Journal of Public Affairs Education

Linking Students with Community in Collaborative Governance
The first and foremost barrier that I foresee is one of survival or self
interest. Many of these service providers are in reality competitors
for the same funding sources. If the networking structure indicates
that a specific organization(s) need to focus their efforts in a different
direction or that funding should be allocated toward an endeavor that
is not a core mission of an organization; then that organization faces
the need for change or a lack of relevancy.
Students’ reading of the literature and exposure to community members also
focused their attention on the potential for relational conflicts, or lack of trust.
For instance:
As each organization strives to find its role and maintain relevance
in such a competitive culture where limited funding forces agencies
to compete against each other. As performance equals funding
organizations will seek to create new benchmarks for performance and
work to secure funding to maintain their existence. This adversarial
system breeds conflict between organizations that may detract from
collaborative efforts and service provision.
Last, students demonstrated an ability to apply theory to the barriers. For instance,
the following journal excerpt addresses the barrier of coordination across
organizational cultures.
A final challenge regarding the establishment of a network among the
various agencies is the inherent differences in the sectors involved.
These differences in sector orientation are important because they will
likely affect how each organization establishes priorities, interprets
situations, commits funding, and interacts with other players. The
challenge will be in designing a collaborative network that can keep
members from each of the sectors committed to the network while
allowing enough flexibility so that each of these orientations can be
satisfied.
Lessons Learned, Applicable Theories, and Contribution to Community
Table 3 summarizes student reflections from the third and final journal assignment,
which was submitted just before the finalization of recommendations
to the child-serving community. Students were asked to consider lessons learned
through bridging course content with field research, identify applicable theories
to assist the child-serving community, and specify the nature of the contribution
the class will be making to the community.
106 Journal of Public Affairs Education