M7: Assignment- Community Partnership Research Project,

Track B

Step #1: Working Together for a Common Goal

Identify potential organizations where you could introduce and assist with a
small-scale Partnership Project.

Merced School Employees and Federal Credit Union is a not-for-profit, member-owned

financial cooperative providing financial banking services to multiple member groups, but
primarily serves education employees. “In 1954 seven Merced school employees looking for a
safe and affordable place to save and borrow money, came together to start Merced School
Employees Federal Credit Union. Robert Wayne, one of the founding seven and Manager for 39
years, ran the credit union out of a shoe box in his apartment for the first four years! Since our
humble beginning, MSEFCU has grown to four full service brick and mortar branches in Merced
County and four student-run branches in local area high schools.” (N/a, 2021). Their mission is
to help members achieve their financial goals by building lifelong relationships within our
diverse community, one member at a time, through a wide array of products and services. I
identify this financial institution as a strategic partner that can assist my partnership project
called The Student Connection because in its corporate responsibilities, Merced School
Employees and Federal Credit Union have gone out of their way to help to advance racial
equality and economic opportunity. In turn, I have equally identified Best Buy as a potential
partner to assist my small-scale project. It is an American multinational consumer electronics
retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota.

Begin contacting organizations.Share an overview of the course with them and

exactly what a small-scale project will entail.

In the course, EDU 402, Partnering to Advance Educational Initiatives, assesses informal and
formal partnerships in the non-profit, business, government, community, and private sectors
designed to create innovative and sustainable educational initiatives. This course allows students
to interact with so many different types of stakeholders and a very different lineup of course
materials to gain a better understanding of effective partnerships that make points that deal with
social concerns and meet the needs of diverse populations. Students are then called to review and
talk about case studies from organizations around the world in order to learn firsthand about how
many different types of partnerships and collective impact agreements. As well as research and
evaluate cross sector programs and initiatives, develop a partnership toolkit, and design and
develop a partnership project with a group of stakeholders to advance an educational initiative
that addresses social concerns. The course equally makes good use of technology tools that help
us communicate, collaborate, present, and share information with peers, stakeholders,
community members, and professors with the primary objective to develop strategies for
establishing formal and informal partnerships to advance efforts and create an educational
initiative. Gathering this information, I decided to create this small project that is called The
Student Collection to help make a difference in the lives of children who come from low-
income families and diverse families as well in hopes to create a change in the educational
system of schools.

The Student Collection is a small partnership project I decided to create designed to aim
students who may not have the money/means to get the learning materials they need to help them
succeed in school in the Merced area located in California. The development of a small-scale
partnership that gives their focus on education is a plan of action that I decided to institute to
broaden resources such as pens/pencils, notebooks, calculators, laptops, and access to the
internet. These resources will help children that may come from low income families. The help
with these resources will help improve the outcomes of these students with their path in
education. It will also close the learning gap that is going on in the educational system that is in
the communities. This project is an effort to help improve education in the low income school
areas by encouraging collaboration with various areas with the help and primary support of
Merced School Employees and Credit Union who would help fund my program by providing a
laptop and school supplies per household in these communities that need the help. By doing this,
it will then better help the students' outcomes in school by bringing to light what materials they
need to succeed in the course at hand. So many different ideas and strategies will also be coming
from other partners such as Best Buy who have helped so many different people and
communities by bringing in other teachers from different areas in order to come up with new and
innovative ideas that would help these children in schools.

Discuss the possible areas in which they may be interested in creating a

partnership.

Merced School Employees and Credit Union is invited as an investor to fund financially so they
may provide students who come from lower income families as well as communities with one
computer per household with the help and partnership of Best Buy. Some of the staff and
employees from Best Buy have decided to volunteer to help these students adjust to the new
technology that will be provided to the students and their families.

Step #2: Forming Strategic Partnerships and Common Agendas

Meet with stakeholders of the organization/partnership to determine goals
and common agendas.

Looking back at the collective impact forum organization, maintaining a common goal is one of
the main concepts of collective impact which signifies a perception of change that is shared by
everyone who is involved in the project who have a habitual grasp of the problem and share a
collective perspective to help solve the problem with actions they have all go along with. NOw,
meeting with both of the spokesmen from Merced School Employees and Credit Union and Best
Buy to help come up with the objectives and plan of action of the said partnership is crucial. The
common agenda of The Student Collection as a collective impact initiative is to help design a
change in the education system of the schools who are filled with lower income families and
communities in order to help modify the learning environment for students in Merced County in
California.

Create a list of goals and summarize the Common Agenda in a shareable document.

After meeting up and discussing these issues with students, parents, and teachers, The Student
Collection came up with goals and common agenda and set these objectives:

- Uplift and motivate students to express what they are truly passionate about through an
online school website.
- Make lesson plans more interactive for students, this will help students educate other
students and themselves in an online environment.
- Encourage students to learn by not being afraid to fail, not being afraid to ask questions,
because when they do figure out that nothing comes easy they will succeed.
- The program was created to help students have better vision and ideas that can not only
be applied in a school setting but help them out in the real world when they graduate high
school.

The Student Collection frequently talks about the goals and ways to reach those goals as well as
makes the promise to help improve kids’ experiences in school. We also strive to create long-
lasting and meaningful relationships with the funders by working with parents, teachers, as well
as the educational community in order to shape the students in need in a positive manner.

Step #3: Management and Communication

Meet with your stakeholder(s) and determine which type(s) of management
and communication strategy(ies) will be used.

The Student Collection trusts with effective communication and management will develop a
powerful collective impact because it works hard in creating trust, strengthening motivation, and
aids communication between partners. In order to create a stronger collective impact, we have to
use and master the three forms of communication. One that is especially important would
involve verbal communication which is the use of words to convey a message. Some forms of
verbal communication are written and oral communication. I bring this form of communication
up because we are not always going to be physically present and we need to find different ways
to keep the communication going. This would be in ways like phone calls and emails that can be
exchanged with partners.

Discuss the Management and Communication Strategy with your

stakeholder/partners. Don’t forget to update your strategy based on your
discussion.

The Student Collection has made it apparent to both spokemen of Merced School Employees and
Credit Union and Best Buy that the best way to transfer information to one another is through
phone calls, zoom calls, and emails. We are able to meet physically and more frequently with the
Merced School Employees and Credit Union because their office is in our town, Best Buy main
office is a drive away so we found it best to keep the other forms of communication brought up
that would work best for us.

Step #4: Work Plans and Activities

Meet with your stakeholders and discuss how your partnership will manage
your work plans and activities.

The Student Collection takes note of the fact that coming together as one and supporting the
work plan and activity is necessary in the management process of this union. When meeting with
the representatives from Merced School Employees and Credit Union and Best Buy, we
acknowledged the steps that need to be taken in order to reach the common goal of the
partnership as well breaking down each step that needs to be taken as well as how we are getting
to each step. We spoke about possible barriers that we would need to overcome and how we get
past it as well in order for our outcomes to break through.
Create a strategy to manage your Work Plans and Activities in a shareable
document.

When speaking with our partners, we had come to the agreement that setting up dates to visit the
lower income schools in the county to meet up with the teachers as well as students in order to
ensure that the materials and services given to them by The Student Collection in the beginning
of the year are satisfactory.

Discuss the Work Plan and Activities with the partners. Don’t forget to
update your plan based on your discussion.

The Student Collection and the funders have set up all the expectations ahead of time in order to
steer clear of obstacles while on the road to execute the program. We restate the importance of
constant communication and collective management as a precondition in order to keep light of
the common objective using organized information for every partner to understand and let them
know they are appreciated in every role that is in the organization and the responsibilities they
hold.

Step #5: Partnership Evaluation and Challenges

Meet with your stakeholders and discuss how the partnership goals and Common
Agenda will be evaluated and measured. Also, discuss what challenges you foresee
in the partnership.

When meeting up with the other team members, The Student Collection spoke up on the tasks
that were going to become somewhat of a challenge. How was the partnership going to keep
track and be evaluated? This was a common concern for both partners. They wanted this data in
order to keep track of the successes as well as the failures of the organization. This would then
let all partners involved know what was working and what areas needed to be improved.

Create an Evaluation Plan to measure the outcomes of your partnership. Also,

create a strategy in which to work through potential challenges. Compile the
results into a shareable document.
With The Student Collection being a small and upcoming partnership, coming up with a plan of
evaluation and strategy in order to calculate the outcomes to see and work through possible
obstacles was agreed with every member of this partnership. We also wanted to receive feedback
by all those involved in The Student Collection organization to get feedback on what was
working for the teachers, parents and students and what needs to be improved. The students,
teachers, and parents all came to an agreement to participate in polls and at the end of each
quarter they have learned in the course in order to see their change in the learning process. This
would help us better understand and evaluate if our goals as a partnership are being met and if
not, what the next course of action could be.

Step #6: Equity and Inclusion and Final Projects

Meet with your stakeholders and discuss how to include equity and inclusion
into your partnership.

While meeting with the partners, it was brought to attention that The Student Collection’s main
purpose is to help uplift the students that come from low-income families as well as their
communities as well as help evolve the learning process of students that come from low-income
families. This is also meant to help the school educational system to better help their students
when they may not have the means or materials to be successful and reach their full potential in
school.

Create a plan to incorporate Equity and Inclusion into your partnership in a

shareable document.

The way that we plan to include Equity and Inclusion into the The Student Collection partnership
was to create local offices in order to provide resources for the students in need and the
communities as well. This would help uplift not only students but help uplift the community in
getting them involved and getting volunteers of the community to want to get involved as well.
This idea was agreed upon by all members of the partnership. They all understood how important
opening offices in the county and how it would strengthen the community and in turn teach
others how we are helping and spreading the word as well. With this, it brings hope that other
potential partners would want to help the cause in different ways as well.

Step #7: Partnership Transitions and Endings

Meet with your stakeholders and discuss how your partnership will transition,
end, or even possibly continue.
As we all know, partnerships have to come to an end at some point. We at The Student
Collection have not come to that conclusion and we don’t see an end in sight. We all see and
believe that the education system needs to keep evolving in order to help students and their
families to make a change for the better. With the ideas that have been pouring in by all partners
involved, we have come to the agreement that we do not see our partnership ending because
there is too much work to do. We believe that with constant communication and collaboration we
can make this partnership last a very long time. We make sure everyone in this partnership and
their ideas are being heard which is very important. Making sure that we all know that every
single person involved in this partnership and their ideas are valid and important.

Create a plan for how your partnership will transition, end, or continue in a
shareable document.

While creating The Student Collection, I hoped but never thought I would be creating a long
lasting partnership and make the relationships I have made in the process. Knowing that there are
so many people and companies that share the same passion in helping low-income students as
well as low-income families gives hope to the future generations. Finding that support systems
such as volunteers and constant support from family and friends can help uplift and support the
community immensely.

Discuss the Transitions and Endings plan with your stakeholders.

The Student Collection was created to become a long term organization that evolves time after
time even if certain partners decide to leave the organization and take their form of funding with
them. People from the community have made a promise to help support the organization and
keep it going. This has shown the investors from the beginning of the partnership and everyone
involved agreed to the subsection of the agreement. Now, some partners can let other members
know if the partnership is not working out for them and decide to leave the partnership after an
allotted time frame as we know that sometimes partnerships just don't work out for the best.