Investigating Partnership Success Between A Faith-Based Organization And Public Schools In Florida To Support Program Sustainability And Growth In Complicated Times

Abstract

Live the Life South Florida (LTLSF) is a faith-based nonprofit headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida. The organization focuses on creating healthy relationships through education programs for adults and teenagers. Our area of focus is the pilot program that provides education through the schools both during and after the school day implemented in Broward County, Florida. LTLSF cannot meet the demand for the program and saw a decline in volunteer staff members. This mixed methods descriptive improvement project used multiple data collection tools to understand what drivers lead to successful partnerships with public schools and areas of opportunity and growth. In addition, this project aims to increase LTLSF’s understanding of what motivates its volunteer facilitators as they look to increase their pool of volunteers. The findings centered around commitment being the primary driver of success and communication and external factors as challenges to partnership success. In addition, working with students is the most common response to volunteer motivation. We recommend that LTLSF use the understanding of motivation to inform recruiting and retention practices, work with the schools to establish expectations for procedures and outcomes, develop a communication plan to improve communication between LTLSF and school sites, identify a liaison for each partner school, join a nonprofit coalition, and create a comprehensive marketing plan.