--Printer-friendly version--

The Initiative Support Program was distinguished by its emphasis on enhancing and strengthening communications among grantees, and by its concern for creating a learning community. It supported the involvement of the Initiative Advisory Committee by arranging and facilitating two meetings each year. It also supported the growth and development of wellness village grantees by convening a yearly large-scale meeting over a two- to three-day period.

Goal:

Enhance and strengthen communications among support grantees and wellness village grantees to create a learning community.

Objectives:

• Provide logistical, planning and management support for Advisory Committee meetings.
• Provide logistical, planning and management support for annual meetings of Wellness Village Program grantees.
• Design and implement a strategy for ensuring effective and ongoing communications between and among all CYCHI grantees.
• Establish and maintain an electronic networking system.
• Participate as a member of the Initiative coordination team.

Accomplishments:

• Created a learning community. Grantee, advisory and coordination meetings provided time and space for all grantees to share strategies and reflect on lessons learned as well as an opportunity to strengthen community networks and relationships.
• Convened five grantee and five advisory committee meetings.

Challenges:

• The website was ineffective and technology was never fully applied. Although the Initiative website was completed, the development and launch of the website was delayed for almost 18 months. A listserv was established to promote the website. While the listserv was active during the first two weeks of its introduction, the interest among the wellness villages dissipated. Because of the delay, the members of the wellness villages were not able to familiarize themselves with the website, which negatively affected their inclination to use it as a tool for communication, resource development and research. This stunted networking and learning opportunities for the wellness villages because they did not have the means for effective and on-going communication.
• Communication of expectations between TCWF staff and the Initiative Support grantee was not always clear. Planning for the convenings proved to be a difficult process each time. The Initiative Support grantee lacked understanding of the expectations and work style of the Foundation and the grantees.
• Inadequate leadership resulted in incomplete deliverables. The Initiative Support grantee for the implementation phase proved to have inadequate leadership and an unstable organizational structure. The lack of capacity within the staff and poor project management became evident by the midpoint of the grant. A change in management was a good-faith effort in addressing grantee performance issues. Unfortunately, the change happened too late when little could be done to improve deliverables.

Lessons Learned:

• The organization matters less than organizational capacity, level of expectations and communication. Two separate Initiative Support grantees failed to produce quality deliverables. Lack of organizational capacity, such as poor management and weak leadership, was a major issue that affected support for many wellness villages. Some sites did not receive much-needed technical assistance, and a breakdown in communication between TCWF staff and Initiative Support caused confusion about expectations.