C. Collaborative Community Problem-Solving

2. Community Problem-Solving Process Steps

The diagram below demonstrates the relationship between the assessment process, action plan, implementation, and monitoring processes in the life of a placement.

It is divided into two columns, one emphasizes the process steps and highlights the other products at each stage. All these steps and products are essential to a successful project. Each dimension is discussed in more detail below, with a concrete example provided for each step.

(a) Organizational Development

If you are working alone or in a small group, you need to identify and recruit additional members to your team. Above we describe the categories of people we see as part of a campus-community partnership (i.e., students, staff, and community leaders). For each of these categories you want to find individuals who are dedicated to the issue at hand, have relevant experience and expertise, and/or are linked to people who do.

Assuming that the team is evolving from an existing “placement model” relationship (i.e., that students already volunteer at the site, in the neighborhood, or on the issue), the first place to start recruiting members for the team is from those individuals who have already demonstrated their commitment and expertise. Often times, neither the student project coordinator nor the placement supervisor on a project have considered moving beyond the “placement model”. For this reason, if a student or campus staff member is initiating the team building process, the best place to start is simply to sit down with the appropriate community partner and discuss the possibilities of a broader, longer-term vision for how the campus and community could work together. Sharing the material from this handbook might help you articulate not only your vision, but how it might come about. [See appendix for additional handouts you might use in these conversations and future training and planning efforts.]

Throughout the process of recruiting a team and building your organizational structure, the key ingredient to your success will be your ability to forge relationships among all members of the team. This relationship-building takes time; the biggest mistake you can make is to rush into a new initiative like this without a firm foundation of trust and experience among your leadership teammembers. The process described in this section looks neat and orderly on paper, but in reality it is a messy process full of fits and starts, wrong turns, and revised plans. The strength of the relationships within your team will determine it’s ability to manage this process and overcome the inevitable mistakes that will be made. A solid foundation of shared experience — experience in operating a straightforward placement model program — will ensure sucess.

(b) Mission

Whether you are engaged in developing a new project or refining an existing one, one of the first things you need to do is sculpt a mission statement which describes the purposes of your project. This statement will name the activities of a project (e.g., literacy work, health care, activities for seniors) and will indicate how the project team hopes things will improve (e.g., less adult illiteracy, more children in the neighborhood with necessary vaccinations, seniors will feel less isolated).

Here is a sample vision statement:

“The mission of Emory & Henry’s Public Health Team is to enhance the quality of life for all residents by ensuring that community resources are maximized and visible, through education, advocacy, and action.”

(c) Goals

If you define goals, it will help give focus to the broad direction that is typically stated in the vision/mission statement by establishing the basic areas that need to be addressed and the general outcomes that will help achieve your mission. For example:

“A goal of Emory & Henry’s health team is“to educate community residents about health issues affecting infant mortality.”

(d) Assessing Needs & Assets

At the early stage of the planning process, your group should examine both the needs of the program (organization, neighborhood, or community) and the assets of the program (organization, neighborhood, or community) which address those needs. The assessment process allows a community or individual to critically examine a given situation and provides the information needed for setting preliminary goals and making sound decisions on how best to engage in a community service activity.

(1) Assessment

As broad goals are established, the team needs a variety of information. The assessment process involves gathering information and analyzing it. It addresses questions such as: what are the real issues involved in achieving these goals? what needs to be done to achieve them? what forces are already at work? who’s affected, interested, or already involved? what are realistic outcomes?-amounts, time frames, etc?

The information needs of an Assessment and subsequent Feedback & Evaluation Strategy are as follows:

NOTE: Evaluation is different from assessment in that it steps back farther than assessment and asks if the mission is still valid, if the goals need to be updated, if the processes are working effectively, or if the team’s morale is high or low.

For example:

“Annual service beneficiary satisfaction survey.”

(2) Assessment Strategies & Meetings

The potential impact of an action plan can be limited due to insufficient follow-up on its planned activities, its objectives, and its community and member developmental goals. A time frame with a deadline is a must. The project participants need to delineate, clearly, who is responsible/accountable for the implementation of specific developmental plans. Participants can accomplish this by asking the following questions:

• What outcomes should be accomplished by set date?
• Who is responsible for accomplishing these tasks?
• What is the time line?
• Have self assessment and other feedback tools been identified, adapted, or developed for the team by a designated individual?
• Is there a process (progress report as a stand alone or as part of a meeting process) for the different stakeholders and/or team members who are responsible for a specific implementation issue to report in a tangible way the outcomes that they have achieved?
• What outcomes and process issues would the assessment and feedback tools and strategies address?

