The Consuelo Foundation will share experiences from launching a new direct service program in Honolulu called the ABC (Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up) Pilot Program. Presenters will share issues and challenges to the program development such as cultural issues in importing an “outside” program into a closely-knit community; the importance of communication with other community-based agencies and with public agencies; the successful engagement of families and agencies into a new program; and addressing unexpected problems in a new program.

A successful collaboration will be dissected from the macro and micro perspectives to teach what made it successful and how it was accomplished. Up for analysis will be the United Way funded initiative called THRIVE, a collaboration of a number of Houston-area organizations with a common goal of raising the level of financial education and financial freedom for individuals in the Greater Houston area.

Using an innovative new program designed to foster and deepen relationships inside and outside an organization, one organization was able to “break down the walls” between departments in order to collaborate on a process to more fully engage ambassadors, staff, and supporters. The program involves institution-wide efforts and opportunities for input, data collection and analysis, outcomes and benchmarking tools, and dissemination of the information collected in a variety of ways (written, spoken, and electronic), with a feedback loop to inform on how to improve the process.