Defining Roles

• Overview
• Stories and Models from the field
• Tools
• Tips for RC/EZ/ECs
• Links

Overview

Establishing and sustaining partnerships is an important part of the health planning process. One way to ensure a successful partnership is by defining clear roles and responsibilities for the partners involved. This will give the partners a sense of purpose and a sense of ownership in the health planning process. Deciding up front what the RC/EZ/EC wants the partnership to accomplish and how they are going to accomplish it can also serve as a motivational tool.

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Stories and Models from the field

Placing Responsibility in the Hands of the Community
Josephine County, Oregon EC (Round I)

The Josephine County EC actually consists of two separate geographic areas, each with its own Community Response Team (CRT), the Sunny Wolf CRT and the Illinois Valley CRT. Both CRTs are designated as 501(c)3 nonprofit corporations and both are directed entirely by local residents, most of whom are low-income. In both organizations, residents make all programmatic and funding decisions.

The residents of these communities have developed a tiered system that enables them to have total control. At the beginning of the EC application process, the Josephine County Commissioners determined that they did not want to participate in the decision-making process. This continues to hold true. The lead entity for the EC is the Enterprise Community Coordinating Council (ECCC), made up of eight members. Each CRT designates four representatives to sit on the ECCC. The ECCC, in turn, serves as an advisory council to the Board of County Commissioners but receives its authority entirely from the two CRTs. In practice, the Coordinating Council automatically approves the programmatic and funding decisions of the Community Response Teams and the Commissioners add their stamp of approval. In this way, the residents of Josephine County have succeeded in defining a clear role for themselves and the political structures that govern the EC.

By organizing and defining roles, the CRTs have been successful at carrying out various health improvement activities. The Illinois Valley Family Resource Center implements similar organization and role-definition in the structure of it's Family Services Team (or FaST) FaST brings together representatives from various community agencies in a twice-monthly meeting. These include the local rural health clinic, Adult and Family Services, the Job Council and the Josephine County Health Department. Here they work with clients to determine what the family needs to improve its health and standard of living. Each agency then contributes what it is appropriately able. The FaST allows each agency representative to bring their expertise to the table while assigning them responsibility for a specific part of the client's care.

Miami/Dade County, Florida EZ (Round II)

The Miami/Miami-Dade County EZ has succeeded in clearly defining the roles that its partners play in its Weed and Seed Program. The Weed and Seed program seeks to create communities where citizens feel safe and where economic development can thrive. It does this through a "weed and seed" strategy of tough law enforcement ("weeding") and the simultaneous creation of a broad social services network ("seeding"). The role of "weeding" the area is assigned to the various law enforcement and criminal justice agencies and organizations. The EZ teamed up with the US Attorney's office to implement law enforcement strategies that resulted in 26 Federal indictments and disabled Liberty City's two most violent and notorious drug organizations. This resulted in a significant reduction in homicides within the Weed and Seed area. Community policing and an offender re-entry program continue to be a part of what the EZ has designated as its law enforcement side of the weed and seed strategy.

Seventy-six social and economic agencies manage the second part of the weed and seed strategy - prevention, intervention and treatment. These agencies work together through a series of clearly defined subcommittees. Agencies are assigned to various subcommittees by the Weed and Seed director according to their discipline and preferences. Subcommittees related to health are assigned to topics such as environmental health, asthma and cancer. The Weed and Seed program has also designated its Health Concerns Committee to address the issue of gaps and duplications in services. To do this, it has brought together a consortium of health care providers, community-based organizations and faith leaders to determine just what role each provider is and should be fulfilling. This is yet another way that the Miami/Miami-Dade County EZ is defining roles.

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Tools

Forming Partnership Agreements

How can partners effectively assist in the development and implementation of the RC/EZ/EC health plan? The following provides factors to consider when delineating the roles and responsibilities of partners.

What are partnership agreements?

• Memoranda of understanding and/or informal agreements between public or private partners that establish relationships or formalize existing relationships of benefit to both partners

What are essential components of partnership agreements?

• Mutually agreed upon, clearly defined purpose
• Clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and operating procedures
• Shaped by mutual respect and trust

What are potential roles for partners?

