Academic and Community MCH Partnerships: Healthy Start, Inc and

University of Pittsburgh

Christine Ley and Cheryl Squire Flint

Effective approaches for community and academic partnerships?

• Acknowledge academic and community systems very different

• Reward systems, organizational structure, relative importance of individual versus group are in sharp contrast

• Recognizing these differences are important

Academic culture compared to community partner culture

Academic culture

• Specialist-driven

• Individual reward system

• Top-down style, expert-driven, hierarchical model

• More deliberate pace

• Nomadic culture, transient career mobility

Community culture

• Customer-driven

• Team reward system

• Bottom-up style, community-driven model

• Rapid pace of change required

• Often long-term commitment to geographic area

Implications of differences for effective partnerships

• Academic partners should consider their interest in working with community partners

• Working with community partners requires different attitudes and working arrangements than academic setting

Before working with a community partner, an academic should consider:

Am I willing to:• Start over, earn respect and trust?• Change methods/approaches based on consumer, community input?• Accept critiques from those with less formal education?• Ask consumers, community what they need? • Question relevance of academic /theoretical models?• Place program, population needs as priorities?• Be flexible?

What are needs of community partners?

Building and sustaining partnership is an ongoing process

Communication to learn best approaches from director : working with staff, communication, time limits

Academic willing to adapt to organizational culture of community partner, time, space, staff changes/priorities

Academic needs versus community partner needs

• Academic partners need to recognize that their activities with community partners rarely coincide with staff availability or staff priority

• Community partner priorities are patients, consumers, program delivery

• Exceptions involve those efforts dealing with sustainability such as grant proposals, project progress reports, data for program need, Board reports

Community Partners

Approaches to working with academic partners

Before working with academics, community partners should consider

• What are our needs? – Short-term technical, behind-the-scene or longer-term with

high contact with community, staff, consumers?

• What is critical? – diversity, gender, ties to area, past successful community

experience, cultural background, compassion for consumers and community, desire to work with community programs and residents, flexibility, willingness to listen?

Possible academic contributions to community partners

• Training and community education• Professional development for staff• Partners for needs assessment, focus groups, surveys,

data analysis, program models• Grants, proposals.• Literature review, meta-analysis • Preparing technical reports, abstracts, presentations,

publications

What is important to community partners?

• Respect and consideration of consumers and community are of highest concern

• Long-term respect and trust of community in organization and its staff and services are critical

• Sustainability often is a central issue for non-profit organizations

Implications of community partners priorities for academic partners

• Academic partner : Cultural competence /willingness to become more culturally competent

• Acceptance that Academic priorities vary from community partner priorities

• Realization that Long-term community service and consumer/community participation top priorities

Products of partnership : Healthy Start, Inc and University of Pittsburgh

• Continued federal funding, highest scores for proposals

• New funding sources developed and implemented

• Leadership development of MCH staff through delivery of presentations at national meetings, publications

Recommendations

• Most effective approaches involve partnerships

• Accepting differences and priorities can result in high productivity and improved quality for both academic and community partners

Questions?