So cliché?

“Two heads are better than one.”

“Power in numbers...”

“T.E.A.M. = together everyone achieves more…”

The clichés and idioms are countless, and it’s certainly nothing new to propose that collaboration and cooperation among diverse players can lead to great results. At the core of the Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, we strive to create and maintain collaborative partnerships with fellow agencies across Central Texas for the sake of improving quality and availability of literacy services.  

But have you ever stopped and asked- Who says this is how things should get done?

How are we measuring that a coalition is in fact a ‘best choice’ vehicle to foster increased community capacity for social change?

Why do these questions exist? Because measuring the impact of a coalition is complex and few evaluation tools have been designed to measure the multi-level realities of community coalitions.  

LCCT interacts with community direct services, program management, organizational management and policy at city, county and national levels.  So where do we measure from? How do we assess the big picture for what we are doing?

While LCCT believes in the good work we are achieving, and we have much to show for our efforts already- more hard data is always ideal.

LCCT is excited to announce a new project that will seek to tackle the challenges of assessing our big picture impact. We have designed a two part assessment tool in the form of an online survey that will be administered to our 50+ partner agencies. This tool was designed in consideration of best practices research for literacy services as well as in reflection of similar initiatives/projects ongoing within the health sector.

We are excited to be in the process of administering Part 1 of the survey at this time.

Part 2 will be administered in June 2012.

In August this year we will have a wealth of knowledge gathered from our partner agencies to report back out to the community and to guide future practice within the coalition.

If you would like more details about the tool, or to view a copy of this tool, you can contact Emily Pulley at epulley@willread.org.

Stay tuned for exciting new insights into the big picture impact of LCCT in the Central Texas area!

We’re not crazy, we’re just a non-profit.

I won’t lie, it’s not uncommon for us to get told that we should scale down our plans, or that we may be getting in over our heads. LCCT has been dealing with that feedback for years, and dealing with it very successfully.

Today, we met with another small organization doing very big things for the Austin community. The meeting reminded me of how small organizations can have such a large impact, and it never ceases to amaze me how these groups are making the most of their resources. The literacy programs in our network also do this every day, and it’s their support and dedication that in turn makes our influence on the community possible.

It’s difficult for some organizations and companies to understand the dynamics of the small nonprofit world. It’s understandable that we find ourselves up against doubts about our capacity, and our ability to reach a large audience from those outside of the non-profit world. In a non-profit, you have to be creative and open enough to transform limited resources into valuable services. Unfortunately, good intentions don’t always make successful organizations, and several end up closing their doors soon after they’re opened.

I’m proud to be part of a successful, 9-person organization that does the work of a mid-sized company. From my time at the Literacy Coalition, I’ve learned that the mutual respect and dedication built among a small group of hard working individuals can make for a surprisingly efficient non-profit machine. At LCCT, we’re open to changes that will allow us to make a greater impact on the community. We’re supportive of each other. We base our decisions on the people we serve. We believe in a solid work-life balance. We’ve built the trust of local non-profits and for-profits alike, and as a result have a network that helps us reach a variety of audiences. These are the things that have allowed LCCT to grow its services exponentially over the last three years, and we have no reason to slow down.

Less can most definitely be more. If you don’t believe me, take another look our previous blog posts, our Facebook page, and our website. Now that you know a little more about our inner workings, you’ll see all of those projects we’re working on in a whole new light.

Now I want to hear from other organizations in our shoes. What obstacles have you overcome as a small organization playing with the big shots? What are you proud of? What advice do you have for other small organizations?

Now go, develop for us!

A few months ago, our talented Development Officer moved on from LCCT. It was a sad time for us and we missed her (self-proclaimed) snarkyness around the office. On top of missing her personality, we gravely missed her high-quality development work. But rather than stretching our budget to hire a new development employee, we decided it would be best to split her roles (and they were many!) between a few of us here at LCCT.

Here's how my initial development meeting went down...

"So Peter (who admittedly has very minimal development experience), how would you like to take on the role of event manager, individual giving cultivation (huh, what's that!?!), and health literacy grants writing and management?"

"Umm, yeah that sounds good. Thanks." (Peter immediately heads to his computer to Google "Individual giving cultivation" and spends the following nights reading books on "The Benevon Model.")

