Section 5

Developing and Implementing a Community Plan Community Empowerment gives decision-making power to a local citizen board to establish a community plan for how their community can best support reaching results for children 0-5 and their families. Community Empowerment was designed to allow communities to determine how they wish to do business to reach optimal results.

An asset-based comprehensive community plan develops a rationale for reconfigured or new services by answering: Why are the challenges identified as priorities by the community not being adequately addressed by resources that already exist? Why does the community need new services or resources? Why are these specific challenges best met through this service strategy? From “Know Your Community,” by Family Resource Coalition of America

Community Empowerment was designed as an opportunity for local communities to implement change in the structure and method Iowans have come to expect of traditional government business practice. Community Empowerment Areas understand common needs, assets, and gaps by developing a community plan. Asset Based Community Building The Asset Based Community Building concept develops a foundation of community commitment to enhance meeting the goals and results of Community Empowerment. By focusing on assets, a community moves away from targeting needs, problems, and deficiencies to finding and mobilizing community strengths. In the traditional “Needs-Driven” community building, a community assessment is conducted to identify the gaps and needs to support children 0-5 and their families. The community plan is then developed based upon the needs, gaps, and assets identified. By changing to asset based community building, a community assessment is conducted to identify the capacity, skills and resources existing in the community to support children 0-5 and their families. The community plan then builds on connecting local assets and increases their capacity and effectiveness.

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“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. Thoreau

Basic Principles of Asset Based Community Building are: • •

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Asset Based: Begins with what is to develop local capacity versus what is absent or what is a need. Internally Focused: Initially assesses strengths and problem solving capacity of individuals and community and creates local investment, creativity, commitment and local control. Relationship Driven: Ongoing building and rebuilding of relationships occurs among individuals, associations, and institutions in the community.

Share the Vision to Move a Community FROM REACTIVE Reaction to problems Trends determining the future Individual action Sectoral projects Multiple senses of community direction Focus on inputs and activity Short-term improvements (goal setting) Unaligned resource allocation for short-term fixes

TO PROACTIVE A proactive orientation to possibilities Aspiration setting the course for the future Participatory action Multi-sectoral initiatives A shared sense of direction Focus on performance and outcomes Longer-term, systematic efforts (goal attainment) Aligned resource allocation around strategies for long-term change

Community Plan Empowerment legislation established the requirement for a plan to be developed by the local Community Empowerment Board for providing services for children from 0 through five years of age. These services can include, but are not limited to: child development services, childcare quality improvements, training childcare providers to encourage integration of early care, health, and education components, children’s health and safety services and family support.

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Each community plan must, at a minimum, include all of the following:

All families need support at some times – support that transcends any single agency’s mission… Collaboration among child and familyserving agencies offers an important mechanism to meet the multiple needs of parents and children. From “Thinking Collaboratively: Ten Questions and Answers to Help Policy Makers Improve Children’s Services” By Charles Bruner

1. Describe community needs for children from 0 through five years of age as identified through ongoing assessments. 2. Describe the current and desired levels of community coordination of services for children from 0 through 5, including the involvement and specific responsibilities of all related organizations and entities. 3. Identify all federal, state, local, and private funding sources available in the Community Empowerment area that will be used to provide services to children from 0 through 5. 4. Describe how funding sources will be used collaboratively and the degree to which the moneys can be combined to provide necessary services to children. 5. Identify the results the Community Empowerment Board expects to achieve through implementation of the school ready children grant program, and identify community-specific quantifiable performance indicators to be reported in the annual report. An effective community plan builds a strong foundation for community collaboration. The plan should be a living, breathing, ever-changing document that reflects the needs and assets of a community. Leaders in a community should be able to use the plan, set priorities and guide decision making. Key elements of a comprehensive community plan may include: •

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Statement of the vision/mission, which guides the collaborative planning process and the implementation of the community empowerment area plan. Description of the demographics and the geographic composition of the area.

