Photo by Patrick Federi on Unsplash
Community partners are organizations, and in some cases public agencies and university based programs, committed to working for the improvement of services offered by a Compassionate Communities initiative in conjunction with local community government. The characteristics of effective community partners include:
- alignment with the Charter's mission and vision
- recognition of the value of community-based participatory approaches to learning, research, evaluation and partnerships
- meaningful relationships with the community on multiple levels, competently facilitating partnerships and following participatory approaches
- access to decision makers within the community
- skills in problem solving, conflict resolution and work to maintain collaboration with all involved in a community initiative
- special expertise in an area (i.e., technical needs, organizational design, systems thinking, other themes that relate directly to the community action plan, etc.) that a community initiative may need
- commitment to the community and the partnership process
What follows is a list of partnering organizations that have pledged to help specific cities and communities in their quest to become more compassionate:
