading a bus schedule, deciphering a lease, figuring gas mileage, etc.) that most people would expect the average adult to be able to perform. Furthermore, the worse their skills were, the less they felt they had a problem.

A PowerPoint presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

Starting an adult literacy program involves much more than announcing that services are available. You need to recruit, hire, and train staff or volunteers; find an accessible and welcoming space; schedule classes, tutoring, or other learning opportunities; connect with prospective learners; build community relationships; and create systems that allow the program to operate effectively from day to day.

Building a program that people know about, trust, and find useful takes time. Rather than assuming that a program will become established according to a fixed timeline, focus on developing strong relationships, offering services that reflect learner priorities, responding to feedback, and demonstrating that the program will be a reliable part of the community.

A note here: Although the parts of this section are presented in a logical order, they will often overlap in practice. Community engagement may begin while the program is still being planned and should continue throughout its life. You may recruit learners while looking for space, train volunteers while building referral relationships, or adjust schedules after hearing from participants. Most of these activities are ongoing.

How do you find professional and/or volunteer staff?

Every adult literacy program needs people who can carry out its work, whether that means one trained volunteer, a small staff, or a larger team of educators, coordinators, navigators, and administrators. The appropriate staffing model depends on the program's goals, resources, community context, and learner needs.

Paid staff can provide continuity, specialized expertise, and dedicated time. Volunteers and peer educators can bring valuable community relationships, experience, and additional capacity. Many programs use a combination of these approaches.

Hiring professional staff

Staff members strongly influence whether learners feel respected, supported, and able to pursue their goals. They also shape how partner organizations and community members experience the program. Hiring should therefore focus not only on technical qualifications, but also on whether applicants can work effectively with adult learners and support the program's educational approach.

Determine what characteristics you want in staff members

In addition to job-specific requirements, useful characteristics may include:

• Ability to build respectful relationships with adult learners. Staff should communicate with learners as adults and partners, recognize their existing knowledge and experience, and avoid paternalistic or judgmental approaches.
• A learner-centered philosophy of education. Staff should understand the program's mission and approach and be prepared to involve learners in identifying goals, making decisions about learning, and evaluating progress.

Malcolm Knowles popularized the term andragogy to describe approaches to adult learning. Although adult education theory has continued to develop, several learner-centered principles remain useful:

• Adults should have meaningful opportunities to influence what and how they learn
• Adults bring knowledge, experience, skills, languages, and perspectives that shape learning
• Readiness to learn is influenced by people's goals, responsibilities, circumstances, and opportunities
• Adults are often most engaged when learning connects with goals and situations that matter in their lives
• Motivation may come from many sources, including personal goals, family responsibilities, education, employment, community participation, and the satisfaction of learning

• Experience with adult education or relevant teaching approaches. Direct experience can be valuable, particularly when it aligns with the program's educational philosophy, but strong educators can also develop through training, coaching, and supervised practice.
• Experience working with adults. Experience in education, workforce development, community health, social services, libraries, community organizing, or other adult-serving settings may provide useful preparation.
• Communication and relationship-building skills. Staff should be respectful, approachable, clear, reliable, and able to communicate effectively with learners, colleagues, partners, and community members.
• Patience and flexibility. Learning takes different amounts of time for different people, and educators need to adjust approaches without assuming that difficulty with one method reflects a lack of ability.
• Cultural humility and responsiveness. Staff should be willing to learn from people whose languages, cultures, identities, educational histories, or economic circumstances differ from their own. Shared language or community experience can be valuable when relevant, but no staff member should be assumed to represent an entire community.
• Willingness to build community relationships. Adult literacy programs are stronger when staff understand the community, participate in appropriate community activities, and maintain relationships with organizations and people learners already know and trust.
• Commitment to accessibility and inclusion. Staff should understand that disability access, language access, digital access, privacy, and other participation needs are part of effective adult education.

Community engagement can happen in formal and informal ways. Staff might attend community meetings, visit partner organizations, participate in neighborhood events, meet with resident leaders, or spend time learning how people use local services and resources. The goal is to develop genuine relationships rather than simply appearing in the community when the program needs participants or support.

