What Does Collaboration Look Like?

Written by Carson Dean on March 19, 2014. Posted in Carson's Blog

These days we so often hear the words “collaboration” and “partnership.”  Everyone knows the definition of each, but what does collaboration really look like?  How do you know an effective partnership it when you see it?  Oftentimes, it’s not as earthshattering or complicated in its execution as you might think.  To illustrate, I’ll describe the process used at the Men’s Shelter to help a lot of men find more appropriate housing.  For many of our men it starts with a visit to the HERC – Housing & Employment Resource Center – which is located in our Tryon Street Campus shelter.  There men are greeted by volunteers who manage the activities of the center.  For example, twice each week the HERC is staffed by our volunteer partners from Charlotte School of Law.  The volunteers help men start the process, filling out an apartment application, determining how they’ll use public transit, and so on.  From there, MSC’s housing specialists can more efficiently get men approved and ready to move into housing.  To expedite the actual move, we turn to our partners at Crisis Assistance Ministry.  Through their volunteers, Crisis Assistance Ministry provides our men with furniture and takes care of the physical move into their new place.  By not having to manage all of the many pieces by ourselves, MSC has been able to move more men into housing in seven months this year (339 men) versus all of last year (288).  You see, effective collaborations don’t have to be complicated or highly visible, they just have to get the partners focused on the mission – in our case, ending homelessness for each man.

Tags: collaboration, homeless, homelessness, housing, men experiencing homelessness, Men's Shelter of Charlotte, partners, volunteers