Castillo, Horacio Tomas III, T.

4POL3

November 25, 2016

Dr. Edwin Martin

Public Nonprofit Partnership: Realizing the New Public Service

I.

Synopsis
Jennifer Alexander and Rene Nanks article discusses the issue of public partnership

programs or initiatives with nonprofit organizations. She primarily focuses on the partnerships
between community based nonprofits (CBNs) and a public agency, the Department of Children
and Family Services (DCFS). The article discusses a ten (10) year study on the development of
the partnership between the DCFS and 9 various CBNs. The article also discusses that
partnership emerge from the failures of governments to provide the services it has provide to the
community. Partnerships arise because it becomes a viable solution to the failures of
government. Another reason as to why governments choose to enter into partnerships like this is
that since there is a general distrust on the public agencies and that the public do not see that the
government will be able to provide the services that they promise. This is where nonprofit
organizations or CBNs come in. CBNs act as a bridge between the public and the government.
Through the CBNs, the government is able to develop bonds with communities who are cynical
with the delivery of service of the government.
The study touches on numerous issues and developments between public agencies and
CBNs in the ten-year period. The first issue that was discussed was the issue on trust between the
public agency and nonprofit organization. Trust would become the anchor or foundation between
the two parties and that trust would be the number one factor that would determine the success of
a partnership. Alexander and Nank (2009), discusses that in the study, the researchers would

focus on factors that make the partnership effective, the ambiguity and differences between
parties and how the leadership responded in resolving it and lastly, whether the response of the
leaders led to the development of trust between the two parties. She would then further espouse
that trust is the defining element of organizational survival (Alexander & Nank, 2009, p. 366)
and that it through trust that such organizations are able to develop and function well. She also
said that trust becomes the most important factor that enables the presence of a stable
interagency partnership to develop (Alexander & Nank, 2009).
Another issue that is discussed is the presence of antagonistic attitude towards the public
agency by the community leaders, and citizens. This provided a hindrance in implementing the
policies that the DCFS had planned for the community. One of the policies that the DCFS had
intended to implement was a program that intended to redesign child welfare a problem oriented
approach to a more community based, prevention oriented approach. This new approach was
intended to build family and community capacity to raise children (Alexander & Nank, 2009).
This antagonistic attitude is brought about by the description by the community and social
workers describing agency staff as rigid, unwilling to share information and unpredictable. This
would form the basis on which the authors would conduct the study and how to improve the
DCFS relationship with the community.
The next issue that would be discussed is how did the partnership of the DCFS and CBNs
develop. It was at first a rocky relationship, where both parties where hesitant about how the
other party would act. Through the use of document reviews, observations, and interviews the
researchers were able to describe the initial stages of the partnership. In the early formation of
the partnerships, it was found that the turnover rates of social workers exceeded over 25% and
that vacancy rates were very chronic and that it made the running the organization difficult

because of the instability and lack of continuity of organization. The chronic change in
leadership within the DCFS from 1998 to 2002 led to the agency having 4 different directors
leading to instability and turmoil within the agency. Adding also that 2 directors were hired
without consulting the community about it. Nevertheless, directors still supported the community
based programs of the Family to Family Initiative (FFI) that resulted in the creation of new
Agency-CBN partnerships.
2003 saw the turn in fortunes for the partnership, where seven additional CBNs joined the
partnership and numerous social workers had already been deployed throughout the country. The
implementation of the new program led to new developments within the partnership, such as in
use of team decisions meetings (TDMs), wherein public social workers were required to share
information with regards to the needs of children. This also meant that families were afforded to
speak freely and talk about their needs. The DCFS still held the authority make the final
decisions, but the TDMs allowed for more transparency and this also allowed the inclusion of all
sectors that needed to be a part of the decision making process.
The introduction of TDMs allowed social workers a better understanding as how to
respond to concerns and be more connected to the community (Alexander & Nank, 2009). This
also allowed the development of the relationship between the DCFS and CBNs that led to the
development of trust between the parties. This would lead to both parties working closely and
better with each other, increasing the effectiveness of the partnership. This also allowed the level
of trust, which was fostered through the sharing of responsibilities and effective communication
between organizations that allowed parties to grow and ultimately be better and effective.
Though, the partnership had already been reaping results, there had been numerous
concerns with regards to the ideologies and social issues that threatened to destroy the

partnership. This generated distrust especially with the African-American community because
they did not think that the agency knew the issues the community was facing. But because of
CBNs acting as the bridge, the agency was able to grasp and understand the problems and this
led to solutions for the problem. After the study, it was concluded that from the perspective of
DCFS, the partnership was largely a success, but from the perspective of the CBNs, it was a
mixed reaction.
There were also other findings such as, that CBNs functioned primarily as bridges for the
agency in sector where a clear perception of the problems was present. CBNs brought the
intimate knowledge and information about communities that the public agency did not have.
CBNs also allowed the public sector to move from the delivery of service to proper governance,
especially in addressing the issues that surrounds the community. Another interesting result from
the research was that there was active distrust between organizations, but the odd thing about this
was that instead of this becoming a hindrance, it actually produced the necessary motivation for
both leaders of each organization to strive for a successful partnership.
Another major result from this research was the partnership itself and how it grew into a
full blossom relationship between the public agency and nonprofit organization. It was through
the partnership, in particular the collaboration of both parties with each other that trust was
developed and enabled the partnership to grow and become a success. Trust and distrust was
present in the partnership, and it was through the integration of many factors that the partnership
was able to flourish. Examples of this would be the use of TDMs, transparency of the DCFS and
the integration of the communities in the decision making of the implementation of programs and
policies of the DCFS. This would eventually lead to the establishment of open dialogues with
clients and the community, which reflects the growth of the partnership of both organizations.

The next part would be the recommendation part of the paper and to put it simply, the
recommendations would revolve around the usefulness of partnerships like this, which would be
called New Public Service and how partnerships would impact on state-citizen relationships.

II.

Reflection
The article mainly talks about the presence of trust and distrust in an ensuing partnership.

The articles main focus would be how both organizations were able to sustain a relationship
despite the presence of trust and active distrust between the parties. It is interesting to see that
these two organizations first started with a high distrust with each other and the instability and
lack of continuity affected the relationship of both parties. But when the implementation of new
programs, the organizations were able to find ways in improving the basis of the partnership and
develop trust that would go a long way in establishing the partnership and also lead to the overall
success of the partnership.
The article also represents the different problems that organizations face when forming
partnerships with other independent organizations. In collaborating with other organizations, the
problems of the distribution of responsibilities and the integration of both ideologies will always
be an issue. But in the case presented by Alexander and Nank (2009), it can be observed that
both organizations were able to work on the issues and get past them, which led to the
development of a successful partnership. And the eventual production of public service which
become governance.
The article basically talks the ability of two sectors in sustaining a relationship through
active trust and distrust. These two factors would be the basic foundation of partnership building.

Once trust is developed, the organization would be able to move freely and be able to implement
its planned projects and policies to great effect.

Bibliography
Alexander, J., & Nank, R. (2009). Public- Nonprofit Partnership: Realizing the New Public
Service. Adminstration & Society, 364-386.