Collaboration to Best Serve Families
Category: News
May 10, 2022
Working Together for Families
In the same way that parenting cannot happen in isolation, for organizations supporting parents and children, there is a need for collaboration and partnerships. Any Baby Can serves a unique and meaningful role alongside partners and community members to deliver the highest-quality services to families in need.
Due to the nature of our work, rarely can one program or nonprofit do everything for a client. In order to deliver on our mission and provide a well-rounded approach to a family’s needs we rely on community collaboration. We work with community groups—obstetricians, pregnancy centers, community health clinics, WIC, feeding centers, school districts—as well as develop partnerships with organizations with a similar client base—like Goodwill, AVANCE-Austin, Caritas of Austin, and many others.
Collaborative Approach to Service Delivery
Coordinating with community partners has benefits for everyone. For Any Baby Can, we’re able to focus on what we do best: a personal and relationship-based approach to child well-being. For other organizations that also serve our clients, we’re able to create a “warm handoff,” share information, and provide a more holistic view into the family and their circumstances.
Most importantly, partnerships benefit the parents and children we serve. Partnerships make services easier to access (for example, therapies can be delivered at a preschool or parenting classes in the home), and aligns services with the entire scope of the family’s life and needs. Ultimately, we build a network and supportive community surrounding the family.
"We want to be embedded in the community where they live. We don’t want people to come to us, we want to go them. This is just one step we can do in reducing the barriers that many clients face to accessing life-changing services," says Rebecca Elizondo, Senior Program Director at Any Baby Can.
Strength in Numbers
The early childhood sector in Central Texas is interconnected with information, and practices are shared informally in many ways. Any Baby Can participates in several formalized collaboratives and partnerships to extend our reach and impact.
The Ready Families Collaborative (RFC), which includes ten local agencies, was developed to address a wide range of services that a family may need. Through a combined database, training opportunities, capacity building and, of course, funding, RFC is impacting the lives of more than 10,000 families. RFC provides a forum for shared resources, clients and funds, which, in turn, benefits the service providers, grantors, and the families in our area.
"By working together, we elevate our common issues. Without a collaborative approach, we’re not able to make systemic changes in the community. Partnerships help achieve our individual goals, and create a pipeline within the sector where we’re smoothly transitioning families." Anurita Mittra, Director of Programs, AVANCE-Austin, member of the Ready Families Collaborative
A Pulse on the Needs of Our Community
Within Any Baby Can, we host a Community Advisory Board that brings together leaders in parent education and child development. Operating much like a Board of Directors, our Community Advisory Board serves as a sounding board for decisions related to our programs and services. The group is made up of community stakeholders, including parents, past board members, and clients, as well as representatives from insurance organizations, childcare providers, Dell Children’s Hospital, Catholic Charities, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin Independent School District, and many more.
We share outcomes, gather input, and discuss how we can be most effective in our own services and supportive to our local partners. Similarly, leadership from Any Baby Can participates in other community boards and advocacy groups related to family services and early childhood education.
Initiatives like the Community Advisory Board and the Ready Families Collaborative are just two examples of how we strive to be well connected to the needs of the community.
"The Any Baby Can staff are engaging, responsive and supportive. We enjoy working with this team and believe our community is better because of dedicated staff and leaders within organizations like Any Baby Can." Liz Cruz Garbutt, Senior Director, Family Support & Advocacy at SAFE, member of the Ready Families Collaborative
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