Identify your partners. Generally, a NORC program includes a combination of core partners, collaborators, and other stakeholders. (For more about different levels of partnerships, see Partnering with the Community, Guiding Principle #3.) One or more core partners typically begin to design a NORC program, bringing other key players on board as the program takes shape.

To find the partners you need:

• Identify the knowledge, resources, and expertise the NORC program requires.
• Identify the key local public and private agencies ready to make specific commitments to the NORC program.
• Consider how best to maximize the participation of senior residents.

Define the role of the social service provider. A social service agency offers many of the services that are a fundamental part of a NORC program, typically including case management. Often, the impetus to launch a NORC program begins with the social service provider, which is most commonly (but not necessarily) the lead agency.

Define the role of the health care provider. Health partners can include home care agencies, nursing homes, hospitals, or some combination of these. Their focus is to maximize the health and well-being of NORC residents by addressing health-related issues at both the individual and community levels.

Engage the housing partner in a way that is compatible with its structure. NORC programs may be lodged in subsidized housing complexes, private condominiums or cooperatives, rental apartment buildings, or single-family neighborhoods. If it is a housing-based NORC, the housing entity—such as a government agency, a board of directors, or a tenant association—typically has some degree of management authority. In a neighborhood-based NORC, where there is no common management, a neighborhood organization may play a role.

Housing partners can choose to be involved in a NORC program in many ways. Some take an active role in developing and maintaining a NORC program, solving problems and securing additional resources from the larger community. Others are less intimately involved, but still play essential roles, providing rent-free space and other support.

Develop a strategy for engaging senior residents. Creating a NORC program requires the active participation of senior residents, the primary consumers and most effective ambassadors of a NORC program. They have substantial skills and expertise that may be called upon to help design the program, plan activities, involve their peers, and run fundraising efforts.

Identify who else in the community can play a partnership role. Check back to the work you did in Understanding the Community to remind yourself about potential resources and supporters. Seek opportunities to connect to:

• Heads of cultural, religious, and service organizations.
• Directors of government-related agencies.
• Other health care providers.
• Funders.
• Business leaders.
• Elected officials.
• Existing clubs and groups.

Don’t overlook the non-senior residents of a NORC. They will benefit from the stability, safety, diversity, and dynamic sense of community that a NORC program can bring—a self-interest that may motivate them to become more involved. Those who provide care for seniors living in the NORC may find program resources especially valuable.

A NORC program brings together a variety of unlikely partners to provide and coordinate projects designed to improve the lives of seniors and strengthen the communities in which they live.

There is no single model for building and sustaining partnerships. But typical models:

• Involve hard work and require ongoing attention.
• Evolve gradually, changing shape over time.
• Gain and lose members.
• Continually reinvent themselves.

Continue to Guiding Principle #2

Develop a program mission. Developing a broad mission statement is one of the early activities of a newly formed partnership because it helps to guide all partners towards the same results. Once a mission statement is in place, keep it visible—attach the statement itself, or a tagline from it, to correspondence, and display it prominently at meetings. Example Mission Statement

Mission Statement Worksheet

Emphasize contributions that support the goals of the NORC program. Be specific about why core partners are invited in and what you need from them. Be sure potential partners understand what is not appropriate – for example, an organization cannot serve only one segment of the NORC. Unless they agree on goals, people may come to the table only because funding is available, not because they are prepared to revise their programmatic habits in service to a larger purpose.

Uncover the self-interest of your partners. To align your partners with your mission and keep them there, learn what they need and want. When a partner’s self-interest is in line with that of the NORC program, a win-win is possible. Be wary of partners who are not fully committed to the mission.

Help your partners understand the value of engaged seniors. Many health and social service professionals have never worked on equal footing with older people before. They are often more accustomed to viewing seniors as clients or volunteers than as colleagues working towards the same goal. An effective leader can help them view seniors in new ways, and create new roles for them.

