Family Connection Partnership

Family Connection Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Accountability: Responsibility for achieving improved conditions of well-being for children and families.

Advocacy: The act of pleading or arguing in favor of something.

Annual Plan: This plan operationalizes the three-year community strategic plan for a one-year period;defines how the collaborative intends to make progress toward its goals and benchmark objectives; and identifies strategies with relevant programs, activities, and revenue sources for specific target groups.

Benchmark Objective: An indicator or tangible evidence of measurable progress toward a goal written into the community strategic plan.

By-laws: The rules which the members of an organization agree to follow in carrying out the business of the organization.

Collaboration: The process by which several agencies or organizations make a commitment to work together on a specified problem and unite to achieve common goals which cannot be achieved by each organization alone. Collaboration goes beyond cooperation and coordination, although both of these are necessary in a collaborative effort.

Collaborative: The Family Connection collaborative is the county public/private governance body responsible for the decision-making process to improve results for children, families and communities. Collaborative members include area public and private service providers, families, area business and educational leaders, local elected officials, faith-based and civic organizations,and other concerned citizens.

Collaborative development: Growth of the collaborative in convening and formalizing its structure, involving representative sectors of the community, and developing and implementing a comprehensive plan to influence systems change. It relates to what happens inside the collaborative - its effectiveness, influence, and sustainability.

Collaborative governance: The decision-making process by which a community takes responsibility for advancing broadly supported strategies aimed at achieving desired results for children and families.

Collaborative standards: Collaborative standards are measures of collaborative governance, strategic planning, evaluation, finance, and administration and operations; include indicators and examples of evidence to show progress toward or fulfillment of the standard; and focus on local decision-making (collaboration) as a pathway for improving results for children and families.

Community assessment: The information gathered and analyzed by the collaborative to describe county needs and strengths, explain the current condition of families in the county, and evaluate the capacity of the current service system in supporting healthy family growth and development.

Community strategic plan: Spanning a period of three years, the strategic plan describes goals and objectives for the collaborative, for systems change, and for the well-being of children and families. The plan includes strategies to improve results in one or more of five areas: healthy children, school readiness, school success, strong families, self-sufficient families.

Evaluation: In Family Connection evaluation is a systematic process used to collect information and provide answers to important questions posed by collaboratives about collaborative development; the strategies, program and activities in the community strategic plan; and the systems changes resulting from plan implementation.

Evaluation Plan: Developed annually, the results evaluation plan focuses on at least one strategy and/or component program(s) described in the annual plan. For each strategy being evaluated, the evaluation plan describes processes and outcomes used to assess changes in individuals, families, and/or the community; methods to document collaborative development and systems change; and intentions to report and use findings.

Family Connection: A statewide network of 159 county collaboratives in Georgia that commit to improving results for children and families in five areas: healthy children, school readiness, school success, strong families and self-sufficient families.

Family Connection Partnership, Inc.: A public/private nonprofit created and funded by the State of Georgia and the private sector. It supports Family Connection, a statewide network of county collaboratives committed to improving the quality of life for Georgia's families and also helps partners at many levels implement policies, programs, and practices that strengthen Georgia's families and communities.

Family engagement: The meaningful, sustained partnership with family members through shared leadership in decision making, policy and program development and implementation, and evaluation.

Family involvement: Any role or activity that enables families to have direct and meaningful input into or influence on programs, services and policies that affect their lives. It is a step toward engagement.

Family representative: One who represents the family perspective and does not speak on behalf of agencies or organizations.

Family support: A set of beliefs and an approach to working with and strengthening and empowering families and communities so that they can foster the optimal development of children, youth, and adult family members.

Financing: Methods of providing fiscal support to implement strategies.

Focus group: Interviews with 6 to 10 people at the same time in the same group for the purpose of gathering information to evaluate services or test new ideas.

Forum: A process designed to promote conversations between local, state, and regional partners, decide goals to be developed and implemented in the upcoming three-year community strategic plan, and explore opportunities to optimize area resources and produce positive outcomes for families, children, and communities.

Fund development: The process of developing and nurturing relationships with people and using data, research,and tested fund-raising models to achieve an organization's revenue goals and advance its mission.

Goal: A statement of a long-term, ideal outcome or desired end that is phrased as a "perfect world statement" and refers to an entire population. A goal should be stated in a measurable form and allow the collaborative to determine the extent to which it is being met. Goals do not state processes, activities or work (such as "provide parenting" or "enroll children in day care") to accomplish an end. The goal is the desired end.

Kids Count: A national and state-by-state effort funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to track the status and well-being of children in the United States. Kids Count seeks to enrich local, state and national discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all children. The Georgia KIDS Count project began in 1992. In 2004 Family Connection Partnership became the state grantee designated to produce and disseminate Kids Count materials for Georgia.

Local decision-making: The decision-making process by which a community takes responsibility for advancing broadly supported strategies to achieve improved results for children and families.

Memorandum of Agreement: An interagency agreement that outlines specific responsibilities and commitments (including providing evaluation data) of agencies/organizations for implementing strategies and their component services, programs, or activities.

Memorandum of Understanding: An agreement with a non-employee independent contractor or with another agency for the purchase of services. The contracting agency in general will: 1) develop a list of potential providers; 2) make a decision as to which potential providers meet minimum program standards; 3) complete a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with selected providers; and 4) monitor the services provided through the MOU.

Mission: A statement providing an organization's purpose and reason for being

Partners: Persons or entities in the community form a relationship and work together to achieve improved results for children and families in five areas: healthy children, school readiness, school success, stable families, and self-sufficient families. Community partners include area business and educational leaders, local elected officials, faith-based and civic organizations, public and private service providers, families, and other concerned citizens.

Results: The conditions of well-being for families and children to be achieved through local decision-making bodies called county collaboratives. The five result areas are:

Results Report: An evaluation report that provides answers to questions about how children, families, or communities were changed by strategies. Results reports almost always include key process findings in order to explain how results are believed to have been achieved.

Strategy: The means to accomplish a specific benchmark objective. It is the cluster of mutually supported, integrated programs and activities, both formal and informal, which are tailored to meet the needs of the target population and are coordinated among multiple organizations and community networks for positive results. It is directed toward decreasing risk factors, and increasing and strengthening protective factors.

Strategic Planning: An ongoing process by which Family Connection collaborative members envision the future for children, families, and their community, and develop the operations and procedures necessary to achieve that future.

Supporting evidence: Research sources or other data that explain why the strategy will contribute to achieving the desired benchmark objectives with the specified target groups.

Systems change: Processes and actions affected by the work of the collaborative that radiate out to established agencies, organizations and the community at-large. It should relate to the results for children and families identified in the collaborative plan and to what happens outside the collaborative. It reflects the desired changes in ways of doing business: changes in how decisions are made at the state and local level, changes in how families are supported, and changes in the current system of financing and budgeting.

Technical Assistance: Sharing expertise and customized support to meet specific needs. Sample topics include: board development, collaboration, community assessment, community planning and implementation, children-at-risk targeted case management, community partnerships for protecting children, evaluation, finance, governance, strategy development, strengthening community assets, and facilitating community meetings.

Training: Transfer of learning to build skills, knowledge and understanding in measurable terms. Capacity-building trainings focus on the core competencies required to fulfill key collaborative roles and responsibilities. Sample topics include: effective communication skills, managing conflict, team building, toward cultural responsiveness, substance abuse, child abuse and neglect, and stress management.

Vision: A shared picture of the future an entity seeks to create. It is a description of the ideal for children, families and the community; a dream of how things should be.