[Partnerships] due date change of cp a/n assessment

Fri Feb 22 17:34:17 EST 2002

Here, here. In fall River, the School Libnked Services community planning
process (which has very minimal requirements) has merged with the adult
literacy community planning proces. A big benefit to both.

----- Original Message -----
From: <aserino at mindspring.com>
To: <abrick at channel1.com>; <aserino at mindspring.com>; <cgannon at qcc.mass.edu>;
<partnerships at lists.literacytent.org>
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 5:03 PM
Subject: RE: Re: Re: [Partnerships] due date change of cp a/n assessment

> O.K., I agree and I would like to add that we may be missing out on
opportunities to leverage other resources for community planning and
coalition building, if the process is too prescriptive.  For example, every
Community Action Program is required to do communtiy planning every three
years.  It would be great to coordinate with them and combine our talents.
> Perhaps, there are other groups in the community (School Links Programs,
Health Centers, Housing Coalitions) that do some form of community planning
that we could work with.  If we had enough flexibility, we would be in a
better position to maximize our resources and the community's resources.
>
> Anne
>
> Sorry to hear that you are fighting a cold.
> I'm fine.
>
> Original Message:
> -----------------
> From: Alan Brickman abrick at channel1.com
> Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 16:42:26 -0500
> To: aserino at mindspring.com, cgannon at qcc.mass.edu,
partnerships at lists.literacytent.org
> Subject: Re: Re: [Partnerships] due date change of cp a/n assessment
>
>
> Hi Anne:
>
> See what happens when you respond to these list serv questions when you
> fighting a cold and feeling grouchy....? There are several ways in which
the
> "cookie cutter" dynamic in terms of the DOE requirements doesn't work for
> me.  The calendar, as you say, will be different in different communities.
> Also, the human resources: communities with only one funded literacy
program
> have only a limited number of people who can work on this, and those
> communities sometime find it difficult to bring in other agencies and
> individuals who don't have the DOE requirement and have their own worries
> (especially now with the funding situation as it is). Also, if you
believe,
> as I do, that a comprehensive "PhD-level" assessment of community assets
and
> needs is beyond the capacity of the programs (and certainly way beyond
what
> is possible with the funding that has been made available for this
process),
> then communities need to pick their shots in terms of the data gathering,
> and should, for example, identify assets that are relevant to successfully
> implementing specific initiatives or plans that the partnership can
> preliminarily identify as relevant to the communtiy's needs.  Some
> communities should focus their assets assessment on social service
> resources, others on employment training and job placement resources,
others
> on available classroom space or computer labs, others on vehicles for
> communication and community outreach, ..., eveyone can't do everything.
> Remember, they also have to get census data, labor market data, learner
> focus groups, key informant interviews, etc. for the needs assessment part
> of the process. The DOE requirements, and all the communication from DOE
on
> this, does not allow for community uniqueness in designing and
implementing
> the assets and needs assessment process. People need to be allowed to do
> what is meaningful and feasible in the context of their unique community
> circumstances.
>
> Am I ranting?
>
> BTW: How are you?
>
> -- Alan
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <aserino at mindspring.com>
> To: <abrick at channel1.com>; <cgannon at qcc.mass.edu>;
> <partnerships at lists.literacytent.org>
> Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 4:22 PM
> Subject: RE: Re: [Partnerships] due date change of cp a/n assessment
>
>
> > Hi Alan,
> > Don't hold back - tell us what you really think.  Can you talk a little
> bit more about why your groups think that the needs assessment is
frivolous?
> > Do you think that part of the problem is that the DOE is using the same
> schedule for every community - even though the capacity to do community
> planning and the "timing" of doing the steps in different communities
might
> be very different.  Maybe this is an opportunity for communities to take
> more control of the process and invent their own "calendar" of steps.
> > Anne Serino
> >
> > Original Message:
> > -----------------
> > From: Alan Brickman abrick at channel1.com
> > Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 15:11:26 -0500
> > To: CGannon at qcc.mass.edu, partnerships at lists.literacytent.org
> > Subject: Re: [Partnerships] due date change of cp a/n assessment
> >
> >
> > Hi Cathy:
> >
> > I am working with two groups on their community assessment. The
> postponement
> > reinforces for people that this is basically a frivolous
> > exercise/funder-hoop-to-jump-through that is unconnected to the
> development
> > of the partnership. They'll do it, but give it a lesser priority for
now,
> > and the pushed back due date just means that people can focus on other
> > things for a while. There are not sufficient resources to conduct the
> > assessment the way that DOE describes it, anyway. May 2003 is so far
into
> > the 5 year funding cycle, that by the time the data will be available to
> > support the strategic planning at the community level, the funding cycle
> > will be over.  Another example of how community planning was a wonderful
> > idea that was ruined in the way it was implemented.
> >
> > -- Alan
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Cathy Gannon <CGannon at qcc.mass.edu>
> > To: <partnerships at lists.literacytent.org>
> > Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 2:33 PM
> > Subject: [Partnerships] due date change of cp a/n assessment
> >
> >
> > > Hi Community Planning Coordinators et al,   I am wondering what effect
> the
> > > postponement of the community planning assessment of assets and needs
> has
> > > had upon the work of your partnership.    Are you progressing as you
had
> > > originally planned?  How have you changed your assessment plan because
> of
> > > the extra time available?  Has everything gone on the back burner?
Does
> > the
> > > extra time necessarily mean a better assessment ?
> > >
> > > We (all of us on this list!) are interested in how you are handling
> this.
> > >
> > > Cathy Gannon
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
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