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

PARTNERSHIP CASE STUDIES
chapter three
Keys to Success
In Richmond, like many cities, there is a statistical
correlation between vacant or abandoned
housing and crime rates. Thus, reducing crime
was part of the goal for stabilizing the neighborhoods.
From 2000 to 2002, crime fell by 15
percent in the six NIB areas, compared to 5
percent for the rest of the city.
Unfortunately, neighborhood revitalization is
not achieved quickly. Decades of decline cannot
be reversed in a few short years. NIB’s
long-term success will be judged by a steady
increase in home ownership rates, housing values,
and resident satisfaction. Based on current
data and anecdotal evidence, the partnership
is on track to achieve its goal.
Challenges
Given its relative youth, NIB has not reached
full maturity as a high-performance partnership.
Long-term stability is not yet assured.
The trust level among partners has increased
dramatically, but still is tenuous. Effective and
timely communication has proved challenging.
The sheer number of partners contributes to
the difficulty of keeping everyone informed
and obtaining timely input.
NIB works in extremely distressed conditions.
Some of these neighborhoods have had little or
no private investment for many years. NIB has
harvested “low hanging fruit” and must ratchet
up its performance to continue revitalizing
neighborhoods. Some partners have not been
able to meet this demanding standard and program
adjustments are underway. However, the
community strongly supports NIB and has
fought hard to preserve the partnership.
Although only three years old, NIB has
achieved significant successes. The timing and
environment were ripe for a radical change in
how Richmond and the nonprofit community
did business. All sectors—public, nonprofit,
and civic—were committed to substantially
altering the city’s strategy to neighborhood
revitalization because the traditional approach
had not produced lasting results. Competition
among nonprofits for limited resources had
been the norm. The Local Initiative Support
Corporation spearheaded significant change in
how the community development corporations
interacted. It led the effort to forge close
working relationships in the nonprofit community.
The public and civic sectors also
enjoyed strong leadership that propelled the
partnership’s movement in its early stages.
Elected officials made very difficult choices
when redirecting resources to targeted neighborhoods.
Doing so was made easier because
the partnership is inclusive and data driven.
Keys to long-term success will be using those
same data sources to track neighborhood
progress over time and sustaining the leadership
so critical to NIB’s initial outcomes.
50 Powering the Future: High-Performance Partnerships