Well, maybe it wasn't that simple...I mean, I did have a bit more to say than "umm, yeah that sounds good." But walking away from the meeting I felt like I was in a whirlwind trying to wrap my head around the new roles.

It's been a sharp learning curve (that I'm still in the midst of!), and my first big event is coming up this Sunday. It's called Literacy on Tap and it's going to be a friggin blast! It's an invite-only event (ooo la la!) and we're going to have live music, free appetizers from Zax, free beer from Jester King and Live Oak Breweries, and lots of word games. All is coming together these last few days before the event and (the purpose of this blog post) I have collaboration to thank for it.

Although I came into this position feeling a bit nervous about my new jobs, I was fully supported by colleagues, board members and volunteers. Take the Literacy on Tap planning committee for example, our planning committee is comprised of a development coworker and our ED, two members of our board of directors (one of which is the chair), and three highly committed volunteers (who happen to be two close friends of mine and my gf). This eclectic group coalesced and planned the most successful event in LCCT history! Well, that's a bit of stretch considering the event hasn't even taken place yet, but I can say that with only three more days to prepare I'm feeling very calm and stress-free. I'm confident it'll be a great event.

I've been with the Literacy Coalition for 2 years now and I've come to realize that it's the collaborative effort on projects and unending support that allows me to really love my job. I know that on any given day I can reach out to colleagues, board members, volunteers and community members for guidance and collaboration, and they'll be there without hesitation.

Comic Book Literacy

So you might be asking yourself what do Comic Books and Literacy have in common?  In early January I came across a documentary called ... Comic Book Literacy and was intrigued.  I looked into the documentary film exploring the positive potential of comics in community education and was blown away by the love of the film. The film features interviews with a number of comic book creators, publishers, artists and fans...many of whom attribute their own love of reading to comics. I had it on my "to see" list to check out ... 

Fast forward to February and I receive an email from Uncle Staple of the STAPLE! Independent Media Expo and as luck would have it he informed me that as part of the programming this year the Comic Book Literacy documentary will be screening!  The film will be shown at 4:00pm Saturday March 5th, after which there will be a Q&A panel with the film's director Todd Kent & James O'Barr, the creator of The Crow, who appears in the film as one of the interviewees.


Comic books and literacy are two subjects Uncle Staple feels strongly about, and the more I read the more I have to agree with him.  I believe that this film has an important message that needs to be shared with those in the educational and literacy communities who may not see the connection between literacy and comics.  I would encourage all of our providers to check out this film!

STAPLE! runs from 11-6 Saturday March 5th and from 12-6 Sunday March 6th... $15 for a two day pass gets you into everything but LCCT providers and friends I have news for you! I have passes for the expo & film screening that will be given away over the next few weeks at our Annual Meeting and on our FaceBook page!  LCCT will be joining the STAPLE! family for the weekend, so look for our booth and come by to say hello!

Check out these awesome trailers Uncle Staple passed to me today ... 

this one is an animated trailer, by local artist Yehudi Mercado: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXRB-s4pIYE

...and here is a trailer for the Comic Book Literacy documentary we will be screening at the show: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUvxYzhvMDA

Are you ready for volunteers?

Last time we checked in on the Institute for Excellence in Volunteer Management (i.e. our two day volunteer management extravaganza in September) people were asking, "What do we do with all of this great information now?" ... Well you didn't think we were going to leave them high and dry, did you?!

Part of the mastery of the institute's design included continued support for the participating organizations to help them clearly focus on the identified topics where they felt as though outside help was needed. University of Texas graduate students from the School of Social Work, LBJ Public Affairs, and the College of Communications are working together collaboratively with these 15 organizations:

Any Baby Can

American YouthWorks

The Austin Academy

Austin Area Interreligious Ministries (AAIM) 
Austin Free-Net

Austin Learning Academy

Communities in Schools
Caritas

El Buen Samaritano

English at Work

The Financial Literacy Coalition of Central Texas

GoodWill Central Texas

Lifeworks

Manos de Cristo
Ventanilla de Salud

It is amazing to see what is being accomplished with in the groups!  The student consultants are working together in the following focus areas:

Focus Areas: Volunteer/Staff Relations and Buy in

• Staff attitudes towards volunteers
• Levels of training (volunteer management)
• Position descriptions and roles (staff and volunteer)
• Language related to volunteers (ex. mission, website, literature)
• Expectations
• Conflict mediation procedures
• Volunteer and staff recognition

