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M7: Community Partnership Research Project, Track B

Sinencia Villanueva

Arizona State University

EDU 402: Partnering for Education Initiatives

Professor Patrick Clawson

March 1st, 2022

M7: Community Partnership Research Project, Track B

        For the Community Partnership Research Project, I have selected educational resources for

people who have received a driving under the influence (DUI) ticket in Arizona. Currently, I am

employed as a Traffic Survival School instructor. For the most part, the students’ ability to drive

is contingent on their completion of the course. Not all the students I teach are in class for DUI

but approximately half of them are. I have oftentimes thought about partnering with other

resources the students may need and have been motivated to take the steps to foster a

relationship. This project allowed me the opportunity to outline how to begin this partnership. 

Step 1: Working Together for a Common Goal

To begin, DUI students need many different resources and are often unaware of where to

go to find answers to their questions. A complete list of potential partners would be DUI lawyers,

substance abuse counselors, ignition interlock companies, insurance agencies, and revocation

packet specialists. The partner that would have the most educational impact for the students

would be the substance abuse counselors. I foresee this small partnership would be interested in

helping educate students of the underlying reasons for their behaviors, how to make better

decision-making skills, and overall teach them to live a safer lifestyle. Behavioral analysis is the

first step in changing behavior because the student must comprehend what led up to their actions.

Without dissecting the root of the problem, the behavior will likely persist. After the behavior

has been acknowledged, it would be appropriate to educate the student of possible options.

Rather than simply saying the selected behavior of driving under the influence is “bad” and

“don’t do that again”, provide the student with viable solutions that do not involve breaking the

law. This education will allow the student to come to their own conclusions of the best solution

and eliminate the previous behavior of drinking and driving. Teaching decision-making skills
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results in the students living a safer lifestyle. Both the Traffic Survival School and the substance

abuse counselor share these common goals.

Step 2: Forming Strategic Partnerships and Common Agendas

When reflecting on the Partnering Tool book, I recall the steps to form a strategic

partnership were to identify the partners that bring value, explore various contacts, and extend

the offer for partnership (Tennyson & Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum,

2003). I believe partnering with substance abuse counseling would be of great value for the

students. Also, the Traffic Survival School and substance abuse counseling partnership would

benefit from a referral program. By promoting each other’s services, both companies receive

more business, and more students have guidance on their next steps to get their license back.

Since I did not previously have contact with a substance abuse counselor, I explored my options

outside of my connections. I reached out to a local counselor’s office in downtown Phoenix and

evaluated the list of goals thus creating the common agenda. The stakeholder, also known as the

local counselor’s office, has access to the list of goals and common agenda summary. The

common agenda includes the following goals to educate students on: self-awareness, behavior

recognition, emotionally in-touch, evaluate options, and make the safest solution. 

As noted from the Partnerships: Frameworks for Working Together, to form a strategic

partnership the partners must identify potential barriers and acknowledge the reliance on others

(Compassion Capital Fund National Resource Center, 2015). The potential barrier that I see in

this partnership would be communicating students’ information promptly for referrals. This

means the partnership must establish a referral process, accountability checks, and

communication methods. Without this sorted out, the student’s information could easily become

lost or fall through the cracks. For this to be a strategic partnership, the Traffic Survival School
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and substance abuse counselor will need to learn how to rely on each other to complete their

designated tasks. 

Another takeaway from the Partnerships: Frameworks for Working Together is the needs

assessment called “Checklist for Setting Up and Maintaining the Partnership” (Compassion

Capital Fund National Resource Center, 2015). In this document, probing questions are asked to

determine the roles and responsibilities of the partners. Just to provide some examples, the

checklist clarifies skills required, reporting procedures, performance management, and

communication methods. This provides a rough outline and provides some guidelines for the

partnership to follow. 

