Transforming Government Transforming Communities Strengthening the Federal Workforce

Transforming Government, Transforming Communities Strengthening the Federal Workforce to Help Communities Implement Place-Based Initiatives Thaddeus Ferber The Forum for Youth Investment Jane Hodgdon Department of Education Place-Based Initiatives Pilot Program

Why Did We Conduct This Research? Regardless of how well policies were designed, it is the abilities of the federal staff who interface with the participating sites on a day-to-day basis that will determine the success of place-based initiatives. Place-based programs continue to evolve, and with them, the role of federal staff. Our research answers the critical yet neglected question of how frontline federal staff can best engage with communities. How Did We Conduct This Research? Literature review of federal place-based programs and beyond. 90 semi-structured interviews with political appointees, career employees, community grantees, and TA providers. 4 focus groups with communities that were implementing one or more place-based initiative. These focus groups were conducted at the 2015 Promise Neighborhoods National Network Conference. Background | Competencies | Developing Competencies | What Comes Next

Providing Innovative Leadership 1. Ability to envision and implement creative solutions 2. Ability to envision a federal role greater than compliance 3. Ability to envision solutions that cross department and agency lines “In some ways, it is better to have more of a thought partner than a compliance partner, to help us solve issues that we had or they had, rather than just taking a heavyhanded compliance approach. ” Background | Competencies | Developing Competencies | What Comes Next

Working Within the Federal Structure 1. Ability to reach out to colleagues in other agencies and identify relevant resources across agencies 2. Ability to discern when and how to provide flexibility while ensuring grant and regulatory compliance “You need to manage up very well. You need to make sure your bosses feel that you are not unduly exposing them, but are doing something good and that something good would come out of this extra step or approach you are advocating for. ” 3. Ability to encourage federal colleagues to go above and beyond to help place-based communities Background | Competencies | Developing Competencies | What Comes Next

Working with Communities 1. Ability to understand the local community perspective 2. Ability to figure out how things get done in a community 3. Ability to engage and demonstrate respect for community members 4. Ability to ask probing questions to identify a community’s underlying needs “Sometimes at the local level, we don’t know what we are asking, or sometimes we don’t know what the actual problem is. This is a skill that the staff or the liaison needs to have: to help us articulate the right question. ” Background | Competencies | Developing Competencies | What Comes Next

Communications and Interpersonal Skills 1. Ability to communicate with different audiences and stakeholders, including federal colleagues, local leadership and community residents 2. Ability to convene and facilitate group discussions “Skills around facilitation are critical. A lot of this work happens with a lot of stakeholders, and employees need to be able to organize, resolve conflicts and get this work done. ” Other Skills 1. Ability to navigate between a broad understanding of a wide range of related issues and a deeper expertise in the primary topic(s) of the specific place-based effort 2. Ability to understand use data to keep people focused on results Background | Competencies | Developing Competencies | What Comes Next

Strategies to Support the Federal Place-Based Workforce Training and Professional Development • Create trainings, toolkits, case studies and roleplaying exercises • Conduct joint site visits, bringing together a cross section of federal and local stakeholders • Create mechanisms for convening and exchange among federal staff implementing place-based initiatives • Create an online forum where place-based grantees, designees and federal staff can stay connected • Share information with federal staff on funding opportunities in other departments and agencies • Offer federal place-based staff opportunities to work in other federal departments and to rotate between jobs in the field and in D. C. Federal Staffing • Seek candidates who have diverse experience both inside and outside of federal government and in various federal agencies • Recruit candidates throughout the span of their careers Supervision and Management • Change job descriptions and performance measures to support place-based staff’s efforts Background | Competencies | Developing Competencies | What Comes Next

Conditions that Support Place-Based Work Appropriate Adequate Resources to Federal Agencies Implementing Place-Based Initiatives • Give managers the authority and funding to recruit, reassign and select staff with place -based skillsets • Dedicate more federal staff and federal resources to work with communities implementing place-based initiatives • Allocate funding for training and site visits Align Federal Processes, Regulations and Grant Solicitations • Create a streamlined mechanism for responding to communities’ questions about allowable uses of their existing federal funds • Provide place-based grantees/designees greater flexibility in using and blending their existing federal funding • Explicitly allow a community to use an existing governance structure to manage new place-based initiatives • Provide place-based designees competitive preference in funding competitions Demonstrate Leadership’s Clear Prioritization of Place-Based Approaches and Active Involvement • Strengthen interagency structures Background | Competencies | Developing Competencies | What Comes Next

What’s Next? Partnership for Public Service’s Delivering Outcomes for Communities Provides federal staff working in diverse communities with new skills and perspectives to improve community outcomes. Training will emphasize: • Forging effective partnerships • Using data in innovative ways • Tapping high-value resources from agencies across government • Networking with stakeholders and agency staff Training Dates: May 9– 11, May 25– 27, June 1– 3 http: //ourpublicservice. org/issues/develop-leaders/delivering-outcomes-forcommunities. php Background | Competencies | Developing Competencies | What Comes Next

What’s Next? Community of Practice Website! https: //communitysolutions. sites. usa. gov/home/ Background | Competencies | Developing Competencies | What Comes Next

Co. P is a federal web space; it’s not defined by the work of a single federal agency. Reflecting the overall concept of place-based work, this website breaks down silos. Co. P includes a resource library, personal accounts of interagency experiences, place-based efforts in the news, an events calendar, and so much more! Map of Administration Place-Based Initiatives Background | Competencies | Developing Competencies | What Comes Next

What’s Next? Your Feedback 1. Do the content and recommendations from the report resonate? How, or why not? 2. How might we all put this report to use? Background | Competencies | Developing Competencies | What Comes Next

Thank You!