A meeting process is an essential part of the planning and subsequent project’s life . The meeting process is imperative because it creates the energy and synergy that allows the group to move forward. This is where the group builds relationships and develops trust. This is imperative because it allows the program to be supportive and critical, reflecting on the successes and challenges in reaching community and program member’s goals. This meeting process is the only way that growth/improvement will occur because it offers the members the opportunity to take part in self assessments, receive feedback from others, and to offer feedback on the team's work as a whole. A strong meeting process will ultimately improve the quality of discussions and plans made.

(3) Baseline for Action Plan and Evaluation

If the service project is to be successful, those who participate must clearly define their roles and responsibilities of those involved and the requisite competencies needed to reach the stated objectives. In addition, those working on the project must determine a plan at the onset for developing Bonners so they may grow and succeed in the needed competency areas. A systematic and intentional analyses of the following ensures fair and effective decisions are made by the team about the roles and feedback processes:

• Requirements of members and other volunteers, etc. (current and projected).
• Performance/potential levels (profiling members, hours, timeliness for components of project to be accomplished, training needed, feedback schedule, potential/scope of commitment or role of member, and adaptability)

(e) Strategies: The Action Plan

This part of the Process has to do with creating objectives, schedules, budgets, and job assignments that will help you to put your vision to work. The parts of an action plan should consist of the following:

• Objectives
• Action Plan & Time line
• Roles & Responsibilities

(1) Setting Objectives

With the information from the assessment process, the group should be able to begin developing specific objectives. These serve to define the desired outcomes in more precise terms, with quantifiable targets and time frames whenever possible. Ongoing monitoring (discussed below) will assist the team in refining the objectives. (See “Community Learning Agreement: Service and Learning Objectives” section above and Objectives Handout and Worksheets in Appendix).

A sample objective is:

“Emory & Henry’s health team will“ train two teams of 10-12 people each to be community health outreach workers for the migrant farm worker population in the area.”

(2) Developing Action Planning Strategies

If the questions outlined in the assessment and objectives section are answered, it is a relatively simple task to devise a time line/plan of action (see Guiding Questions and Action Plan Template in Appendix). An action plan needs to have the following:

• How do we get from here to there?
• What needs to be done?
• Who needs to be involved?
• Who will be most affected?
• What material resources are needed?
• What barriers can be anticipated and how might they be overcome?
• What is the best sequence of activities?
• How does the specific project fit into the larger parent or campus project (if applicable)?
• What is our funding strategy for ensuring the program is stable after this year?

These discussions build a strong , well thought out foundation for action. For example:

“A strategy of Emory & Henry’s health team to increase the number of volunteers might be “to have team members work to recruit and supervise neighborhood residents for volunteers.”

(3) Roles & Responsibilities of Team Members

The action plan should define individual roles and responsibility levels, through the use of job descriptions that are clearly tied to the relevant action plans or project plans. Specific individuals should be identified, along with roles and responsibilities, and set time frames determined to complete specific tasks.

A systematic and intentional analyses of the following is needed to ensure that fair and effective decisions are made by the team about the roles and feedback processes:

• Requirements of members and other volunteers, etc. (current and projected).
• Performance/potential levels (hours, timeliness for components of project to be accomplished, training needed, feedback/performance schedule, potential/scope of commitment or role of member, and adaptability).

For example:

“Mary will serve in the role of project coordinator for the health education committee. In this role she will recruit campus and Bonner Scholar program volunteers, track volunteer hours donated to committee, assign roles to volunteers, help train those volunteers relative to their roles, and take part in direct service activities, etc. Mary will plan three major recruitment events by the end of the school year.”

(f) Ongoing Monitoring & Evaluation

Evaluation is a time for reflection. What worked? What didn’t? What needs to be changed or fine-tuned? A few suggestions follow:

• Have people committed to do specific tasks and are they getting them done?
• What are the perceived outcomes of our project
• What are we using to measure or track our outcomes?
• Are the evidenced outcomes what we intended as stated in our objectives?
• Do we make time to reflect the intended outcomes.?
• What adjustments need to happen at earlier steps (strategies, actions) to improve the quality of our outcomes
• How will we structure processes (meeting schedule, review schedule and feedback sessions, assessment tools) to assess whether or not the team's plan of action is reaching the goals set by the team and its stakeholders (i.e., members and community development goals)?

For example:

“We need a bimonthly meeting and not a monthly meeting to ensure people are working at their assigned roles and any problems can be immediately addressed.”