Create a hiring process that will attract and identify applicants with those characteristics

• Describe relevant skills and expectations clearly in job postings. Include adult education experience, communication skills, language abilities, accessibility knowledge, community engagement, or other qualifications that are genuinely related to the role.
• Review applications for evidence of relevant experience and approach. Avoid making assumptions based on job titles alone. Someone's previous role does not automatically tell you how they will work with adult learners.
• Use an interview process that allows candidates to demonstrate how they would approach the work. Open-ended questions, realistic scenarios, teaching demonstrations, and participation by learners or community representatives can help identify applicants whose skills and values fit the program.

Interview questions might ask candidates how they would respond when a learner disagrees with them, how they would adapt an activity that is not working, how they would support a learner with a different educational background from their own, or how they would involve learners in setting goals.

What matters is not whether a candidate gives one "correct" answer, but whether they demonstrate respect, reflection, flexibility, and an understanding that adult learners bring knowledge and agency to the learning relationship.

Recruiting volunteers

Volunteer recruitment may begin early in an all-volunteer program or after paid staff have clarified which roles volunteers can appropriately fill.

Volunteers should supplement and strengthen the program rather than automatically being used as substitutes for work that requires paid staff, professional qualifications, or substantial ongoing responsibility.

Recruitment involves finding potential volunteers, explaining the role clearly, determining whether the opportunity is a good fit, providing training, and continuing to recruit when additional volunteers are needed.

Finding volunteers for adult literacy programs

Potential volunteers may learn about programs through many channels.

Advertising and digital communication

Recruitment options include:

• Paid advertising through relevant local or digital media
• Press releases, community news stories, newsletters, or guest articles
• Public Service Announcements and other donated media opportunities
• Flyers or posters in appropriate community locations
• Websites, social media, email newsletters, volunteer platforms, messaging apps, and other digital channels

Regardless of the method:

• Share information through channels prospective volunteers actually use. Ask current volunteers and community partners where people are most likely to see or hear about opportunities.
• Describe the opportunity without portraying learners through hardship or deficit. Explain the program's purpose, the contributions volunteers can make, and what they may learn or gain through participation.
• Make responding easy. Offer accessible options such as phone, text, email, online forms, or other communication methods appropriate to the community.
• Explain the role clearly. Describe responsibilities, expected time commitments, training, location, accessibility, and whether particular language or instructional skills are needed.

For example:

Help adults pursue reading, writing, math, digital, or English-language learning goals.

The Main Street Adult Learning Center is seeking volunteer tutors and learning partners.

Training and ongoing support are provided. Contact the program by phone, text, email, or online to learn more.

Community announcements, postings, and newsletters

Faith communities, libraries, community organizations, neighborhood groups, universities, service clubs, employers, cultural organizations, and other local networks may be willing to share volunteer opportunities.

Community presentations

Presentations to community organizations, colleges, workplaces, neighborhood groups, and other audiences can help people understand adult literacy and learn how they can participate.

Referrals

Other community organizations, volunteer centers, educational institutions, businesses, and literacy networks may refer people interested in volunteering. Maintain regular communication so partners understand what roles are currently available.

Websites and social media

Use your organization's website and the digital channels your community actually uses. Keep information current and make the next step clear.

Word of mouth

As volunteers and community partners have positive experiences with the program, personal recommendations may become an important source of new volunteers.

Screening volunteers

Not every volunteer role is a good fit for every person. Screening should help the program and prospective volunteer determine whether expectations, skills, availability, and approach align.

Decide on the characteristics you need

• Respectful communication with adult learners
• Understanding of and willingness to work within the program's mission and educational approach
• Openness, flexibility, and willingness to learn
• Patience
• Cultural humility and inclusive communication
• Enough available time for the role
• Reliability and willingness to follow through on commitments
• Ability to maintain appropriate boundaries and confidentiality

Clear expectations are important because learners may depend on regular meetings and communication. Programs may use volunteer agreements describing expected schedules, length of commitment, training, cancellations, confidentiality, and other responsibilities.

Screening process

Use a consistent process that relates directly to the responsibilities of the volunteer role. Interviews, references, teaching or communication scenarios, and post-training conversations can all help determine whether the role is a good fit.

Avoid relying only on intuition or whether someone simply "feels right." A structured process can reduce bias and help ensure that candidates are evaluated according to the same relevant criteria.