Every partner operates in a different political environment and has a unique organizational culture. Personal and organizational history, mission, governance, funding, constituency, and countless other factors influence how everyone becomes involved. Respecting these differences helps everyone move past them, strengthening the collaborative capacity of the NORC program.

Joining a partnership means taking a risk. Partners often have to give up something—such as a degree of autonomy or longstanding habits of service delivery—to achieve larger goals. Taking that leap of faith makes sense only for a partner who understands the mission of the NORC program and believes in it.

In successful partnerships, all the partners learn as they go. Acknowledge your progress, learn from mistakes, and revise your work together as necessary.

Continue to Guiding Principle #3

Create a framework for understanding the nature and extent of each partner’s engagement. Most NORC programs have core partners and then a variety of flexible relationships with other community stakeholders:

• Core partners: The key actors in a NORC program, core partners are typically committed to the larger goals of the program, have an ongoing role in its day-to-day functions and services, and accept responsibility for its overall success. They recognize the work that needs to be done and their roles in doing it, and they know success will take time. Core partners share a mission.
• Collaborators: Some participants focus on specific projects related to the NORC program. Collaborators are often willing and able to bring additional resources to the table.
• Other community stakeholders: At the periphery of a NORC program are people and organizations that provide modest, but useful, support or become involved in one-time events.

While the work of core partners can touch on almost every feature of a NORC program, the activities of collaborators and other community stakeholders are generally more focused.

• A police department acted as a collaborator with its efforts to advance public safety among East Point NORC program participants near Atlanta.
• A home health care agency that offered a weekly wellness clinic at the Crestmoor Downs program in Denver served a comparable role.

Examples of what a more peripheral stakeholder can do include a library that offers space for a book club, a hospital that provides a Thanksgiving banquet, a bookstore that hosts a poetry reading, and a local bank that displays art created by senior residents.

Recognize and respect differing levels of engagement. Some participants need or want to be involved in all partnership decisions all the time. Others prefer, or are only able, to participate in a more limited way. Partners should be clear with one another about the nature of their involvement. Every partner has different strengths and constraints that should be honored and accommodated.

Promote senior participation at many levels. Some seniors are willing to make the commitment to assume leadership roles—for example, coordinating volunteer efforts, serving as advisors, or promoting the program in the community. Others play a more limited role, typically by giving time to specific projects.

Honor participants for what they contribute. Acknowledge unique skills and strengths, and take time to celebrate everyone’s efforts. To keep people enthusiastically at the table, make sure they feel valued for their contributions to the NORC program. Volunteer recognition—such as a special luncheon, an awards ceremony, or a gift certificate—is always welcome.

Be mindful of the constraints on the time and resources of your partners. Most people who come into a partnership at any level have other demanding personal and professional commitments. Be sensitive to their other activities, responsibilities, and goals.

Staying flexible allows partners to be involved at the level that works for them at a given point in time. Remember, this can change; partners at the periphery may later decide to become more involved, or drop out. Continue to Guiding Principle #4

Agree on a leader. Every NORC program needs a leader—a single person or a core team—to champion the program, gather together the necessary partners, secure resources, and launch, modify, and sustain the program. Often, but not always, this leader is the executive director or another high-level representative of the lead agency, but it can be another stakeholder as well.

A leader has the vision and authority to bring people together and to empower them to translate broad goals into a program that meets community needs. An effective leader also knows how to listen. (For more on the importance of leadership, see Sustaining a NORC Program, Guiding Principle #3.)

Develop an approach to governance that works best for the NORC program’s particular set of social, economic, and geographic circumstances. The right model depends on the unique characteristics of every partner and on the desired outcomes.

Good governance means agreeing on lines of accountability and knowing who will be responsible for:

• Managing and monitoring program finances and contractual relationships.
• Facilitating partnerships and building community relationships.
• Coordinating program logistics.
• Managing on-site services.
• Fundraising.

