Cross-Sector Relationship Building

Working together across agencies and sectors is key to successfully protecting young children in ECE settings. Here are a few tips on starting and maintaining cross-sector partnerships [9] [10] [11] [12]:

• Find core values between partners and agencies as a starting point.
• Build personal relationships, be flexible, and find a shared language.
• Have a well-structured partnering process with well-defined objectives, whether it is developing a workgroup, joining an existing reoccurring meeting, or developing something more formal, such as a memorandum of understanding (MOU).
• Persist. Multi-sector partnerships are not easy and can take time, but ultimately more can be achieved together than alone.

Appendix A lists resources for more information about cross-sector partnership building.