Criteria for National Partners

Because they must collaborate with both pilot centers and Neighborhood Networks consortia, potential national partners must also possess a national presence with multiple sites, national name recognition, a uniformity of services and resources, and a network of alliance partners.

To maximize partnership efforts, Neighborhood Networks has adopted a particular strategy designed to identify the benefits offered by Neighborhood Networks partners towards the goal of helping residents achieve self-sufficiency.

These criteria help to clarify the expectations of the partnership for both centers and partners. By placing each partner in one or more STEP categories, centers can easily determine the strengths and weaknesses of their current partnership efforts, and be able to focus on those that lack support.

The following attributes create the STEP strategy:

S    Services—This includes using the Neighborhood Networks center to provide social services linkages to transportation, childcare, healthcare, education, and TANF benefits as well as use of the Internet for a variety of purposes from online shopping to informational Web casts.

T    Training—This includes all activities aimed at making clients self-sufficient including computer training, job training, life-skills training, GED training, entrepreneurship training, management training, leadership training, and fundraising.

E    Equipment—This includes all hardware, software, telephone, fax, e-mail, and furniture necessary to equip a computer lab to handle services, training, and placement needs of its clients.

P    Placement—This includes using all resources for the placement of clients in sustainable employment opportunities with the potential for career advancement.