Evaluating A Local Community Collaborative Coalition: Utilizing the Wilder Collaborative Factors Inventory.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Community collaboration is a founding principle of the Early Success Coalition (ESC), a collaborative of over 74 agencies, engaging over 200 participants. The ESC aims to develop a comprehensive neighborhood young-child-wellness system model to better foster cognitive, physical, and social-emotional development of young children. The Wilder Collaborative Factors Inventory (WCFI) was used, as part of a participatory mixed-methods evaluation, to collect annual measures of collaboration. OBJECTIVE: To reflect on lessons learned, resulting from 4 years of ESC WCFI data. METHODS: ESC members completed the WCFI standardized survey tool, encompassing 40 questions grouped into 20 factors associated with successful collaboration, annually. LESSONS LEARNED Community collaborations are naturally slow to establish, with funding/staffing concerns standing out as primary fears within the membership. CONCLUSIONS: Participation in the ESC provided leadership, structure, and concrete goals, which bolstered local collaborative efforts. Overall, the WCFI is proposed as an insightful tool for evaluating community collaboratives.