Collaborating with Faith and Community-Based Organizations: Lessons Learned

The evaluation has "focused on understanding the strategies used to promote collaboration—by documenting implementation strategies and challenges, identifying promising practices, and gleaning lessons that can be useful to other Workforce Investment Boards and workforce investment partners seeking to collaborate with Faith Based Community Organizations (FBCOs).

Three main research questions guided the evaluation:

1. What strategies did grantees use to promote collaboration?

2. To what extent were the strategies effective?

3. What implementation lessons did grantees and other collaboration partners learn?" (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

Partner with organizations that have existing relationships with Faith Based Community Organizations (FBCOs) to recruit FBCOs. While grantees used a variety of strategies to inform FBCOs about sub-award opportunities, personal contacts by staff at workforce agencies or intermediaries that already had relationships with FBCOs appeared to be an effective strategy. Select FBCOs with sufficient capacity to manage grants and provide services. WIBs seeking to collaborate with FBCOs should consider their community ties to ensure that their strengths and experience are aligned with the needs of the target population. During site visits, WIB, One-Stop, and FBCO staff talked about the importance of defining partners’ roles and responsibilities and aligning them with each partner’s mission, culture, and strengths. Considering these factors makes the roles and responsibilities of each partner realistic and achievable. WIBs should be prepared to provide training for FBCOs that lack the necessary background or experience to fulfill an assigned role or responsibility. WIBs that decide to use FBCOs to recruit job seekers and then refer them to One-Stop centers must ensure that all partners are invested in the referral process and understand their roles. Designate a liaison from the One-Stop center. Co-locate FBCO staff at the One-Stop center. Create an efficient and supportive process for referring clients to the One-Stop centers. To ensure adherence to federal guidelines, WIBs should conduct ongoing monitoring of religious activities. Recognize that FBCOs with relatively small budgets may need assistance to cover upfront costs. (p. 21-24). (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2007
• Author(s): Paulsell, Diane; Max, Jeffrey; Derr, Michelle; Burwick, Andrew
• Organizational Author(s): Mathmatica Policy Research, Inc.
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by:
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies