Designing Community Partnerships to Expand Student Learning: A Toolki | Page 7

Crafting your vision continued
• How will community partners help you meet
this goal?
• What will a “day in the life” of your students
look like once you have integrated community
partnerships?

Having a clear vision will ensure district and school
staff, families, and potential partners understand
the purpose of expanding learning and how
community partnerships fit in.

STEP TWO: HIRE A COMMUNITY PARTNER COORDINATOR
Another critical step is designating someone to
manage the enrichments. If the funds are available,
hiring a community partner coordinator is ideal.
The coordinator can oversee the enrichments,
build relationships with community partners,
onboard volunteers, and be the connective tissue
between community partners and volunteers.
Depending on the breadth of the enrichment plans,
managing the process is certainly a full-time job.
Look for someone who has great organizational,
communication, and interpersonal skills; a desire
to foster collaboration and creativity; and a
willingness to serve as the relationship builder
among students, teachers, parents, and community
partners. The coordinator is there to connect
expectations, needs, and common agreements
among all of the organizations involved and the
school. He or she will be fundamental to the
success of the relationships and the work.
Use the What It Takes to Be an Effective
Community Partner Program Coordinator checklist
as a starting point to create the competencies and
expectations you’re looking for in the role.

Can’t Spare the Funds?
For some schools, hiring a community partner
coordinator may not be feasible. If that’s the
case, it doesn’t mean enrichment education
and community partnerships are out of the
question. Many schools have circumvented
a full-time role by organizing a community
partner committee of parent volunteers.
Others have tapped unpaid university interns
passionate about making a difference in
education. Schools have even expanded the
roles of a core group of teachers motivated
to design dynamic enrichment opportunities.
As long as your efforts have driven, organized,
collaborative, and encouraging leaders,
you will be able to develop rich community
partnerships.

STEP THREE: FIND COMMUNITY PARTNERS AND VOLUNTEERS RECRUITING THE RIGHT PEOPLE
Cultivating the right relationships is critical to
providing dynamic enrichments. A great partner
can transform a student’s education, but a partner
that’s not the best fit with your school’s culture and
process might end up creating more of a headache
than impact. The Five C’s of Successful School-

Community Partnerships (see next page) can be
used to decide which partners are right for your
school.

Designing Community Partnerships to Expand Student Learning: A Toolkit — coloradoedinitiative.org

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