Volunteers who consistently communicate disrespectfully about learners, reject the program's learner-centered approach, disregard boundaries, or cannot meet essential responsibilities may not be appropriate for the role.

Sometimes a volunteer has good intentions but still uses an approach that limits learners' independence -- for example, completing tasks for learners rather than supporting them in developing the skills to do those tasks themselves. Training and supervision may help. If the pattern continues despite feedback, the program may need to identify another role or end the volunteer placement.

When background checks or other safeguards are appropriate, establish clear policies based on the actual responsibilities and risks of the role and follow applicable law and organizational policy. Avoid treating unrelated personal history, disability, recovery status, or other characteristics as automatic evidence that someone is unsuitable.

Once staff and volunteers are selected, provide both initial and ongoing training. Professional experience does not eliminate the need to learn about the organization's approach, community relationships, accessibility practices, and learner priorities. Volunteers likewise need preparation in adult learning, communication, boundaries, and the particular work they will do.

How do you find space?

Finding appropriate space depends on program size, community resources, location, accessibility, cost, and the types of learning activities you plan to offer.

Some general guidelines for thinking about space:

The physical character of the space

Size, layout, accessibility, privacy, lighting, noise, transportation, and technology can all affect whether a space supports learning.

• Size and layout. Consider how many learners and staff may use the space, whether one-on-one and group learning will happen at the same time, whether private conversations require separate areas, and whether the program expects to grow.
• Transportation and location. Consider public transportation, parking, walking and biking routes, travel time, safety, and whether the location is familiar and welcoming to participants.
• Facilities and accessibility. Consider accessible entrances, restrooms, seating, routes through the space, lighting, acoustics, internet access, electrical outlets, technology, kitchen or food-preparation needs, administrative space, and other features relevant to the program.

Accessibility requirements depend on the program and setting. Whenever possible, choose a space that is accessible from the beginning rather than relying on separate or less convenient arrangements for people with disabilities.

Also consider digital accessibility and technology. Learners may need reliable internet access, computers or tablets, charging options, accessible software, and spaces where they can participate in virtual learning or complete online applications privately.

Learner comfort and participation

The physical environment can affect whether learners feel welcome, respected, and comfortable participating.

• Shared ownership of the space. When possible, involve learners in decisions about how the space is arranged, decorated, and used. Learner work, community information, flexible seating, and welcoming common areas can help create a sense that the program belongs to the people who use it.
• A learning environment that fits adult participants. Some adults may be uncomfortable returning to a traditional school setting because of previous experiences, while others may prefer the familiarity and resources of a school or campus. Ask learners what kinds of environments work for them.
• Safety and belonging. Consider actual safety conditions as well as whether participants feel welcomed and respected in the location. Different people may experience the same neighborhood or institution differently because of previous experiences, identity, discrimination, transportation, or community relationships.

Location can also affect people in recovery or others who are working toward health or safety goals. Rather than making assumptions, ask prospective participants whether nearby businesses, environmental conditions, transportation routes, or other features create barriers and consider those concerns when choosing a site.

Should space be rented, donated, or shared?

Consider:

• Program resources. Include rent, utilities, insurance, internet, cleaning, maintenance, accessibility improvements, technology, security, and other costs rather than considering rent alone.
• Donated or subsidized space. Libraries, governments, schools, businesses, community organizations, colleges, faith communities, and property owners may have space they are willing to share or provide at reduced cost.
• Expectations connected with donated space. Clarify hours, storage, privacy, utilities, maintenance, signage, accessibility, security, and any expectations placed on the program before accepting the arrangement.
• Sharing space. Shared sites can create valuable partnerships, but organizations should agree on scheduling, confidentiality, storage, cleaning, accessibility, use of common areas, and decision-making before moving in together.

Shared space can also create opportunities for stronger connections among services. For example, an adult education program sharing space with a family-support, health, employment, or violence-prevention organization may be able to make referrals and offer additional resources more easily.

These partnerships work best when the staff who will actually use the space are involved in planning and expectations are clear from the beginning.

How do you recruit learners?

Learner recruitment uses many of the same communication channels as volunteer recruitment, but the message should focus on the opportunities the program offers and the goals adults may want to pursue.