Step 3: Management and Communication

After meeting with the substance abuse counselor, we have determined that the ideal type

of management would be de-centralized management. This management style is unique as it

does not have a traditional leader. Instead, “different aspects of management are shared between

the organizations” (Tennyson, 2011, p.23). This is the ideal management structure as both the

Traffic Survival School and substance abuse counselors have equal power. Some benefits of this

style are the shared responsibility and the freedom to operate. A couple of drawbacks of this

style are a lack of coherence and conflicts of interest. Since the partnership is small, I do not

believe there will be many drawbacks to selecting the de-centralized management. 

        In terms of communication, the partnership has decided to communicate electronically. This

is evident in the Management and Communication document which outlines the informal

structure, documenting procedures, and partnership norms. Mainly the communication strategies

used are through email and Google documents. Email would serve as the primary method of

communication as it is easy to keep a history of conversations, search information and send

documents. Information that needs to be updated often and seen live would be utilizing Google

documents. Taking the time to organize how the partnership will manage and communicate sets

the foundation for the partnership.

Step 4: Work Plans and Activities

In this phase, the partners need to build commitment and make the partnership work.

The Work Plans and Activities document establishes buy-in, realistic expectations, the shared

unit of measurement, and accountability procedures. The buy-in for both partners is to build their

customer base. The Traffic Survival School has an interest in opening new locations and the

shared office space with the substance abuse counselor’s office would be a great start in

expanding. The substance abuse counselor’s office had to limit the hours in the office to help

alleviate some of the financial burdens. The counselors are paid only during the time they are in

their appointments. As one can imagine, it was not cost-effective to keep multiple counselors in

the office when customers were not coming in. Establishing the buy-in early allows the partners

to feel more comfortable with working with each other. 

        Realistic expectations are necessary to mitigate potential frustrations. Working on a

partnership is exciting but if not done correctly, it could be a headache. The partnership set

realistic deadlines for tasks to be completed. One of the deadlines would be to complete the

monthly class schedule and counseling services by the 15th. This would allow enough time for

teachers and counselors to see the schedule, and students to sign up. The other deadline

established in the partnership Work Plan and Activities document was merging one file a week.

There is very similar information collected by both partners so it would be more efficient to

combine both versions into one sharable document. Since the merge would include customers’

contact information, class schedules, referral discounts, and payment tracking, it is better to do it
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right the first time. If the realistic expectations are not set, information could be lost or entered in

the final document incorrectly. 

        The shared unit of measurement for this partnership is the number of students who are

referred. For instance, if the person originated as a Traffic Survival Student and attended the

substance abuse counseling due to a referral, then that would be considered a success. A key

component of making this partnership work is maintaining the referral business so students can

receive the necessary education and both companies can prosper. 

        As mentioned in Step 3: Management and Communication section, The partnership will

make use of live documents. Live documents are convenient to share information, but they are

also a tool to hold the other partner accountable. If the documents have not been edited in over a

week, it is evident that the partner is not documenting as they are required to. Rather than

waiting till a monthly meeting, the partner can know what progress is or isn’t being made. The

live document is how the partnership maintains the transparency developed earlier in the

beginning stages. In terms of communication, the partnership has decided to communicate

electronically. This is evident in the Management and Communication document which outlines

the informal structure, documenting procedures, and partnership norms. Mainly the

communication strategies used are through email and Google documents. Email would serve as

the primary method of communication as it is easy to keep a history of conversations, search

information and send documents. Information that needs to be updated often and seen live would

be utilizing Google documents. Taking the time to organize how the partnership will manage and

communicate sets the foundation for the partnership.