Agree on the role of the lead agency from the start. Many NORC programs designate a single lead agency to provide overall fiscal, managerial, and programmatic responsibilities. Others choose to share responsibilities among several agencies or to put fiscal tasks in the hands of one agency while dispersing other decision-making roles.

The Lead Agency is responsible for facilitating partnerships and building community relationships. In most instances, the lead agency—often the government contractor or foundation grantee for NORC program funds—manages the finances, and coordinates and integrates the services offered. While the lead agency is frequently the social service provider, it can also be the housing partner or the health provider.

Each program has an executive director who is responsible for day-to-day operations and for facilitating the lead agency functions. Typically, the director is an employee or contract worker at the lead agency, but can also be an employee of the housing management company or another partner.

What matters most is that the organizational structure be designed so that all partners understand how decisions are made, know who is doing what, and feel confident that their voices will be heard before authority is exercised.

Example: The East Point NORC program, outside Atlanta, is a partnership between the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Fulton County Office on Aging, and the Jewish Federation. At first, the partners tried making decisions on the basis of consensus, but the limitations of that approach eventually became apparent—no one had final responsibility, and progress was slow. More...

Involve high-level managers in the commitments made by their organizations. Regardless of who actually attends NORC program meetings, key managers should help to define their organizational commitments and the support they are willing to provide. Send an e-mail or memo after any discussion about organizational commitments to make sure everyone understands their terms.

Develop informal and formal work structures. Sometimes, partners just need opportunities to talk, to brainstorm, and to think creatively. Other times, they need to come together in more formal settings. It is often best to bring work groups or task forces together to focus on specific projects, rather than to develop an extensive set of standing committees.

Define the authority of any task force that is created. A task force may be either empowered to act on behalf of a partnership or required to return to the group for approval before moving ahead. In either case, task force members should communicate to all partners about their activities and findings.

The structure governing NORC program partnerships may need to be changed if it is not effective. Check in on your structure periodically. Are the partnerships efficient and effective at making decisions? Should you revisit designated roles and responsibilities or the approach to leadership?

Sometimes a partnership just doesn’t work—the wrong players may be at the table, or individual priorities may change. If necessary, a partnership may have to weigh the costs and benefits of faltering partnerships, and be willing to reorganize, changing partners or structure when necessary. Continue to Guiding Principle #5

Expect and manage change. New partners join and old ones depart, and with such changes, the working dynamics of the NORC program are altered. Shifts in funding, contractual arrangements, staffing, community dynamics, and many other factors can influence partnership structure. No environment is static, and one mark of a successful program is its ability to adjust to change.

Prepare for periods of transition. To align new partners with the goals of the NORC program, develop an orientation process and some basic background documents (such as the NORC Description Worksheet). Reminding partners that they are agents of community change, and not simply service providers, reinforces a more expansive perspective. New partners also need to understand the:

• History and mission of the NORC program.
• Purpose of the partnership.
• Central role of senior residents.
• Contributions of every partner.

Seek equilibrium. Every time core partners change, everyone’s role needs to be reevaluated and redefined. New partners bring their own perspectives and strengths into a partnership, but they can also weaken it if they are not absorbed into the mix thoughtfully.

Be prepared to integrate new representatives of existing partners. Partnerships are vulnerable to turnover among partner representatives. Partner agencies should be represented either by high-level staff authorized to make decisions or by representatives who can obtain answers quickly. New liaisons need an orientation process similar to the one in place for new partners.

Seek common ground with liaisons of mandated organizations. Sometimes, a funder or a government agency mandates that other organizations become involved. This can be tricky, especially if the mandated partner has minimal interest or experience with NORC programs.

Ideally, you should try to find ways to work together effectively. The goal—easier said than done—is to turn this situation into a “win-win” opportunity. Explore ways for both of you to benefit from the resources and experience of a mandated relationship.