Avoid framing adult learners as people who need to be rescued, fixed, or exposed as having a problem. Literacy stigma can already make people hesitant to seek support.

Recruit in ways prospective learners are likely to notice and use

Use plain language and accessible formats. This is useful not only for people developing reading skills, but also for people with disabilities, people learning English, and anyone trying to understand unfamiliar information quickly.

Print and digital information

Keep messages clear and direct. Use readable text, accessible design, sufficient contrast, clear headings, and straightforward explanations of what the program offers.

One example:

Want to strengthen your reading, writing, math, English, or computer skills?

Free adult learning opportunities are available.

Contact Main Street Adult Learning Center by phone, text, email, or online.

Use several communication formats

Depending on the community, this may include community radio, local media, social media, messaging apps, videos, community announcements, presentations, text messages, flyers, and word of mouth.

Provide information in languages participants understand

For English-language learning programs, recruitment information should be available in relevant community languages. Work with qualified translators and community partners rather than relying on literal word-for-word translation alone.

Make it easy for learners to contact the program

Offer several accessible methods -- phone, voicemail, text, email, online forms, in-person contact, or other options that fit the community. Respond promptly and respectfully.

Reaching out for adult education can feel vulnerable because literacy and language learning are still stigmatized in some settings. The first interaction should communicate respect and confidentiality.

Recruit through places, organizations, and networks learners already use

Ask community members where information should be shared rather than assuming that age, race, ethnicity, income, or language automatically determines which media or places people use.

Media and digital communication

Use channels that prospective learners themselves identify as useful. Different communities may rely on radio, local news, social media, messaging apps, neighborhood groups, community websites, or other sources.

Community outreach and recruiting

Libraries, community centers, health clinics, schools, workplaces, workforce programs, cultural organizations, faith communities, housing organizations, food-access programs, recreation facilities, neighborhood events, and other trusted settings may be useful places to share information.

For example, if a local multilingual community has expressed interest in English-language learning, work with organizations, businesses, faith communities, cultural groups, and residents that already have strong relationships within that community. Ask them where and how information should be shared and whether the proposed classes fit residents' schedules and goals.

Referrals

Referrals may come from:

• Workforce and employment organizations
• Human service and public assistance agencies
• Schools and high school equivalency programs
• Libraries and community colleges
• Disability and vocational rehabilitation organizations
• Health and behavioral health providers
• Housing and homelessness-service organizations
• Reentry and justice-system organizations
• Immigrant and refugee organizations
• Employers, unions, and worker organizations

Referral partners should understand what the program offers and should not identify someone as needing literacy services simply because they have a low income, disability, criminal legal history, receive public benefits, or belong to another particular group.

Whenever possible, people should receive information about the opportunity and decide for themselves whether it fits their goals.

Word of mouth

Current and former learners who choose to recommend the program can be among its strongest advocates. Community health workers, peer navigators, resident leaders, local businesses, cultural organizations, and other trusted community members can also help share information.

How do you connect with the community?

A sustainable adult literacy program should be connected with the broader community rather than operating in isolation.

Community connection includes explaining what the program offers, learning from residents and partner organizations, maintaining referral relationships, participating in community initiatives, and creating opportunities for learners themselves to represent and help shape the program.

Make contacts in the community

Build relationships with organizations and people whose work overlaps with adult education, employment, health, housing, family support, civic participation, disability access, language access, and other areas relevant to learners' goals.

Health and human service organizations

Potential partners may include:

• Public assistance and human service agencies
• Workforce development and unemployment services
• Vocational rehabilitation and disability-service organizations
• Social Security and benefits-navigation programs
• Hospitals, clinics, community health centers, and other health providers
• Substance use prevention, treatment, harm-reduction, and recovery organizations
• Other adult education providers
• Public schools
• Head Start and other early childhood programs
• Child and family service organizations
• Youth and family services
• Housing organizations and housing authorities
• Shelters and organizations supporting people experiencing homelessness
• Emergency assistance and crisis-support organizations
• Food banks and food-access organizations
• Recreation and community organizations
• Libraries
• Courts, probation, public defenders, reentry organizations, victim-support organizations, and other justice-system partners when relevant
• Legal services
• Mental and behavioral health organizations
• Community colleges
• Community foundations, United Ways, and other local philanthropic organizations

Large service systems can be difficult for both participants and staff to navigate. Strong relationships among organizations can make referrals and problem solving easier, but programs should also work toward clearer, more accessible systems rather than depending entirely on personal connections to get around confusing procedures.

