Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Multi-System Collaboration: Supporting Individuals From Pre-Employment Through Employment And Community Engagement Across The Life Course, Rie Kennedy-Lizotte, Adam Sass, Jeanine Zlockie, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

In concert with the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) identified potential topical areas for policy white papers that influence employment outcomes and services for individuals served by state intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) agencies. This is the third white paper in a series of five.

Collaborative Leadership In Action, Maureen Scully, Catherine R. Bates

Center for Collaborative Leadership Publications

The 46 fellows in the 2018 cohort of the UMass Boston Emerging Leaders Program worked with seven community partners on projects of strategic importance to these nonprofit and government organizations. The fellows contribute their professional skills and discover collaborative leadership through practice. The theme of our public symposium is “Collaborative Leadership in Action.” The fellows shared their insights about what collaborative leadership involves – its challenges and benefits – and what they take back to their workplaces.

Chapter 12: You Spin Me Right Round (Like A Record) — Or, Does The Assessment Loop Ever Truly “Close”?, Iris Jahng

Joseph P. Healey Library Publications

Chapter 12 from Shaping the Campus Conversation on Student Learning and Experience: Activating the Results of Assessment in Action.

Making The Invisible Challenges And Opportunities Visible, Maureen A. Scully, Lisa Deangelis, Katie Bates

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

The 41 fellows in the 2015 Emerging Leaders Program worked with community partners to generate the theme, “Making the Invisible Challenges and Opportunities Visible: Collaborative leadership for economic and social well-being."

The projects provide fellows an opportunity to practice elements of collaborative leadership in peer-led teams working with multiple stakeholders. The projects focus on civic engagement, building a leadership base for Greater Boston that is ready to tackle the big challenges that ensure the broader economic and social well-being of the region. The project sponsor with whom each team works is a nonprofit or governmental organization with big goals. Each …

Teamwork: Crucible For Learning About Collaborative Leadership, Lisa Deangelis, Sherry H. Penney, Maureen A. Scully

Center for Collaborative Leadership Publications

In teaching leadership development we have developed and revised a model of teamwork and collaboration, which has yielded innovative and positive results. Our study draws on insights from more than 90 project teams, gathered over twelve years of a mid-career executive education program designed specifically to teach collaborative leadership. The teams work on a strategic dilemma with a business association or community organization, highlighting the civic engagement aspect of collaborative leadership. Teams devise their own operating procedures, refine (not simply manage) the project, create working relationships with multiple stakeholders, and present a deliverable within the nine-month span of the program. …

University Archives & Community Organizations: Ensuring Access Through Collaboration, Jessica R. Holden, Andrew Elder, Joanne Riley

Joseph P. Healey Library Publications

In 2011, to further our community-engaged mission, UASC began to focus on working with, promoting, and assisting community archives in the greater Boston area through facilitating cross-organization collaboration and access to informational, educational, and practical resources relevant to archival procedures and best practices.

The guiding tenets behind this continuing commitment emerged, in part, from UASC’s multifaceted collaboration with The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA), a local nonprofit organization established to develop and promote the growth, study, and exchange of ideas among people and organizations interested in Irish genealogical and historical research and education. Our collaboration with TIARA formally began in …

University Archives And Community Organizations: Ensuring Access Through Collaboration, Jessica R. Holden, Andrew Elder, Joanne Riley

Joseph P. Healey Library Publications

How can a university archives establish a successful ongoing relationship with a community organization? What are the benefits and challenges of such a collaboration? University of Massachusetts Boston’s Archives and Special Collections (UASC) explored these questions while working with The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA) to preserve and provide access to 79,000 mortuary records from the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters. Elements of the collaboration included shifting stewardship of the records from the Foresters to TIARA to UMass Boston, integrating TIARA’s efforts in processing and indexing the records into the Archives’ workflow, providing in-person and electronic access to the records, …

Lessons From Lived Experience: From Fresh Insights To Effective Action, Lisa Deangelis, Maureen A. Scully, Andrea Wight

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

The 34 fellows in the 2014 Emerging Leaders Program worked with community partners to generate the theme, “Learning from Lived Experience: From fresh insights to effective action." Each year, the projects draw upon a theme or lesson from the prior year. Last year and this year, fellows saw how the lived experiences of both their stakeholders and themselves generated nuanced and appropriate approaches to problem-solving. The fellows worked with six community partners, giving their time and professional skills to understand how to frame complex social challenges, engage new partners and resources, and sharpen strategic plans. They conducted surveys, interviews, open …

Transnational Brazilian Project, C. Eduardo Siqueira

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Since 2012, the Transnational Brazilian Project has been successful in organizing a transnational network of faculty, students, and community leaders to promote collaborative research and service. UMass Boston students and faculty have conducted research in Brazil, volunteered at the Brazilian Immigrant Center (BIC), and several Brazilian students gained research experience at the Mauricio Gastón Institute. In addition, a number of public health faculty from Brazil have visited UMass Boston to discuss future research projects and collaborations.

Engaging And Expanding Communities: Widening The Circle Of Stakeholders, Lisa Deangelis, Maureen A. Scully, Andrea Wight

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

The 32 fellows in the 2013 Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) worked with community partners to investigate the theme, “Engaging and Expanding Communities".

They worked with six community partners, and identified ways to help them expand beyond their core stakeholders to a wider circle of stakeholders and broader potential impact. The fellows gave their time and professional skills to understand how to reach new business partners, new participants, new advisors, and new donors. They conducted surveys, interviews, and focus groups; explored social media options; examined best practices; and considered ways to tell powerful stories about the vitally important work of the …

Culturally Relevant Resources To Meet The Changing Priorities Of Tribal Communities, J. Cedric Woods, Institute For New England Native American Studies, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The mission of INENAS is to develop collaborative relationships, projects, and programs between Native American tribes of the New England region and all of the UMass campuses so that the tribes may participate in and benefit from university research, innovation, scholarship, and education. As the interests, needs, and demographics of Native New England shift, these changing priorities will be reflected in its programming, grant submissions, and outreach efforts.

Supporting Healthy Lives And Vibrant Places: Learning About And Living The Collaborative Leadership Model, Lisa Deangelis, Maureen A. Scully, Andrea Wight

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

The 31 fellows in the 2012 UMass Boston Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) worked with community partners to investigate the theme, “Supporting Healthy Lives and Vibrant Places.” They worked in peer self-managed teams, in order to learn collaborative leadership skills first-hand, while engaging with stakeholders and issues where collaboration makes a difference. Their team projects addressed: best practices in corporate wellness initiatives, outreach to support health care access for homeless people, ways to grow awareness of the wide need for affordable housing, ideas for arts-based local economic development, broader funding sources to support innovative research on poverty, and ways to continue …

Collaborations, Partnerships, Networks. Introduction: From The Personal To The Professional. Interorganizational Partnerships And Networks, Liron Peleg-Hadomi

New England Journal of Public Policy

Often, when I think about the nature of interorganizational partnerships and networks, I find myself thinking about the broader meaning of relationships, which form an integral part of our lives. What is it about relationships that make them so intricate, unique, mysterious, and full of opportunities? What are the components required for building a successful relationship that allows us to grow and develop in the complex world in which we live? Is it the ability to trust one another? Is it the ability to recognize one another’s needs and interests? Or maybe it is the belief that together, we can …

Raising The Gaze, Mary Coonan

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article describes how our challenge is to move beyond our current vision. We must move beyond sharing our impressions of the elephant to seeing the elephant within its broader context. This kind of vision requires our joint effort and a willingness to live with uncertainty until clarity emerges through the chaos because we have been willing to look.

State Agency Promising Practice: Massachusetts - Using A Collaborative, Person-Centered Planning Approach To Facilitate Community Employment, Jennifer Bose, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

The Northeast Region Supported Employment Project was developed by the North Shore area office of the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services in 2007. This pilot program, open to any individual with ID/DD who wanted to work, emphasized a person-centered planning approach to achieving the individuals’ goals for employment in the community. The project emphasized the individual’s choice of employment providers, collaboration with the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC), and use of an independent facilitator to support career and life planning. The project was spearheaded by two DDS administrators dedicated to communicating the value of community-based employment to the Department.

State Agency Promising Practice: Maryland - Collaborating To Promote Self-Employment For People With Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities, Jennifer Bose, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Self-employment has emerged as a viable option for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD). To meet increased self-employment demands, Maryland’s Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA), in collaboration with the Maryland Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS), adapted services offered through the Reach Independence through Self Employment (RISE) program. The RISE program, funded by DORS, provides technical assistance and financial support to people starting their own businesses. DDA’s role in this self-employment initiative has helped people with IDD start a wide variety of businesses and achieve meaningful employment.

State Agency Promising Practice: Delaware’S Early Start To Supported Employment Pilot Project, Suzzanne Freeze, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

The Early Start to Supported Employment (ESSE) pilot started in 2005 with the goal of providing a more seamless transition for students who would benefit from supported employment services when leaving school and entering the adult workforce. An interagency project team was established to guide the pilot work and ensure all required parties knew their role and shared information and equal responsibility within the project.

State Agency Promising Practice: Working Together - Collaboration Between Colorado’S Developmental Disabilities Division And Division Of Vocational Rehabilitation, Allison C. Hall, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

In Colorado, counselors from the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation are housed on-site in Community Centered Board1 offices so they can provide direct services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD). The goal of the project was to serve 240 customers with ID/DD and provide 134 successful employment outcomes over a two-year period2. Streamlined services and enhanced communication emerged through a unique collaborative effort between the two entities.

