Partnership Process
Download a printable version of the full user guide here.
Although each partnership is unique, the partnership process for each on-campus Head Start and community college partnership follows the same primary steps. This page provides a high-level overview of each section of this toolkit, and the rest of this user guide is organized into corresponding sections with detailed guidance for each.
Before You Begin
Prior to initially reaching out to your counterpart, it is important to understand what this partnership entails, how your future partner’s business operates, and what benefits you hope to create by working together. This section of our guide provides an overview of what these partnerships could look like, as well as an overview of how both organizations are structured. After all, Head Start programs and community colleges have very different leadership structures and different vocabularies! Finally, we have provided a customized resource for both community colleges and Head Start programs that will help you review what you want from this partnership, what you can bring to it, as well as a few best practice tips for connecting with your potential future partner. (We have also provided you with a cheat sheet of why this type of partnership would benefit your counterpart, just in case they need convincing.)
Partnership Profiles
Every partnership is unique, and some may look and operate entirely differently from one just down the road. In this section, we have written up descriptions of several existing partnerships from across the nation to help you see what is possible and which might be a good starting point for yours. These profiles are intended to serve as a filter—read through and see which may work and which won’t work at all as a starting point to crafting your own ideal partnership.
Navigating Negotiations
Going through the negotiation process is the most detailed part of setting up these partnerships. You’ll need to build relationships, answer some difficult questions, and finalize the legal components of your partnership before you can officially get up and running. This section of our guide will help you run through a list of questions you’ll need to answer together—there’s no right or wrong way to set up these partnerships, but you’ll have to end up on the same page. We have also provided some sample contracts and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) checklist to help you work through these decisions. You may need to build or retrofit existing classrooms, so we have provided guidance around planning new construction or retrofitting existing space.
Launching Your Partnership
Once negotiations are complete and you’ve signed on the dotted line, your partnership has officially begun! However, there is still a lot that goes into a successful launch and ongoing partnership. In this final section of the user guide, we have provided resources around marketing materials that can support recruitment of children and families, as well as potential staff. There are also many college departments that could engage with Head Start in a way that supports both the program and the students, so we’ve provided a list of opportunities that could enhance your work together.