Area employers

Employers can be important partners in adult education, particularly when workers identify goals related to English-language learning, digital skills, workplace communication, professional credentials, advancement, or additional education.

Employers may contribute funding, paid learning time, space, equipment, technology, referrals, or information about career pathways. Partnerships should support workers' goals as well as organizational needs.

Chambers of commerce, workforce boards, employer associations, unions, and individual businesses may help build these connections.

Employers can also participate in career conversations, job fairs, mentoring, workplace tours, or other activities when learners find these opportunities useful.

Local government

Local government agencies and staff may be valuable partners in areas such as education, workforce development, libraries, transportation, housing, human services, economic development, and community planning.

Invite public officials and staff to learn about the program and hear directly from learners who choose to share their experiences. These relationships can help decision-makers understand the value of adult education and identify opportunities for coordination, policy support, or funding.

Other community leaders and members

Other useful partners may include:

• Faith and spiritual communities. These organizations may provide referrals, volunteers, meeting space, communication networks, and other forms of support.
• Service and civic organizations. Local clubs and associations may contribute volunteers, funding, equipment, relationships, or other resources.
• Local businesses and trusted community members. Business owners, barbers, hair stylists, pharmacists, neighborhood leaders, community health workers, resident organizers, and others who have strong local relationships may help share information and identify community priorities.
• Adult learners and program alumni. Current and former participants should have meaningful opportunities to represent the program, advise staff, participate in planning, and help explain adult education to the wider community if they choose to do so.

Inform and engage the community through presentations and communication

Community members may have limited awareness of adult literacy and adult education, or they may hold inaccurate assumptions about who participates and why.

Avoid describing adult learners as people who are hiding an inability to read or as a social problem the community needs to solve. Instead, explain that adults pursue education for many reasons and bring substantial knowledge, skills, work experience, languages, family responsibilities, and community connections with them.

Presentations, community events, newsletters, websites, social media, accessible brochures, videos, and other materials can explain:

• What learning opportunities the program provides
• What learners say they value about the program
• How adult education contributes to individual and community goals
• How people can participate as learners, volunteers, partners, donors, or advocates
• How the program protects privacy and supports accessibility

Use learner stories, photographs, or personal information only with meaningful permission and avoid presenting people's hardships primarily as fundraising or publicity material.

Participate in community life

Join coalitions, networks, committees, and community initiatives when participation aligns with your program's mission and staff capacity. These relationships can help the program learn from others, contribute to shared community work, and become a more reliable partner.

Participation should be reciprocal. Do not join groups only to recruit learners, volunteers, or funding. Contribute information, time, relationships, and expertise when appropriate.

Connections with funders and other adult education providers are also useful. Conferences, professional networks, working groups, learning communities, and collaborative projects can help programs share knowledge and avoid working in isolation.

Develop a community Board of Directors or Advisory Board

A board or advisory group can strengthen community accountability, provide expertise and relationships, and help guide the program over time.

Include adult learners or alumni in meaningful roles rather than limiting the board to professionals, funders, or institutional representatives. Consider compensation or other support when community members are being asked to contribute substantial time and expertise.

In Summary

Establishing an adult literacy program requires more than finding instructors and opening a classroom. Programs need skilled and respectful staff or volunteers, accessible and welcoming learning environments, thoughtful learner outreach, reliable administrative systems, and strong relationships throughout the community.

Recruitment should emphasize opportunities and learner goals rather than deficits or stigma. Staff and volunteers should be selected and supported according to clear, role-related expectations. Learning spaces should be accessible, safe, and responsive to participants' preferences. Community partnerships should make services easier to find and navigate while giving learners meaningful opportunities to influence the program.

These activities continue throughout the life of the program. As learners, staff, volunteers, and community partners provide feedback, the program should be willing to adjust. The strongest measure of success is not simply whether a program becomes well known, but whether learners experience it as accessible, respectful, useful, and supportive of the goals they have chosen for themselves.

