Submitted by Attica Scott
Program Coordinator for the University
of Tennessee, Knoxville
FY 1995 COPC Grantee and FY 1999 COPC New Directions Grantee
Adapted from a Wingspread meeting via Lucie White (October 1999)
These guidelines are designed to be adapted by each partnership to its own conditions and circumstances and to function as an approach for action, not as a rigid prescription.
A commitment to a shared vision, values,
and goals. At the center of those goals is the creation of "sustainable
democratic urban communities." To achieve that goal, the partnerships should
develop and proceed through an ongoing democratic process and approach that
emphasizes increasing the capacity and power of the local community and
its members, helping to achieve genuine equality.
Partnerships should be based on respect
between and among the partners, as well as a respect for and commitment
to the partnership.
The partnership should be long-term, serious, and sustained, involving multiple sectors in deepening and broadening relationships.
Partnerships should be based on mutual
and common benefit and the need for change and improvement of all
partners.
Learning, research, and assessment
of the partnership and its results should be ongoing.
Partnerships should be based on actions that
involve concrete, real world successes that lead to achieving sustainable
communities.
Partnerships should involve institutional structures that promote institutional change and ongoing innovation, as well as cooperation and collaboration among partners.