United Ways of Washington

United Ways of Washington Washington State Success Story: Community Café Contributors’ Conceptual Agreement

The Community Café process in Washington State has developed through the work of a grassroots organization of parents. A formal organization for the Community Café Collaborative did not exist.

When the United Way Strengthening Families United project began, several organizations (government agencies and non-profit organizations) had already provided funding for development of the Community Café process. The Community Café Collaborative had an English guidebook and a (nearly complete) Spanish translation for café hosts and other training materials. No copyright existed for any of the materials and no agreements for use were in place.

1. Description of Situation: The overarching challenge was to develop an understanding of the Community Café process among multiple organizations. We needed to generate a common vision and agreement as it pertained to ownership and use of the process while still honoring the grassroots, open-source type of approach that had resulted in the development of a nationally-recognized way to effectively engage parents and build Protective Factors. With that in mind, we needed to build trust and develop a relationship with the Community Café Collaborative leadership team.

2. Strategies: The strategy was to gather for structured conversation among key stakeholders in order to explore mutual interests and articulate a conceptual agreement pertaining to ownership and use of the Community Café process. This made use of an opportunity for Nina Sazer O’Donnell (United Way America) to join the face-to-face conversation.

We included several representatives of the Community Café Collaborative as well as lead persons from UWWA and the UWA. The conversation was facilitated by Helen Jones. Topics included, among others: 1) The goals of UWA for the SF grants 2) SFWA—history and current work, goals and relationships statewide and nationally 3) The goals of UWWA SF grant 4) Issues concerning authorship, acknowledgements and branding for the three entities involved in development, training and distribution (UWA, SFWA and the Community Café Collaborative) using the Community Café (future) guidebook/resource materials as an example.

Criteria used to choose the strategy was consistency with the technology of the Community Café and with the ongoing work of the Strengthening Families Washington (SFWA) Initiative. U n i t e d W a y S t r e n g t h e n i n g F a m i l i e s : S u c c e s s S t o r i e s

3. Keys to Success: What worked or did not work? What were the keys to success in addressing this challenge? What advice would you give others in similar situations?

Using strategies that were consistent with Community Café and SF practices Recognizing and honoring the achievements and efforts of the Community Café Collaborative team. Including multiple stakeholders in the conversation Using existing Community Café materials to discuss broader issues of authorship and branding helped ground the discussion in a concrete way

The conversation did not result in a formal letter of agreement about the ownership, use or promotion of the Community Café. (There is not yet a formal—legal—entity for the Community Café Collaborative.)

4. Benefits: What were the benefits for your community? What were the benefits to your UWSF initiative?

The conversation resulted in verbal acknowledgement of the shared value of the Community Café process, and the need to keep the materials and process available at no charge for use. It also resulted in agreement to mutually acknowledge the support of all the funders (including the Center for the Study of Social Policy; National Alliance of Children’s Trust and Prevention Funds; Washington State Council for Children and Families, and Department of Early Learning; and Thurston County Community Network) by each funder/sponsoring organization.

The conversation increased understanding and trust among all organizations engaged in funding and providing the Community Cafés. It also led to a clearer articulation of the partnership in operation between UWWA and SFWA on behalf of promoting the Community Café process and the Strengthening Families Protective Factors. Subsequent to the conversation, the Community Café documentation was placed on the National Alliance of Children’s Trust and Prevention Funds website, and is publically available for download free of charge at: https://www.msu.edu/user/nactpf/initiative_parents-2.htm.

Participant Quote: “This product [the Community Café] is a process that changes the way we think and act. It’s system thinking in action.” – SFWA Steering Committee member attending the conversation.

University of Florida Evaluation Team Success Story