PARTNERSHIPS & COLLABORATION
Working Together to Strengthen Community Development
No single organization can meet every community need alone. We bring together community development organizations, funders, and partners to align resources, reduce duplication, and build stronger, more connected systems that support neighborhoods across St. Louis.
Partnership
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Collaboration
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Stronger Together
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Partnership · Collaboration · Stronger Together ·
What We Do
We Connect People, Resources, and Opportunities
We help our members build the right partnerships, at the right time, to strengthen their work and expand their impact by
Identifying gaps and opportunities across the community development landscape
Supporting equitable collaboration and shared decision-making
Connecting members to technical assistance and funding partners
Providing tools and guidance for strategic partnerships, shared services, and transitions
Our Focus
Understanding the Landscape
We analyze the full ecosystem to Identify service gaps, overlaps, and pressure points where collaboration can make the biggest difference, through a landscape scan of community development organizations and partners. share these insights to support informed collaboration and planning and to show who is doing what and where.
Guiding Equitable Collaboration
We help ensure partnerships are built on trust, transparency, and community voice. Our upcoming Collaboration Playbook will provide clear guidance, establish equity guardrails and community-consent practices and provide tools for shared services, alliances and mergers. We will soon begin offering support for organizations navigating transitions or restructuring.
Connecting Members to the Right Partners
We connect organizations to the support they need to grow by linking them with technical assistance providers and capital partners (including financial institutions, philanthropy, and public agencies).We broker targeted introductions based on readiness and need and align support with organizational goals and capacity to strengthen coordination across the ecosystem.
Strengthening Access to Capital & Expertise
Our network helps ensure resources flow more efficiently to the organizations that need them most. We also help expand access to funding, financing, and technical support and improve coordination across service providers and funders. We encourage long-term, sustainable partnerships that build capacity.
What Changes Because of this Work
As collaboration improves, the entire ecosystem becomes more effective and equitable:
Organizations form mission-aligned partnerships that expand capacity
Resources are used more efficiently, reducing duplication and filling gaps
CDCs gain better access to funding and technical expertise
Collaboration decisions are guided by community voice and accountability
Neighborhoods benefit from a more coordinated and responsive support system