  
Focus Area: Evaluation of Volunteer Program, Staff & Volunteers

• Establishing evaluation needs
• What needs to be evaluated (volunteer program, volunteers, staff, etc) 
• Purpose of evaluation (efficacy, satisfaction, or both)
• Forms of evaluation that best aligns with organization’s needs
• Providing research, evaluation tools, applications, and useful examples 

Focus Areas: Supervision & Support

• Provide an overview of the supervision process
• Guidelines for supervising volunteers
• Effective follow up with volunteers
• Methods to provide support to your volunteers. 

Focus Areas: Policies, Procedures & Organizational Strategies

• Assess & evaluate existing policies and procedures
• Identify problem areas that could be addressed to strengthen policies and procedures
• Identify resources related to strengthening policies and procedures
• Develop hands on strategies and tools (including technology/data management) to successfully integrate policies and procedures into organizational culture

As the end of the semester is rolling around, the students are doing a great job at getting these consulting projects completed.  The next big thing will be providing the organizations with the valuable information that they've worked so hard on all semester!  Stay tuned to hear about more progress!

Institute for Excellence in Volunteer Management

For a day and a half, the Literacy Coalition offered an institute to assist our partner organizations with the task of learning more about how to effectively manage volunteers. We were able to develop and host this amazing training thanks to the Renewing Our Communities grant from the OneStar Foundation.  A partnership with Dr. Sarah Jane Rehnborg of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service ensured that we had the best of the best educating our partner agencies. We would also like to thank St. David's Episcopal Church in Austin for providing us with such wonderful accommodations and being so attentive to the needs of our guests attending the event.

After learning a wealth of knowledge about effectively managing volunteers, all institute participants are now receiving free consulting from graduate students at the University of Texas who assisted with the institute and helped our partner organizations identify things that they wanted to work on to strengthen their volunteer programs.  Students are focusing on five key areas: Volunteer & Staff Relations, Supervision & Support, Policies & Organizational Strategies, Roles for Volunteers, and Evaluation. 

Check out some pictures from our two day event below:

everyone at the institute! what a great crowd!

the marvelous Dr. Sarah Jane Renhborg

group brainstorming

great shared learning experiences!

Stay tuned for updates about the student and organization progress! 

Collaboration Sucks

As a young, idealistic, emerging professional I made a decision to enter a unique niche in the social services sector-- leading system level community change.  Collaboration has become a buzz word, not only in academia, but on the ground in the non-profit and government human services arena.  But really, why collaborate?  It's HARD.  I worked for several years with a team of other professionals who were trying to figure out this treacherous field of community change - coalition building, partnership development, and collaborative change movements.  Our motto was 'Collaboration Sucks.'  Bringing together diverse organizations to affect the common good can bring with it an array of surprising, complex, and seemingly insurmountable challenges.  We're all competing for limited resources, so why should we tell each other our programmatic weaknesses and challenges?  We are all struggling to address complex needs of very vulnerable families, so why should we take the time to talk about big-picture, community level issues and policies?  We have very different approaches to solve problems, and very different organizational cultures, so why should we try to pool our resources and advocate with one voice?  Why?  Because sometimes that is where we can make the biggest impact.  Coalitions get stuff done.  Sharing the burden of advocacy, public awareness, professional development, resource development- it makes sense.  Sometimes the rising tide really does float all boats.  However, it comes at a cost.  Hundreds of hours of staff time can be sucked away as staff attend meetings, always somewhat unclear about their role in the meetings, how to represent their agency, and confused about where conversations might be heading.  Different perspectives and values collide in very real and sometimes very emotionally challenging ways when different organizations are asked to think in different ways, and even sacrifice resources or ideas to which they have clung for decades.   My perspective on the issue is simple.  Don't collaborate unless it REALLY makes sense.  Don't just throw your hat in the ring if your agency doesn't have a clear gain from being at the table.  Don't allocate staff resources if your program will not benefit.  Collaboration is challenging and time-consuming.  So don't do it if it doesn't further your mission.  But when a chance at a powerful collaboration comes your way, engage fully, openly and passionately. Magic can happen. I've seen magic happen hundreds of times.  That's why I stick with it. -MP