Finding staff:

___You have determined what characteristics you want in staff members

___You have created a hiring process that will attract and identify applicants with those characteristics

___You used the media and advertising to find staff

Finding Space:

___You have found a suitable place according to your and your learner's needs.

Recruiting Students:

___Use print advertising

___Use radio, TV and other forms of announcements

___Make it easy for them to contact you

Connecting with the community:

___Health and human service agencies

___Area employers

___Local government

___Other community leaders and members

___You informed the community through presentations and literature

___You are a volunteer

___You developed a Board of Directors

Example: How Establishing a Program Really Works

In 1984, my colleague Lindy Whiton and I were hired by a local community college and the regional employment and training consortium to start an adult literacy program in Orange, Massachusetts. The Department of Education and other entities had tried and failed at this endeavor in the past, but the area was one where the percentage of adults without high school diplomas approached 40%. The need for a program was clear.

The idea for the program had grown out of an adult literacy class that Lindy had taught the year before at the community college. Funding for the class had dried up halfway through the year, and those involved had determined to find a better way to assure services. When a grant became available, the college and employment and training consortium, with Lindy's participation, wrote a successful proposal.

Hiring staff

The proposal called for two staff members, one to teach and administer the program, the other to teach and plan curriculum. The coordinator was supposed to be "in charge," and receive a slightly higher salary. In reality, the proposed structure of the program made little sense. With only two staff members, there was no reason to create a hierarchy, which could easily have led to resentment and division. In fact, we split both the responsibilities and the salaries of the two positions equally, an arrangement far more conducive to forming a real partnership.

Both of us had experience in education and in working with adults. I had worked at the community college for several years as a counselor and co-coordinator of the peer-tutoring/peer counseling center, and had taught reading, both at the college and in elementary and junior high school. Lindy had taught reading in schools as well, and had the successful experience of teaching the adult literacy class behind her. In addition, I lived in the area where the program was to run, and had connections to both key individuals and organizations there.

Finding space

From the beginning, we wanted our own space, but there wasn't enough money in the grant to make that possible. We were given space in the local high school, Mahar, which we could use starting at 3:00 p.m. Fortunately, the teacher whose room we were assigned had agreed to the arrangement, and was very supportive. She gave us cabinet space for materials, didn't mind if we arrived while she was still dealing with students, discussed curriculum issues with us, and bantered with learners.

But it was still a high school, with all the disadvantages that entailed. Many learners had been students there, and we often heard comments: "That's the room where I flunked math two years in a row," or "That's where I lost it and hit the teacher." The school was two miles or more from the center of town, and there was no public transportation to it. The desks were small, there was no coffee machine, and the space was stark, especially at night under the fluorescent lights.

There were, however, advantages to using Mahar as well as disadvantages. There was a lot of room to move around, especially in the evening, and the building was quiet. We became friendly with the custodial staff, some of whom became supporters of the program, and others of whom became students. One older couple that worked evenings "adopted" a young woman with severe mental health issues, and made it possible for both her and us to make it through the evening on nights when she was having difficulties. And at least everyone knew where the building was. Nonetheless, we began scheming for ways to move from the first day.

Networking - Recruiting students and connecting to the community

How to recruit students was one of the first questions we had to address. The program served the North Quabbin area, nine towns covering a large area in north central Massachusetts. There was no public transportation, distances were long, and the rural hill towns were very different from Orange and Athol, the two industrial towns in the Millers River valley.

In addition, many people in the area were wary of outsiders. Programs of various kinds had come and gone, leaving the region chronically under-served. Residents didn't trust that a program would remain long enough for them to gain any benefit from it. It quickly became clear that, in this area, recruiting students and making connections in the community would be one and the same thing.

As luck would have it, a community health and human service coalition was just starting in Athol, and I became a charter member. This gave us access to virtually all the existing health and human service organizations in the area, and we took advantage of it. I arranged to do presentations at various agencies' staff meetings, so they would know we were there and what we did. Through a connection made at the coalition, we secured office privileges at a multi-service agency in Athol to supplement our "headquarters" at Mahar in Orange.

