BY ERICA CROSEN

Collaboration Over Competition: When Success Belongs to the Community

What could our community accomplish if we focused less on who provides the solution—and more on whether the need is being met?

Collaboration is not new to our community.  Every day, nonprofits, faith communities, businesses, government agencies, advocates, and philanthropists work together to meet community needs. Catholic Charities is part of many of those partnerships. Increasingly complex community challenges require us to move beyond individual programs toward a more coordinated understanding of the problems we’re trying to solve—and a willingness to share not only the work, but the success. 

Organizations have legitimate reasons to demonstrate their impact. Philanthropists want to know how resources are used, boards need to understand whether programs are effective, and communities should expect accountability.  But community problems rarely fit neatly within organizational boundaries.  A family may rely on different organizations for food, housing, healthcare, employment support, and other essential needs. If that family becomes more stable, whose success is it? 

The obvious answer is that the family owns their success.  However, as I said earlier, organizations need to demonstrate their outcomes, but no organization needs to own them for them to matter.  When appropriate, we need to let someone else lead, do what they do best, and collaborate to achieve the best outcomes for the people we serve.  The goal isn’t for every organization to do everything.  The goal is for the right people to do the right things at the right time, and for all of us to understand how those efforts fit together. 

Consider the challenge of childcare.  According to Joint Initiatives for Youth + Families, El Paso County has more than 46,000 children under age five but only about 18,300 childcare spots. The organization estimates that it needs more than 16,000 additional spots to meet families’ needs.  Behind those numbers are parents trying to figure out how to go to work when there is nowhere for their children to go.

Imagine a single mother with two young children. She has a steady job and stable housing. Then her childcare provider closes or can no longer accommodate her hours.  She still has a job. She still wants to work. Her employer still needs her.  But who watches her children?  She may use vacation time, ask family or friends for help, or trade shifts. But when those options run out, she risks missing work, losing hours, or jeopardizing her employment.  What began as a childcare problem has become a workforce problem, an income problem, and potentially a housing stability problem.

So how do you resolve this issue?  Expanding childcare requires more than identifying families who need it.  Providers need a path to opening and sustaining programs. Communities need ways to address costs and workforce shortages. Policymakers need to understand where existing requirements may create unnecessary obstacles.   

When an employer creates flexibility, a provider expands capacity, government removes a barrier, a philanthropist finances innovation, and a nonprofit helps a family navigate resources, who gets credit?  Everyone does. More importantly, a family has a better chance of staying stable.  And when a family succeeds, the community benefits.