Determining the right people and organizations to be involved, as well identifying who will serve as leaders, are key components of any policy initiative. In the case of regulations, a single organization may operate alone in submitting comments or it may join with others to provide more comprehensive support for its position. While one individual may direct the identification and recruitment of partners, another may emerge to draft the comments and/or oversee the submission process.
Establishing Leadership
Effective leadership is crucial to any successful policy initiative. When responding to draft regulations, a policy initiative leader may need to organize stakeholders, find common ground for developing comments, or organize an effort by multiple stakeholders to submit consistent comments.
The following are important considerations when selecting the appropriate leader:
- Does the proposed leader have experience with the rulemaking process?
- Does the proposed leader have a pre-existing relationship with the applicable government agency? If so, is it positive?
- Is the proposed leader an authority on the issue? Does he or she understand the applicable legislation?
Resources
The Center for Community Leadership
The Community Toolbox
University of Kansas, Work Group for Community Health and Development
See Part E for information about leadership, management, and group facilitation.
Leadership Guidance (PDF - 239 KB)
American Public Human Services Association, Positioning Public Child Welfare Guidance
Leadership in the Improving Child Welfare Outcomes through Systems of Care Initiative (PDF - 573 KB)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau
Developing and Sustaining Leadership
Child Welfare Information Gateway
Systems of Care Infrastructure Toolkit: Governance
National Technical Assistance and Evaluation Center for Systems of Care
Identifying Partners
Partners may want to participate to varying degrees, from providing you with information to include in your organization's comments to submitting their own set of comments in a unified effort. You should attempt to include partners from all stakeholder groups, such as key agencies affected by the legislation, staff from multiple levels within your organization, families and youth, and community members.
Important considerations for choosing the appropriate partners include:
- Are there potential partners that have expertise in this particular issue area and the rulemaking process?
- Are stakeholders from all groups that will be affected by the legislation included as partners? Have you included representation of:Have you considered identifying and engaging groups that could oppose your efforts in order to help overcome future barriers?
- What resources are needed? What are the resources that each partner can provide (e.g., expertise, labor hours)? Where are the gaps? What needs to be done to engage additional partners that can fill the gaps and provide needed resources or assistance?
- How do potential partners work together? Is there a history of collaboration?
Resources
Building and Sustaining Child Welfare Partnerships (PDF - 595 KB)
National Technical Assistance and Evaluation Center for Systems of Care
Community Partnerships: Improving the Response to Child Maltreatment
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau, Office on Child Abuse and Neglect
Chapter 3 describes how to build and sustain community partnerships, including selecting partners.
The Community Toolbox
University of Kansas, Work Group for Community Health and Development
See Chapter 9 for information about establishing a team to create and run your initiative.
Interagency and Cross System Collaboration
Child Welfare Information Gateway
Interagency Collaboration
National Technical Assistance and Evaluation Center for Systems of Care