Collaborating for Impact

There's no telling what can be accomplished when grantees band together in their community. Take three Portland-area TCE grantees for example: all three grantees were looking for ways to sustain their program. Through National Center support and encouragement, the three grantees discussed ways their individual sustainability plans might be enhanced by working together. Specifically, they discussed the idea of holding a public forum to demonstrate the value of their three existing mental health promotion programs in Portland to potential funders and key stakeholders. The forum concept took hold as a means to showcase all three of their efforts and thus create greater funding opportunities for all of them.

Because the three grantees were providing mental health promotion programs in three very different venues to different client groups, their first hurdle was creating a common theme for the forum. Their initial concern was that they didn't have common stakeholders or funders. However, their conversation soon turned to what they did have in common - a shared vision of how mental health promotion and care should be delivered - in schools, primary-care settings, in child-care settings - in other words, where families in need of mental health support feel comfortable and at ease.

" That we were really different was actually helpful," said Liza Andrew-Miller, Program Coordinator of the Washington County Enhanced First Step to Success program . The fact that they had three different methodologies for mental health promotion, each with its own evidence of success, was a powerful demonstration that prevention programs not only work but are already in place in the greater Portland area and more importantly, should remain in the Portland area.

"Coming together helped us to think out of the box," said Graham Harriman, program manager for the TCE grant on racial and ethnic disparities at the Multnomah County Health Department. "At the end of our first meeting, we figured out that we really did have a common vision."

In their meetings, each grantee brought a unique perspective to the process. They were not just creating a forum; they were developing opportunities for longer term synergies between the grant projects. According to Andrew-Miller, the key was working together and looking at the program from each other's perspective to understand the bigger picture. "Unless you turn on some light bulbs, you're going to get stuck in the same old rut," she said.

As evidence of their turning on those "light bulbs", this past June, the three grantees co-hosted a forum entitled "Collaborative Mental Health Care, Service Delivery in Community Based Hosts ". Over 40 attendees participated and represented education, health care, BUSINESS (insurance company), and foundation audiences. The three grantees presented outcomes from their respective programs, heard from people who had benefited from the programs and from others who were responsible for implementing prevention programs. The audience left the meeting understanding the nature of the grantees' work as well as the need to continue the work after the grants end. The grantees received positive feedback for their efforts and developed an action plan for next steps in securing funding and other support.

Most important, through the process of creating a joint forum, the grantees began to think that they were trying to achieve more than a means for sustaining their individual programs; they were transforming the way mental health care was delivered in the state of Oregon. They began to think that as a group, they and others in Oregon could begin to shape policy and budget-setting statewide for mental health care.

The bigger picture is somewhat daunting, Dr. David White, Project Director Multnomah County Incredible Years Project said. There are a lot of barriers in terms of time, commitment and energy, "but what we are doing seems to make a lot of sense."

Grantees working together have a greater ability to demonstrate how successful prevention programs can be and how vital they are to policy and budget discussions - there is strength in numbers.

"The most important piece was getting together and comparing notes," White said. "The whole process was validating, encouraging and energizing," he said.

David, Graham and Liza offer the following advice for grantees considering working with other grantees in their area:

• Seek out other grantees and community-based organizations with common goals and shared benefits - work together to determine where the win-win opportunities may lie.
• Identify key community leaders who understand and share your vision; educate and encourage them on how important and vital their voices are with respect to policy and budget changes.
• Talk with state and local health and social service officials. Find out what their goals are for programs and services to discover synergies with your goals.

One further insight from the Portland grantees: Stakeholders play a very important role and have a powerful voice in setting policy and budgets - they may not realize it. Teachers, principals, doctors, and childcare providers can be strong mental health advocates and have a great impact on services available to children and families. Grantees should take every opportunity to educate stakeholders and help them understand their role in improving mental health promotion and violence prevention.