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 Social and political partnerships are local networks that connect a combination of local community groups, educators, think tanks, grassroot organizations, policy institutes, industry, and government for the purpose of working on local social and political issues and community-building activities.
The IRR-PAC has a solid track record of working with the aforementioned organizations and has consistently spent a great deal of time, effort and financial resources in addressing, expressing and responding to the needs of local communities. This includes actively participating in the decision-making process at the local level.
The social and political partnerships that we have established and maintained throughout the years has taken a great deal of hard work, perseverance and dedication. Engaging in ‘partnership work’ is not easy. It is an interactive and collaborative process of working together to identify, negotiate and define goals, and to develop processes for realizing and reviewing those goals.
Partnership work is often underpinned by a set of principles that vary for different types of work at different stages of the partnership. The principles include developing or maintaining: the partnership; shared goals; relations with partners; capacity for partnership work; governance and leadership; and trust and trustworthiness.
Although the work is difficult, the results are rewarding. In the end, we have been instrumental at strengthening communities and regions economically and socially through training and educational programs, building up local community groups and helping citizens work on local issues that result in a more cohesive community.
The value of social and political partnerships as a means of identifying and responding to local and regional concerns is a great concern to the IRR-PAC. Social partnerships have the potential to engage communities with government and non-government organizations to solve local problems and to involve communities in making their own decisions. If there are ways to assist in collaborative decision-making and to build local capacity in ways that support economic, social and civic goals, we're often involved at ground zero to offer our financial support, talent, advice and other resources.
By their very nature, partnerships requires partners to do work. And, since all work is still done through people, the work involved can be complex and challenging before it can be effective. The work required also necessitates a meeting of the minds. Quite often, groups will not agree on everything, but can agree on key issues or objectives that makes the partnership mutually beneficial and rewarding. In our experience a successful partnership require both partners to have a deep understanding of the effect the partnerships will have on the organization's abilities to achieve its stated Mission and Vision, while keeping the work performed in line with the organization's Values.
A relationship that is not grounded in shared Values will, most likely, not make an effective Partnership opportunity. It is also beneficial to identify the different types of Partnerships that can add value to the organizations. For example, Social Partnerships are Partnerships typically initiated by external organizations who share similar goals, while Community partnerships, routinely originate in the community and address local concerns, problems or issues. Negotiated partnerships are formed between partners with reciprocal goals to secure a service in support of each organization's interest and agenda. Political partnerships, on the other hand, are often formed to support a particular candidate or a particular political issue.
Although the PAC has experience creating different partnerships for different reasons, Political Partnerships are key to achieving our stated Mission, Vision, Goals and Objectives. Keep in mind, however, that despite there being different kinds of social and political partnerships, the common activity across all partnerships is the quality of the partnership work undertaken in the partnership.
Data shows that social partnerships develop and are sustained because participants, through their interactions and exchanges share common goals and embrace the opportunity to work together with another like-minded organization that will enable them to come closer to achieving their objectives.
Partnership work embraces a wide range of processes that enable partners to work together. These processes include:
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maintaining shared purposes and goals
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developing mature and reciprocal relationships among partners
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identifying and accessing resources to assist in realizing goals
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supporting individuals who engage effectively in the community to secure partnership goals, and to avoid the negative consequences of burnout and a high staff turnover
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focusing on the partnership goals, rather than on operational issues, in order to foster close and trusted relationships among partners
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participating in and maintaining commitment to the partnership process by recognizing achievements and seeking opportunities to demonstrate achievement
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welcoming, facilitating and sustaining commitment and trust within the partnership
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identifying a range of measures for evaluating achievement.
Of the principles and practices of a successful partnership, we believe that there are five core principles at work:
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Building shared purposes and goals involving identifying the partner's interest and concerns and developing the framework for collectively realizing goals.
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Building relations with partners involves building trust and commitment, encouraging participation, and developing inclusive and respectful processes.
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Building capacities for partnership work involves engaging partners in the collective work of the partnership, through developing the infrastructure and resources needed to achieve goals.
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Building partnership governance and leadership involves formulating and adopting consistent, transparent and workable guidelines and procedures for the partnership work and practice of leadership.
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Building trust and trustworthiness involves establishing processes that engage and inform partners, and which encourage cooperation and collaboration.
Similar principles are required to sustain effective partnership work over time and through changing circumstances and include:
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Maintaining shared purposes and goals involves the partners actively reflecting upon, reviewing and revising goals, identifying achievements, and renewing commitment.
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Maintaining relations with partners involves endorsing and consolidating existing relationships, recognizing partners' contributions, and facilitating new and strategic partnerships.
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Maintaining capacity for partnership work involves securing and maintaining partners who engage effectively with both community and external sponsors, and managing the infrastructure required to support staff and partners.
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Maintaining governance and leadership involves developing and supporting close relations and communications between partners, and effective leadership.
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Maintaining trust and trustworthiness involves focusing on partners’ needs and expectations, and ensuring that differing needs are recognized and addressed.
These principles are evident in a wide range of practices across a variety of successful social and political partnerships. And, when these principles are absent, it's been our experience that the partnerships often results in unsatisfactory practices and outcomes. 
Fortunately, they can often be identified in the initial stages of partnership formation and building, as well as in the work that maintains the partnerships. We believe these principles to also have five aspects:
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cultural-scoping work (establishing a culture within the partnership which develops from the values each partner brings
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connection-building work (acknowledging connections among partners)
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capacity-building work (building the capacities of partners to engage in the complexities inherent to social partnerships)
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collective work (establishing processes for collaborative action within the social partnerships)
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trust-building work (establishing an ethic of trust within the social partnership).
It is our experience that, TOGETHER, these five dimensions and the principles and practices that support them seem to comprise effective partnership work which will adopt particular variations and emphases over time.
No matter what partnerships we form or relationships we develop, our Mission of electing principled candidates to State and Local offices is always our primary focus. This is why the PAC is well-know throughout our State and it also is the primary reason we are able to reach out and work with a broad network of other like-minded individuals and organizations.
TOGETHER EVERYONE ACHIEVES MORE
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