Throughout the start-up period and the rest of that first year, we did everything we could to get to know people in all sectors of the community. We made the rounds of restaurants, laundromats (we found these to be gathering places and particularly fertile ground for recruitment), drug stores, barbershops and beauty salons, supermarkets, the few neighborhood groceries left, convenience stores, and bars, introducing ourselves and explaining what we did and who we were looking for, and leaving behind fliers and posters with tear-off phone numbers. We got a few referrals from the merchants, but many more from the posters: people could quietly tear off the phone numbers and keep them for as long as necessary until they made the call. We found ourselves continually replacing posters from which all of the 20 or so phone numbers had been taken.

The posters, with tear-off numbers at the bottom, were as simple as we could make them. They looked approximately like this:

Need Help With:

Reading?
Writing?
Math?
GED?

Call Lindy or Phil at 345-6789

Free
 

In addition to canvassing businesses, we plastered our posters on telephone poles, appeared on the local talk radio show, spent large amounts of time getting to know both administrators and line staff in community organizations and local branches of state agencies. I became chair of the Planning Committee, and ultimately joined the Steering Committee of the health and human services coalition. I became a regular denizen of the Athol YMCA, and got to know, or know better, many members of the area's business and professional community, as well as a large number of individuals with no particular affiliation, but many connections in the community through family, work, and long-time residence.

We made it a point to eat our between-classes evening meal in a local restaurant, where people could see us and find us. We did our best to inform Mahar faculty of what we were doing, and made contacts at Athol High School as well. Through a YMCA contact, I got to know several clergy, and enlisted the faith community as recruiters of students and supporters. We established firm connections with the directors of the local libraries, connections which are still in fact bearing fruit.

Each learner we had contact with brought her own network as well. Students often brought in other family members or friends, or put us in contact with either potential students or referral sources. Sometimes, the original contact would never actually begin the program, but one of his referrals would. We kept track of each contact with a potential learner, and followed up with those who neither entered the program nor specifically told us they wouldn't.

In Summary

It is important to understand that, even with all this activity, it took time for our efforts to be rewarded. In the first year (really about eight months, because of funding realities), we saw a total of 19 students. While several of these obtained GEDs, and many of the rest continued into the following year, there were still nights when no one showed up. But we did, and everyone knew it. By the end of that first year, the community was beginning to believe that we would actually be there for a while.

There was no funding for that summer, but we kept contact with learners and taught some classes on a reduced schedule. In the fall, we were back full time, and the student population increased. In that second year, we saw over 40 students; in the third, when we finally moved to a storefront in the center of town, about 70; and since then (for more than a dozen years), the number has consistently been over 100. Learners and the community had to believe that we would come back, that we wouldn't abandon them once they had gotten started. By the third year, and since, word -of-mouth kept the program full, and we no longer had to recruit students.

Keeping a high profile in the community and continuing to make contacts, however, must go on for the life of the program. People at other organizations leave and are replaced, former learners move away, business people come and go. If a program is to be seen as part of the community, the staff of that program has to be part of the community. Over the years, as the Orange program became an arm of The Literacy Project, changed its quarters three times, and changed site directors, its involvement in the community has continued. The current site director was recently honored as Orange Citizen of the Month for her involvement in the community, and several learners have been similarly honored as well.

All of this is to emphasize two points: (1) It really does take two years or more for a program to get established in the community, and you have to be both patient and persistent in order to make that happen; and (2) you have to keep at the effort of community membership forever, or for the life of the program, whichever comes first.
 

Epilogue

The program now: It's been 16 years since the adult literacy program in Orange started. It has, since 1985, been part of The Literacy Project, a community based non-profit adult education provider founded by Lindy Whiton and Jim Vaughan in 1984. Currently known as the North Quabbin Adult Education Center, the program serves over 100 learners a year. In addition to reading, writing, and math instruction, learners have been or are involved in original research, classes in computer use and economic literacy, community projects, family literacy, collaboration with several other organizations, community drama projects, a community garden... in short, it has evolved into a true community program, run jointly by learners and staff, thanks largely to its current site director, Pat Larson. It has often been cited as a model for how an adult literacy program can become an integral part of its community. But it wouldn't have happened without relentless effort to make and maintain all those contacts, an effort that will continue as long as the program operates.

A PowerPoint presentation summarizing the major points in the section.