Maintaining partnerships is an ongoing process requiring skill, negotiation, and a willingness to take risks. It also demands flexibility—no role is set in stone, and it is easier to make compromises when all parties are open to a bit of give-and-take.

Accommodation is a two-way street. New partners tend to make assumptions about how they will work with your program unless they are carefully educated about the needs and expectations of a NORC program partnership. At the same time, the NORC program should respect and adapt to the unique characteristics of new partners.

As the NORC program becomes successful, issues of credit and power may arise. Focusing on the main objective—creating a better community for aging residents—helps you to develop a suitable response. Continue to Guiding Principle #6

Be clear about your communication goals. Partners in a NORC program need to communicate in order to:

• Share information to make decisions.
• Keep one another up to date.
• Take the pulse of stakeholders.
• Identify and solve problems.
• Strategize about new actions.
• Develop new projects.
• Provide checkpoints along a project implementation pathway.
• Get the community on board. (For more about connecting with the larger community, see Partnering with the Community, Guiding Principle #7.)

Decide how information should be shared among NORC program partners. Not everyone needs to be involved in everything, but there should be a consensus about how communication will occur, and with whom.

Manage the agenda of your meetings. A well-run partnership meeting supports well-managed partnership relationships. You’ll want to pay careful attention to detail during the planning process and clarify the purpose of every meeting. Every partner should understand why a meeting has been called and what results are expected. Create some general guidelines for how often the partners will meet as a group.

Managing Effective Meetings Guide

Develop multiple avenues of communication. There are many ways to communicate—formally and informally, verbally and in writing, on a one-to-one basis and in groups. Different approaches—including telephone conference calls, e-mail, a website or intranet, and memos—work better or worse in different situations. As a partnership grows and new needs arise, existing communication channels may need to shift and expand.

Most people are already inundated with information. Plan your communication strategy recognizing that partners need to be kept up-to-date about progress, but not overwhelmed with every detail.

Small groups are often better for action, while large groups are better for input. When too many people are talking, no one actually gets heard. It is generally best to ask for feedback from many people, but to reach consensus with a few. Continue to Guiding Principle #7

Invest time and energy to build support in the greater community. Over time, this investment can:

• Sustain partnerships.
• Promote connections that make it easier to gain access to resources and deliver services.
• Establish alliances with political leaders and other leaders with influence.
• Limit the capacity of naysayers to block progress.
• Demonstrate that the NORC program is part of something larger than itself.
• Highlight the partnership’s capacity to deliver results.
• Enhance the lives of seniors and strengthen the community.
• Influence public policy and legislation.

Keep current on “who’s who” in the community. The process of Understanding the Community called for identifying key leaders in the business, political, and nonprofit sectors, as well as representatives of the senior population. Staying current on the local players alerts you to changes in leadership and helps you expand your contacts as your program evolves.

Don’t shy away from power blockers. In every community there are people with the capacity to block or disrupt a partnership. Trying to exclude them can make a partnership appear to be a closed circle that is hostile to scrutiny or criticism.

A better approach is to give would-be power blockers a voice—their contrarian perspective can help a partnership define problems and identify barriers to implementation. Sometimes, a power blocker who is treated with respect and encouraged to participate constructively can even be transformed into an advocate.

Develop targeted strategies to reach new stakeholders. These steps can help you be effective:

Sharing results with stakeholders in the community is essential. People relish being associated with programs that are taking action and demonstrating accomplishment. Spread the word—to the media and to supporters, non-supporters, and potential supporters—when you have good news to share.

Use creative promotion, marketing, and networking to build broad support. You need to let people know that your NORC program is a unique, compelling, and distinctive asset to the community, and your own passion can help to communicate excitement. (For more about communication strategies, see Sustaining a NORC Program, Guiding Principle #4.)

You may find potential allies among people and organizations that are working in other ways to build better communities. Seek common ground, especially if they are focused on social change. Find ways to share resources.