High-Performance Partnerships - National Academy of Public ...

FOREWORD
overnment is not alone in facing this challenge. The nonprofit sector also copes with
G the pressure to compete for funding and produce more, often with less. In fact, the
lines of demarcation among the public, nonprofit, and business sectors are fading. Yet
new models for cross-sector collaboration have not fully crystallized, as the rules of engagement
are evolving.
For the past two years, the National Academy
of Public Administration has explored a model
that holds tremendous promise for meeting
today’s challenges and achieving significant
long-term results: the high-performance
cross-sector partnership. This effort demonstrates
how the sectors, working together, can
more effectively serve the public. It also shows
that customer satisfaction, performance measurement,
and accountability are more than
buzzwords. They drive many organizations,
and they should.
This report draws on the experiences of ten
cross-sector partnerships—some well established
and others newly created. The Academy
brought them together in “design labs” where
practitioners, citizens, and other key stakeholders
shared their knowledge and experiences.
These partnerships were specifically selected
because of their diverse structure, scope, maturity,service
responsibilities, operating environments,
and geographic location. They are:
Medical Care for Children Partnership
(Fairfax County, Virginia)
Healthy Families Partnership (Hampton,
Virginia)
Lapham Park Venture (Milwaukee,
Wisconsin)
5 A Day for Better Health Program
(National Cancer Institute)
Neighborhoods in Bloom (Richmond,
Virginia)
Family Strengthening Coalition
(Indianapolis, Indiana)
Neighborhood Based Service Delivery (Des
Moines, Iowa)
Safe Passages (Oakland, California)
Caregiver/Employer Project (Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services)
The PODER Project (Denver, Colorado)
This report identifies the characteristics of a
high-performance partnership and how the
approach differs from more traditional crosssector
relationships. It describes how a highperformance
partnership works in practice and
why many communities are striving to implement
one. Through this effort, public, nonprofit,
and civic organizations can achieve better
and more collaborative outcomes in the
delivery of public services.
This research effort was funded primarily by
the Annie E. Casey Foundation, whose primary
mission is to improve outcomes for families
and children. The Casey Foundation recognizes
that a community’s environmental and
social factors play major roles in strengthening
or destabilizing families. The Foundation
seeks to nurture cross-sector partnerships that
can integrate the service needs of communities,
families, and children.
The design labs were supported by two national
organizations interested in this subject: the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS) and America’s Promise. CMS, an
agency within the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, is responsible for the
8 Powering the Future: High-Performance Partnerships