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The Child Care Partnership Project The Coalition for Valley Families |
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Description With the motto, "member-driven, solution-oriented," the Coalition for Valley Families is changing the human services landscape in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The Coalition facilitates collaboration among private and public sector human service providers in the Valley, whose territory spans wide ranges of rural areas. Through the Coalition, these providers are joining together in identifying community needs and developing collaborative solutions. Although the Coalition addresses issues much broader than child care, child care is one important element of the comprehensive service system that members are trying to achieve for the valley. Partners The Coalition has more than 400 members from both the public and private sectors, including:
History and Development In the early 1990s, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services (TDHHS) in the Rio Grande Valley became increasingly concerned about the lack of services in rural outlying areas, called colonias. TDHHS recognized that there were many families living in colonias with multiple service needs and little access to a system of services. In response, TDHSS initiated the Colonia Coalition. The goal of the Colonia Coalition was to facilitate coordination among service providers in addressing the needs of families in colonias. The Colonia Coalition enabled service providers to network with each other and coordinate in addressing families’ needs. For example, the Colonia Coaltion helped establish an accreditation program for child care providers in partnership with South Texas Community College, resulting in professional child development training being available in the Valley for the first time. Due to very limited resources, however, the Colonia Coalition could not afford the staff needed to regularly communicate with members. With funding and involvement in the Colonia Coalition winding down in 1992, Avance-Rio Grande Valley recognized the importance of having a structure to support collaboration and took action. Avance located funding through the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (TDPRS) and established the Coalition for Valley Families. The Coalition for Valley Families included many Colonia Coalition members and added even broader representation to improve the services available to all families in the Rio Grande Valley, not just those in the colonias. With funding from TDPRS, Avance was able to staff the Coalition and build up a strong and involved membership base. The Coalition, which meets at least bi-monthly, is guided by an elected advisory board that includes six public-sector partners and five private-sector partners representing four Rio Grande Valley Counties. Current Activities The work of the Coalition is achieved through task forces, each devoted to a specific issue/service area. Both the Children & Parenting Task Force and the Welfare-to-Work/Family Self-Sufficiency Task Force are addressing early care and education. The Welfare-to-Work/Family Self Sufficiency Task Force led advocacy efforts that recently resulted in authorization of a Workforce Development Board for Hidalgo County. In Texas, Workforce Development Boards have responsibility for adjusting child care subsidy rates, and the absence of a Workforce Development Board in Hidalgo County led to stagnation in the rates. Now that the necessary infrastructure is in place, the Coalition can advocate for increased child care subsidies. The Children & Parenting Task Force is working to raise awareness among policy-makers, providers, and parents about the importance of quality early care and education. They are planning a conference on early childhood education and recent brain research, and have enlisted the State Child Care Management Service to co-sponsor the conference. The goal of the conference is to mobilize stakeholders to invest time and resources in improving early care and education in the Valley. A primary focus of the Coalition is building service capacity in the Valley by increasing grant funding. Many private providers in the Valley are small and have limited administrative capacity to apply for and manage grants. In addition, because families are so spread out in the Valley, it is often difficult for individual service providers to serve large enough numbers of families to justify large grants. The Coalition now provides training in grantwriting and has created a grantwriting group, which has begun to seek and receive collaborative funding. For example, a number of Coalition members partnered in applying for a 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant, which will allow for expansion of out-of-school time care in the valley. Finally, Coalition partners are using technology to bridge the long distances that separate providers in the Valley. The Coalition maintains a Web site that includes Coalition member and activity information, and provides a forum for information sharing. (http://www.hiline.net/avancerg) Resources The coalition is funded by a $160,000 annual grant to Avance-Rio Grande Valley from the TDPRS, Families Together and Safe. Members provide in-kind support such as administrative support and public relations. Results The Coalition boasts over 460 active members. Coalition leaders see increased collaboration among service providers as the Coalition’s most important achievement. This collaboration gives members increased ability to impact decision-makers and generate new funding. Coalition-sponsored workshops on grantwriting have trained 150 individuals, and Coalition members succeeded in obtaining a federal "Gear Up" grant for mentoring adolescents, as well as funding for a rural economic development project through collaborative proposals. In addition, policy-makers are increasingly coming to the Coalition for input on human service issues. For example, Coalition representation was sought out for the Advisory Board overseeing implementation of the new Workforce Development Board. Sustaining and Replicating The Coalition is in the process of creating By-laws and the organizational structure to become an independent 501(C)(3) organization. Central to this process is establishing a more diverse funding base. The Coalition’s Grant Writer’s Group is currently seeking private and public funding to support the Coalition. Lessons Learned Collaboration is difficult. There are a lot of roadblocks to initiating change in the way organizations and systems operate, especially when a partnership includes many small providers spread over a large geographic area. The Coalition has kept partners engaged by keeping efforts driven by member concerns and focused on concrete benefits. Partnership is especially effective in rural areas. Because Rio Grande Valley service providers are so spread out and often have such limited resources, collaboration provides opportunities to operate at a size and scale that are more appealing to funders and decision-makers. Dedicated resources are important to sustaining collaboration. Building an effective partnership takes time and resources. Time and effort must be devoted to keeping all members informed, facilitating meetings, and following through with action. Resources for staff and operations can significantly affect whether the group is able to achieve its objectives. Create an infrastructure to support change. The Coalition has worked to establish local infrastructure such as the Workforce Development Board, as well as organizational infrastructure such as by-laws and communication systems. These efforts will both help to sustain the partnership and facilitate progress toward Coalition goals. Contact Information Raquel Oliva
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