State Agency Promising Practice: Working Together To Convert The Last Sheltered Workshop In Vermont To Individualized Supports, Jennifer Sullivan Sulewski, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Vermont’s Division of Disability and Aging Services (DDAS) and Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) worked with a local service provider to convert its congregate day services to community employment. Implementation Between 1987 and 2002, DDAS and DVR worked with several providers to close down sheltered workshops and move people into community supports.

State Agency Promising Practice: The Tennessee Employment Consortium (Tec) - A Statewide Collaboration For Change, Jean Winsor, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

The Tennessee Employment Consortium (TEC) is a statewide organization focused on increasing the number of Tennesseans in integrated employment. The consortium comprises volunteers from the state’s Division of Mental Retardation Services (DMRS) and Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS), the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities, the ARC of Tennessee, the Center on Disability and Employment at the University of Tennessee, community rehabilitation providers (CRPs), family members, and other stakeholders. TEC’s ability to organize collaborative activities across state agencies, advocacy organizations, and CRPs has played an important role in increasing integrated employment outcomes.

Research To Practice: State Agency Systems Collaboration At The Local Level: Gluing The Puzzle Together, The Staff Perspective, Gabriella Santoro Rado, Doris Hamner, Susan Foley

Research to Practice Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Some states acknowledge the benefits of interagency collaboration but have trouble putting it into action. ICI researchers worked with local offices to help them improve the One-Stop Career Center network for people with disabilities. This brief gives an "in the trenches" view of tools that worked.

Research To Practice: Collaboration Between Medicaid And Other State Agencies- Findings From The National Survey Of State Systems And Employment For People With Disabilities, Jennifer Sullivan Sulewski, Dana Scott Gilmore, Susan Foley

Research to Practice Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Many state Medicaid agencies are playing a greater role in multi-agency efforts to promote employment for people with disabilities. This brief uses data from the National Survey of State Systems and Employment for People with Disabilities to explore the varieties of collaboration Medicaid agencies are using and the agencies they are collaborating with.

Institute Brief: Developing Interagency Agreements: Four Questions To Consider, John Butterworth, Susan Foley, Deborah Metzel

The Institute Brief Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Recent legislation emphasizes collaboration between state agencies. A good interagency agreement is one tool that can assist collaboration and promote systems change. Researchers offer four important considerations for an effective agreement and a worksheet for agency personnel.

Generating Environmental Knowledge And Inquiry Through Workshop Processes, Peter J. Taylor

Working Papers on Science in a Changing World

Since the late-1980s many scholars in Science and Technology Studies have accounted for the validity of scientific knowledge or the effectiveness of technologies by discussing the heterogeneous resources mobilized by diverse agents spanning different realms of social action. In the environmental arena such "heterogeneous construction" is, in effect, self-consciously organized through the frequent use of workshops and other "organized multi-person collaborative processes" (OMPCPs). This paper describes my own process of making sense of the workshop form for generating environmental knowledge and further inquiry. This process was catalyzed by participating during the spring and summer of 2000 in four innovative, interdisciplinary …

Brief 10: Lessons On Supporting Change Through Multi-Institutional Projects, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

The New England Resource Center for Higher Education’s (NERCHE) Civic Engagement Cluster1 is a multi-institutional model for strengthening civic engagement in higher education across ten institutions simultaneously. Reflecting NERCHE’s mission to promote community, collaboration, and change in higher education, the Cluster is based on the premise that significant change can be accomplished most effectively through collaboration and communication across institutions. The purpose of this Brief is to pass on some key lessons learned in the pilot year of this project about laying the groundwork for collaboration and improving institutional practice.

Brief 5: For Funders Of Multi-Institutional Collaborations In Higher Education: Support Partnership Building, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

This brief was derived from the discussions of NERCHE’s think tank for coordinators of GEAR UP school-college partnerships. The insights of these coordinators point to the principle that it is the quality of the relationships among the partners that determines the effectiveness of multi-institutional collaborations. This means then that those who support and invest in multi-institutional collaborations should also focus on supporting the process of partnership building. But what does this mean in practical terms? It means being strategic right from the beginning in the design of grant structures, and throughout the relationship with the grantees. This brief provides examples …

The Public-Private Forum: Good Intentions Randomize Behavior, Robert Wood

New England Journal of Public Policy

Public and private institutions of higher learning coexist throughout the United States in a pattern of diversity that is unknown in any other postindustrial society — and Massachusetts is a prime example of U.S. pluralism in education. In an era of scarce resources and mounting costs, the contrary instincts for cooperation and competition are at work. This article is an account ofa voluntary attempt among private and public colleges and universities between 1973 and 1976 to forge a fragile partnership — the Massachusetts Public-Private Forum — which first flourished, then foundered. Tracing the course of its early successes and final …