Several issues were reported to be particularly important with respect to implementing Head Start services for homeless families:

• Building effective collaborative relationships.
• Recruiting and enrolling homeless families.
• Retaining homeless families and children in project services.
• Involving homeless parents in Head Start.
• Meeting the unique needs of homeless children and parents.

A. Building Effective Collaborative Relationships

The collaborative relationships established between demonstration grantees and other community agencies facilitated obtaining space for classrooms, recruiting and enrolling families, and securing services for children and families not provided by project staff or staff from other divisions of the grantee agency. Grantees developed three general types of collaborative relationships:

• Collaborations involving coordinated services. In these collaborations, grantee and partner agencies engaged in joint planning to avoid duplication of services, maximize services to families, and ensure that each agency provided services consistent with its area of expertise. This type of collaboration usually, but not always, occurred between demonstration projects and agencies operating a shelter or transitional housing facility.
• Collaborations for recruitment purposes. In this type of collaboration, grantees developed partnerships with community agencies serving homeless families to facilitate referrals of eligible families to the projects. Some grantees asked partner agencies to give eligible families information about Head Start, the Head Start application form, and the name of a contact person at the project. Other grantees asked partner agencies to provide the names of eligible families to the demonstration project, and project staff made the initial contact concerning Head Start services. Collaborations for recruitment were established with shelters, transitional housing facilities, agencies serving domestic violence victims, housing authorities, community coalitions of agencies serving homeless families, and city or county social services departments.
• Collaborations to provide access to services. Grantees also established collaborations to expand the array of services available to project children and families. To meet children's service needs, partnerships were developed with mental and physical health providers, child development centers, and agencies providing services to children with disabilities. To meet parents' service needs, partnerships were developed with realtors; housing managers; and agencies providing adult education services, substance abuse treatment services, job training or employment services, and social services benefits. Some of these partnerships involved contractual agreements for services to be provided to a number of children and families. For example, one project established a contractual agreement with a community mental health agency to provide mental health services to project participants on a priority basis. In other partnerships, services were provided on a case-by-case basis.

All 16 grantees experienced some level of success in collaborating with community agencies and organizations. Despite this success, 15 grantees acknowledged that establishing effective collaborations was a challenging task. The key challenges they encountered were:

• Establishing trust with collaborating partners.
• Convincing partners of the importance of Head Start services for homeless families.
• Establishing open and effective communication with partners.
• Overcoming barriers regarding access to resources.
• Maintaining collaboration when there was turnover among project or partner agency staff.

These challenges, and the strategies and practices developed to address them, are discussed in the following sections.

Establishing Trust

Many grantees reported that potential partner agencies did not fully accept the project. In some cases, potential partners viewed project staff as outsiders rather than as colleagues. In other cases, potential partners felt that the project would "take away" the families they were serving, duplicate their services, or in some way detract from their efforts for homeless families. A few grantees indicated that agencies serving homeless families had their own ideas about appropriate service approaches for these families and were reluctant to collaborate with the project unless it was willing to adopt these approaches.

Strategies reported to be effective in establishing trusting relationships with collaborating partners were the following:

• Include potential partners early in the project, ideally during the planning phase, to promote a sense of shared ownership.
• Develop a project advisory committee that includes representatives from all potential collaborating partners and meet as frequently as possible.
• Have someone represent the project on existing coalitions of homeless services agencies.
• Emphasize the ways that partners can benefit from the collaboration, such as being able to offer child development and parenting education services to their clients.
• Invite partner agency staff to participate in project activities such as parent involvement sessions and family days.

Convincing Partners of the Importance of Developmental Services for Children

Several grantees experienced difficulties convincing staff from agencies serving homeless families of the importance of addressing the needs of homeless children. Frequently, staff from these agencies did not perceive services for children as a priority for homeless families because parents' service needs were so extensive. In addition, some of the agencies serving homeless women emphasized women's empowerment, and their advocacy efforts on behalf of these women were occasionally in conflict with Head Start's advocacy for children. The following practices were reported to be effective in convincing partners of the need for child-focused as well as parent-focused services:

• Educate community agencies regarding child development issues and the importance of early childhood development for the well-being of parents as well as children.
• Educate community agencies regarding the relevance of a family perspective in providing services to homeless families. For example, point out that a considerable amount of stress experienced by homeless parents is a consequence of the difficulties they encounter in their role as parents.
• Clearly identify children's needs, the lack of services for homeless children in the community, and the ways that Head Start can fill these gaps.

Establishing Open and Effective Communication Between Project Staff and Partner Agency Staff

Nine grantees reported that collaborative relationships were hampered by poor communication between demonstration project and partner agency staff, resulting in misunderstandings between staff and, in some instances, a reluctance of staff to share information. Poor communication frequently occurred when partners did not know what the project expected them to do, or partner agencies expected the grantee to provide services it was not pre-pared to provide.

Grantees indicated that a key facilitator of effective communication was consistent and frequent face-to-face contact between demonstration project and partner agency staff. Strategies found to be effective in this regard were the following:

• Develop interagency case management teams or hold frequent joint planning or case staffing meetings.
• Co-locate Head Start staff and collaborating agency staff in the same office. An example of this was having a Head Start project outreach staff person work on site at a shelter or transitional housing facility to help families complete Head Start applications and/or work with housing facility staff to address specific family problems.
• Contact all agencies serving homeless populations in the community and establish a forum for continuing dialogue, such as an advisory board or coalition.
• Identify someone in the partner agency with a similar philosophy and perspective to serve as a primary contact, and meet with that person on an informal as well as formal basis.
• Develop clear expectations regarding collaborating partners' roles and responsibilities by establishing formal agreements and procedures.

Overcoming Barriers Regarding Access to Resources

Some grantees reported that potential partners expressed concern that collaboration with the project would drain their resources and result in excessive burden to their staff. Consequently, they expected to receive project funds to pay for services their agency provided. Four grantees that did offer to share resources reported that this strategy greatly enhanced collaboration. For example, a project that collaborated with the YWCA to provide space for its Head Start classroom offered children's car seats to the YWCA, shared its furniture with the YWCA, and provided food for children in the YWCA child care program as well as in the Head Start classroom. Another project collaborating with a home-less shelter offered workshops on health and nutrition for all shelter residents, rather than just for those who were project participants. Two grantees shared project funds with partners providing specific services in areas such as mental health, physical health, or adult education.

Maintaining Collaborative Relationships When There Was Staff Turnover in the Project or in the Partner Agency

Collaborations often were established when a demonstration project staff member developed a close relationship with a partner agency staff member. Although these collaborations were effective, they tended to dissolve when one of the staff members left. In contrast, collaborations were more enduring when partner agency administrators were committed to, and involved in, the collaborative arrangements. One strategy for fostering this involvement was to have agency leaders meet frequently to discuss partnership issues and problems and, when possible, develop formal collaborative agreements.