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• • • • • • • • •

A detailed description of the current status of the empowerment area regarding the resources that support children and their families. Identification of the effectiveness of current collaborative efforts in your area. Identification of the assessments used or to be used to identify resources and/or lack of needed services/programs. Identification of public and private funding sources. An assessment of resources, supporting children 0 through 5. A discussion of current and planned collaborations in the empowerment area. Identification and discussion of the performance measures that will be used to measure progress in attaining results. A description of the plan for evaluating and reporting progress. A clear, concise explanation of the overall plan for collaboration and the delivery of services in the community empowerment area.

Grant and Budgeting Process Empowerment legislation established two specific grant programs: School Ready Children and Early Childhood. Funding for these two programs is provided annually to Community Empowerment Areas subject to the authority of the Iowa Empowerment Board through the annual report and designation process. Empowerment legislation and the Iowa Empowerment Board require the following for continued designation and eligibility for funding: 9 Community Collaboration A collaborative board be established; the majority of members are citizen/elected officials. 9 Community Assessment and Planning An assessment of the community to determine assets and needs of children 0-5.

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From the: “Guide for State Agency Planning” Criteria for a Vision Statement 9 Descriptive of the future 9 Brief 9 Inspiring 9 Challenging Criteria for a Mission Statement 9 Tells what the agency does 9 Tells who the agency serves 9 Tells how the agency provides services 9 Tells why the agency exists

9 Community Plan A plan of how the community will support children 05 and their families to reach the statewide results. The plan includes: • priorities; • services to meet the needs; and • local measures towards results of the plan. 9 Budget A budget to support the plan. 9 Annual Report An annual report which describes, measures and evaluates: • changes in community plan; • alignment with the priorities in community plan; • progress with collaboration; • success toward results; and • budget expenditures. 9 Evaluation Community determined plan for evaluating and reporting progress. Redesignation self assessment tool. Redesignation Process The Iowa Empowerment Board has established a process for redesignating community empowerment areas every three years. The process is built on the requirements for designation, funding and the principles of local accountability, on-going collaboration, continuous improvement and self-assessment.

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Tool L – Community Empowerment Road to Results, illustrates the expectations for communities and how the community plan, grant and budgeting process and redesignation process fit together to assist communities to achieve results. Tool M – Annual Report and Tool N – Redesignation/Self Assessment provide the framework upon which redesignation will be awarded. A New Way of Doing Business Through Community Empowerment, the State of Iowa has taken a new approach to create a partnership between the state and communities. Community Empowerment funding is appropriated annually and awarded through grant agreements with communities on a quarterly basis. Flexibility, creativity, and innovation are encouraged through this process. The Community Empowerment Board may, in turn, use this opportunity to implement similar changes in the way they do business in their community. A local Community Empowerment Board may implement the following: ♦ Designate a service provider for one year according to an approved provider plan. The agreement may include: • how provider meets the communities identified needs; • the services to be provided; • activities planned for increased collaboration; • expected performance measures for families receiving services; • a proposed budget plan.

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♦ Total of awarded funds issued to provider with a contract each state fiscal year. The provider maintains standard accounts, records, and applies interest earned toward services. ♦ Annual report to the Area Board follows each fiscal year and provides annual program evaluation, performance measures, progress toward results for families served, and final budget. ♦ Redesignation as a provider will follow criteria established by local Community Empowerment Board. Changes made can reduce voucher claims and processing, fiscal agent activities, service reports, administration by Empowerment staff support, and board management. These changes could also allow a local Community Empowerment Board increased time to enhance collaboration, establish policy, review and redesign systems, expand or revise the community plan, public relations, marketing and advocate for children and their families to build community commitment for results. Since Community Empowerment created a new way of conducting state business, questions continue to be asked about specific issues regarding funding. Guidelines and clarifications have been shared that answer many of these questions. Tool G - Empowerment Funding Parameters, describes the two funding streams currently being utilized for Community Empowerment. Along with a description of the source of the dollars, also described are various purposes for the dollars. Tool H and I, - Community Empowerment Fiscal Clarifications and Administration Clarifications provide further description for specific uses and parameters of the funds.

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