We’re In This Together
Sharing information with neighboring agencies nets answers to most-asked questions
By Julie Cross
As recreation-service providers, we strive to fill gaps in programming for customers who might not have access to programs from other organizations. Core to filling these gaps is research. Many times, we may find ourselves duplicating efforts of peers at other agencies. But I have found working with my peers better serves our customers.
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Over three years ago, I was tasked with compiling data on what other municipal agencies offer with regards to financial assistance for recreation programming. Our financial-assistance program needed an update as we found gaps in our audience, and felt the dollar amount provided was not keeping pace with the cost of the classes. We wanted to know why the gaps were present and whom we were missing.
First Attempts
Locating a list of agencies in the state to research took some time. From a Google search, I was able to identify agencies I wanted to contact, but things became more difficult from there. Most agencies didn’t post information about their financial-assistance programs online, and those who did provided varying levels of information. I started calling a few agencies—which was helpful—and I received more information, but it was very time-consuming for all involved.
Washington Recreation & Park Association (WRPA) has various tools for helping members reach out to each other, but I also wanted to reach everyone I could—not just members of the organization. To expand the list, I scoured the list of WRPA member agencies for contact information and added those agencies not listed on their membership, creating a new email distribution list. This list offered a broad audience to survey. I created an email with questions, promising to compile and deliver the raw data to those who responded.
My email request generated a great response. I found I was not the only one researching—or about to begin researching—this topic. After the first several responses, I realized I would have a series of follow-up questions, which I shared with all once the deadline to respond had passed. The final compilation was sent to those who had responded to the initial inquiry.
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An Outpouring Of Support
As the scope of the project expanded over the following year, additional questions were added. I reached out again to the entire group with the same promise to return the compiled information to those who responded. I was again met with great response rates and many “thank-you” notes.
I was asked, “What made you reach out? and was told, “Thank you for doing my job.” My response was simple: we all work in the same industry performing comparable duties, so why are we working in a vacuum when it comes to information? I work under the umbrella of transparency and open government. Why re-create the wheel when it’s likely someone has already done it, is working on it, or will need it in the future? I was also approached by an agency in a neighboring state that had heard about this and wanted in on the action.
Since then, a particular agency directed some questions to a colleague of mine regarding financial assistance. That colleague came to me, noting my previous work on the program and asked if I could chat with the contact. Funny thing— that organization hadn’t responded to my inquiry and therefore had not received the compiled responses. I happily provided the information I had gathered through my research after adding the responses to the data set.
This same approach has been duplicated when other colleagues have seen the results and asked me to reach out to another group with its questions, noting how much easier this approach was to gather data. Again, the same promise with the same response: “Can’t wait to see the information, thank you.”
Applying The Data
So, what happened with the financial-assistance outreach process? We discovered that, even within our own community, we have gaps in the outreach. To bridge those gaps, we worked hard to identify human-service agencies that are also serving those who might request financial assistance from us and streamlined the application process. We have also reduced the paperwork burden through integration of our application into the service agency’s intake process, made the income guidelines more in line with the community, and increased the level of assistance to $500 per person annually. These data-informed decisions were largely possible because of the research conducted on other agencies’ practices.
Bottom-line—step out of your comfort zone and ask many questions to many people! Chances are someone either has the answer, is looking for the answer, or soon will need the answer. Some lessons learned through this process include the following:
Gather a group of people in your organization (that do not have to be in parks alone) and ask these questions:
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1. What is it we really want to know?
a. Are there spin-off questions that come from this conversation? If yes, do they benefit other projects? If so, share them.
b. When you find your list of whom to ask, make sure it is broad.
c. When you receive additional questions, wait until the deadline is over, review the validity of additional questions, and ask the “new group” that responded the follow-up questions. If one group asked, others are probably wondering, too.
2. What works?
a. Give people a reason to respond to your inquiry. The promise to provide all the information in one document just for answering the questions about an organization was fruitful for my project.
b. Keep your promise.
3. What doesn’t work?
a. Digging through each other’s websites. It is daunting and lacks productive results.
b. Surveys are great, but they only provide answers to the individual who sent out the survey.
4. The only cost for this is your time, and that is reduced by the combined agency responses.
5. The biggest challenge is that people change jobs/titles/organizations, so keeping the list updated with a generic email address/contact is necessary. Most of the generic email boxes responded gleefully.
Julie Cross is the Administrative Services Supervisor for Parks & Community Services for the city of Bellevue, Wash. Reach her at jcross@bellevuewa.gov.