|
Brizius and Foster (1993) give the following reasons for family
literacy programs to build partnerships with other agencies:
- to use existing resources and expertise, as much as possible, to
create and implement a family literacy program;
- as a means of identifying and learning about your community's
needs and resources from those directly involved;
- to gain the support of agencies, institutions, and government;
- to raise the resources to do a good job; and
- to prepare the community for a family literacy program (79)
The reasons family literacy coordinators gave for seeking partners
during our 1995 interviews are given in Table 2 in Chapter IV. They
can be summarized as:
- recruitment/access to target group
- financial reasons
- to include family literacy as one component of another program
- because it "makes sense" in terms of natural evolution
of community services, being the most efficient, effective means of
delivering programs
- to create a greater awareness of family literacy
Finally, one coordinator explained her reasons for seeking community
partners in terms of a recognition that family literacy collaborations
may strengthen the family unit, and increase the self-concept of
individuals within a family so that they can be less than helpless.
Concerns about partnerships
While an integrated approach to meeting individual and family needs
is generally acknowledged as beneficial and desirable, there are those
who raise important concerns. Capper (1994) cites a range of sources
to support the idea that inter-agency coordination in itself is no
guarantee of positive changes in service delivery and may lead to the
following problems:
- centralization of services, which can limit client choices,
result in organizational goals to meet organization rather than
client needs, and put pressure on limited financial resources by
increasing access and demand for services (258);
|