Build Partnerships

Instructions

Time Considerations: 60-90 minutes for the activity; a few days to a few weeks to develop the partnership

Materials Needed: Pens, and sticky notes for brainstorm, community partners worksheet

Participants: Your team, allies, and potential outside organizations, etc.

Step One

Think of all of the projects you’ve had on hold during the pandemic, or aspirations for your food program beyond what you currently have the capacity to do.

For example

• Have your student engagement efforts revealed interesting opportunities that would require more investment or outside support?

• Have you been approached by caregivers or representatives of community organizations about a particular issue - anything from the health of meals to nutrition education to food justice?

• Perhaps you want to implement good food purchasing standards or your students have requested more vegan food options.

You can try to do these things on your own, but there are likely partners out there who would be willing to help you.

Step Two

Brainstorm with your team and existing community collaborators about different organizations that can support or even lead an effort to address the topics you listed above. Consider what assets they might bring and how they could complement the work of food and nutrition services. Use the worksheet provided below to come up with possible partners and gain clarity on roles.

Step Three

Activate your existing partners and allies to reach out to new organizations you’d like to bring into the fold. Establish if their mission is aligned with yours and if so, hash out the details of a potential partnership. What are your goals? Consider local collaborators as well as national experts. What will you do and what will they do? What are a few indicators you can track to see if your project is going in the right direction? Draft a memorandum of understanding that you can reference as you move forward.

Tools

Need help downloading and using the tools? Visit our how-to guide.