Step 5: Partnership Evaluation and Challenges

        The partnership evaluations will measure the success of the Traffic Survival School and

substance abuse counselor’s office. The Evaluation Plan provides measurements to the Traffic

Survival School and the substance abuse counselor’s office. As mentioned in Step 2: Forming

Strategic Partnerships and Common Agenda, there are five goals for the partnership. The five

goals are self-awareness, behavior recognition, coping strategies, weighing out the options, and

selecting the safest solution. All five have a unique, yet simple way to measure the data. To

measure self-awareness, the instructor or counselor keeps track of how many students are aware

of the decision they made versus the ones that are unaware. For behavior recognition, they can

measure the most common motivators for people to drive under the influence. Another aspect

that would need to be measured would be the most popular coping strategies to see what people

are gravitating to. Next, we weigh out the options with the person with the DUI and see if they

would make the same decision. The very last question would ask if the person with the DUI

found the information helpful. 

        The partnership will check over the data collected by the instructors and counselors. If an

instructor or a counselor has many forms to fill out, they might be tempted to not document

correctly. For the most part, new data is expected to be collected every business day. To monitor

this data collection, it will be checked in the bi-weekly meetings and a random spot check at least

once a month. This monitoring reduces complacency for data collection over time. Another

benefit to routine monitoring is the continuous reports. Reports can be used to find trends and

develop summaries of the results. Once data has been collected, it can be utilized to help target

the most common problems. Evaluating this data, finding a pattern, and coming up with

preventative measures will help decrease the number of people driving under the influence. 

Step 6: Equity and Inclusion and Final Projects

        Equity and inclusion are essential for the community to accept the partnership. In the Equity

and Inclusion document, the partnership addresses what steps are necessary to improve equity in

the community. Once the partnership has collected enough data, it will need to disaggregate the

information. Separating the data by the demographics will show where the partnership needs to

tend to. The next step is to recognize the disparities. There will be some populations that are

more likely to drive under the influence. Although which population has not been discovered yet,

the Equity and Inclusion document mentions people under the age of thirty, people in their

forties, women, and men. Each population had its own unique motivation to drive under the

influence. Identifying these motivations is an essential part of recognizing the disparities and

identifying the root cause. Without taking the time to discover the root cause, the partnership is

likely to be ineffective. The following step to increase equity is supporting the local narratives.

Supporting the local narratives is sharing the stories of those who are most likely to get a DUI.

When the community is aware of the disparities, they are more likely to be motivated to make

changes. 

Step 7: Partnership Transitions and Endings

I believe the partnership is worth continuing rather than placing an end goal.

Unfortunately, there will always be people who drive under the influence so our work here will

never be done. The Partnership Transitions and Endings document defines success, shares

experiences, adds partners, and establishes a backbone organization. Defining success for the

partnership is broken down into two categories: measurable and unmeasurable. Measurable

success for this partnership is the decrease of the target population receiving DUIs. As

mentioned in the Equity and Inclusion section, certain populations are more likely to receive

DUIs. When there is a decrease in this population, that would be considered a measurable
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success. Unmeasurable successes are the attitudinal changes within the community. Some

examples of these attitudinal changes are more members of the community sharing stories about

their friends who have received DUIs, the peer pressure to order rideshare, and thinking about

the consequences of these decisions. Even though these changes are unmeasurable, they

demonstrate immense success from the partnership’s efforts. Sharing the experiences with the

people who are directly and indirectly in contact with the partnership’s reach is a great way to

build awareness for the issue. External sharing would be beneficial for potential partners,

bordering communities, and similar agencies. The external sharing will be providing the most

opportunity for growth for the partnership. As more organizations find out about the partnership

and its impact on the community, they are more likely to join as partners. However, with growth,

the partnership will require a stronger infrastructure than what it currently has. The ideal

backbone organization would have similar interests, strong ties with the community, and

financial stability. The organization that would be the best fit to serve as a backbone leader is

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). With MADD as a backbone organization, I believe

the partnership will have strong leadership and long-term support. The partnership between the

Traffic Survival School and substance abuse counselor’s office is destined to grow into a

community-oriented solution for DUI prevention. 

Compassion Capital Fund National Resource Center. (2015). Partnership Frameworks for

Working Together [E-book]. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Tennyson, R. & Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum. (2003). The Partnering

Toolbook [E-book]. Reed Business Education.