• Link and consult with civic groups, health organizations, planning councils, and other groups to address community health issues
• Lead community initiatives, including fundraising and policy development
• Facilitate community input through meetings, events, or advisory groups
• Provide technical assistance and guidance for program planning and policy development
• Collect and analyze data; conduct literature reviews, research, or assessments
• Develop and present education and training programs
• Educate elected officials and policy makers on health issues
• Market the plan
• Publish a midcourse review
• Provide resources (for ideas, see Funding)
• Monitor/analyze health-related legislation
• Evaluate components of RC/EZ/EC plan
• Provide long-term support to sustain health initiatives

Determining Roles, Responsibilities and Means of Communication (Sample)

Once partners have developed a partnership agreement and outlined their specific responsibilities, it is time for each partner to assess how they will go about fulfilling their purpose and with whom they need to communicate with in order to ensure success.

Groups often overlook the interim steps that need to be taken before they can go about fulfilling their predetermined role. This worksheet can be used to identify partners, determine their roles and expected contributions, consider what steps they will need to take in order to get there and which other stakeholders they will need to communicate with if they want be successful. The blocks that have been filled in serve as an example for RC/EZ/ECs to use as they begin this process.

Participant Roles & Responsibilities (Sample)

All participants' responsibilities

• Contribute personal and professional experience and expertise to the group.
• Speak up for and faithfully represent community, professional, or constituency perspectives.
• Identify work group decisions that may present a conflict of interest and abstain from committee votes on these matters.

Steering Group

• Composition
  • Comprised of approximately 20-30 private and public sector leaders, community members, and experts. Includes 5-10 members from RC/EZ/EC agencies.
  • Co-chaired by the RC/EZ/EC director and a community leader.
  • All members have an equal say in decisions and an equal vote in the plan's adoption.
• Roles
  • Develop and adopt the RC/EZ/EC's health plan.
  • Guide a well-coordinated, sound, inclusive, and efficient process to develop the plan.
  • Determine a process to select priority or focal areas, decide priorities, set the parameters, and choose a format for objectives.
  • Establish work groups, delegate tasks, and approve work group recommendations.
  • Identify technical assistance and data needs for the steering group.
  • Serve as the focal point for all community input and review data needed to make decisions.
  • Help secure commitments from community partners needed to oversee the plan.
  • Plan ways to sustain and monitor the RC/EZ/EC's health plan.
• Member responsibilities
  • Participate in steering group meetings (meeting frequency to be established by the group).
  • Participate in at least one work group.

Executive Committee of the Steering Group

• Composition
  • Comprised of the steering group co-chairs and work group chairs.
• Roles
  • Ensure the steering group and work groups accomplish tasks on schedule.
  • Make decisions and manage details between meetings, as referred by the steering group.
  • Help the co-chairs plan an agenda and methods to accomplish group goals.
  • Identify ways to improve the process and resolve problems.
  • Plan an evaluation of the process.
• Member responsibilities
  • Participate in teleconference meetings monthly, or as needed.
  • Communicate with work groups, staff, and others to fulfill the Executive Committee's coordination function.

Work Groups

• Composition
  • Comprised of the steering group members and others who have interest or expertise in the subject.
  • Chaired by a steering group member.
• Roles
  • Develop objectives, recommend strategies, and draft other components of the plan as assigned by the steering group.
  • Gather and review detailed information needed to develop priority areas of the plan.
  • Help ensure the plan is a practical guide for community action.
  • Identify technical assistance needs of members and communicate these to the RC/EZ/EC director or work group staff.
• Member responsibilities
  • Participate in meetings by teleconference or in person as determined by the work group.

RC/EZ/EC Health Planning Coordinator (The community's designated health representative to the RC/EZ/EC planning process)

• Roles
  • Serves as lead RC/EZ/EC staff support to the steering group.
  • Provides guidance and helpful national, state, or local resources to the steering group.
  • Serves as link to RC/EZ/EC management team (see roles below).
  • Coordinates requests and feedback to RC/EZ/EC contractors, if any (e.g. data experts, consultants, marketing companies, graphic designers, printers).
  • Manages RC/EZ/EC resource contributions to support the planning process.
  • Edits and prepares the plan and any companion documents for publication.
  • Manages the time line for planning.
  • Organizes steering group meetings and mailings. Ensures meetings are open and accessible.
• Responsibilities
  • Attends steering group meetings as lead RC/EZ/EC staff support (not as a voting member).
  • Updates RC/EZ/EC management team and the governor on the state plan.

