PARTNERSHIP: A VISION FOR THE FUTURE

Partnership Minnesota began in 1988 with a few government workers who had a vision for intergovernmental cooperation. Today Partnership Minnesota is nationally recognized for its efforts in supporting the development of partnership efforts. In 1992 they received the Public Employees Roundtable's Intergovernmental Public Service Excellence Award and in 1994 Vice President Al Gore's Hammer Award for Reinventing Government. To better understand how partnerships develop and succeed, Partnership Minnesota has gathered examples from more than 300 case studies of successful partnerships. These studies have shown that there are three types of partnerships: cooperative, coordinating, and collaborative. All three address the needs of and often involve the customer and/or citizen. There are a plethora of different partnership issues/needs ranging from the very small (picking up the phone and sharing information) to issues which span the globe (gambling, gangs, AIDS, government down-sizing). When developing a partnership, an organization needs to keep in mind: not all partners will be equal in any partnership; efforts of participants change in each partnership; most barriers can be overcome; however you partner, it is effective; whether large or small, a partnership can be effective; break a project to portions each agency can provide; and it is not always a smooth ride - look for the challenges. Partnerships and intergovernmental cooperation are a necessary part of our vision for the future. That future is now. Partnerships and intergovernmental cooperation are the way of doing business today.