RC/EZ/EC Senior Staff

• Composition
  • Comprised of senior RC/EZ/EC staff
• Roles
  • Coordinate RC/EZ/EC staff technical support to the steering group.
  • Assign one RC/EZ/EC staff member (if possible), who is not a member of the steering group, to provide technical support to each work group.
  • Coordinate administrative support for the steering group and fill administrative support gaps in work groups.
  • Coordinate efforts to identify and secure resources for the RC/EZ/EC plan.
  • Facilitate involvement of leaders.
  • Develop and handle details of the marketing plan, with input from the steering group

RC/EZ/EC Support Staff

• Roles
  • Assist the steering group or work groups as assigned.
  • Ensure that members have the information they need to make decisions.
  • Compile and analyze data, offer expert opinion, present options, and draft text based on group suggestions, as requested.
  • Assess whether the chair or co-chair requires administrative or technical assistance to prepare for each meeting.
• Responsibilities
  • Regularly attend meetings as assigned.
  • Respond to technical assistance requests and communicate additional requests to the RC/EZ/EC health planning coordinator.
  • Allow members to fully discuss and vote on priorities. Offer members input and information when requested or essential.

Adapted from: Healthy Delaware 2010 Project. Public Health Foundation, 1999.

These technical assistance resources for RC/EZ/ECs were funded by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through a cooperative agreement administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and prepared by the Public Health Foundation. Duplication and adaptation, with credit, are encouraged.

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Tips for RC/EZ/ECs

• Confirm commitments - in writing where possible.
• Accept that some partners will have different levels of commitment.
• Define the strengths of your partners and match them with needed roles.
• Find out what people are willing to do and not do.
• Develop a partnership opportunity sheet for roles that are not filled.
• Clarify roles and responsibilities up front.
• Partners should understand others' roles and how they fit in.
• Understand that roles and responsibilities may shift over time.
• Be mindful of the political environment, since this can slow or speed your planning process.
• Balance responsibilities so political shifts do not ruin the process.
• Involve constituents of local government.
• Determine if the RC/EZ/EC is stronger as a partner in someone else's sandbox. Lend RC/EZ/EC support to existing initiatives rather than convening new ones.
• Understand where power lies in the community and who has enforcement power, advisory power, or legislative power

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Links

McCreary Centre - Defining The Roles
The McCreary Centre is dedicated to "fostering a wider understanding of youth health." The Centre's Youth Advisory Council "provides a 'youth-friendly' forum for young people to develop skills needed for effective participation as well as providing opportunities to make real contributions." This web page offers a good example of how groups can define the roles and responsibilities of its members.

The Sustainable Communities Network
This site offers resources to support communities in developing safe, livable, healthy communities using "integrative, inclusive and participatory" methods. Their goal is to foster "innovative strategies that can produce communities that are more environmentally sound, economically prosperous, and socially equitable."

The site includes case studies and information about the principles of sustainability and visioning, community indicators, planning in neighborhoods and what tools are available to help. Groups are also able to locate their local community network and civic engagement opportunities. Useful sections related to role definition include:

Building Partnerships

Public/Private Partnerships

Community, State, Regional and Federal Relations
which contains an interesting case study that outlines how the various stakeholders in the Tri-State Implementation Council coordinated their roles to protect the quality of the Clark Fork-Pend Orielle watershed.

Strengthening the Rural-Urban Connection
Strengthening the Rural-Urban Connection seeks to "align rural and urban community builders to exchange opinions, expertise, and success stories in the hopes of promoting a transfer of learning based on experiences in community development." The project is sponsored by the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, an independent, nonprofit, Nebraska-based organization. "A major focus of the Heartland Center is the development of practical resources and public policies for rural community success." This web site includes a rural-urban literature review on health care, downloadable working papers and links to other community empowerment organizations. This site is of interest to RC/EZ/ECs that wish to include partners from rural and urban settings and are wondering how these two categories of partners can work together towards successful solutions.

The Community Toolbox
The mission of the Community Tool Box is to promote community health and development by connecting people, ideas and resources. The web site provides tools needed to build healthier and stronger communities. The web site also provides information for those interested in a variety of community health and development issues and connects individuals to personalized assistance for improving community change efforts. The site offers information about:

Developing a Management Plan
contains a tool for defining the roles of directors, staff and Boards of Directors.

Working Together for Healthier Communities: A Framework for Collaboration Among Community Partnerships, Support Organizations, and Funders
outlines steps for community collaboration and proposes a "Memorandum of Collaboration" and accompanying tools.

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