Today, there are very few documents explicitly written for community collaboratives. Papers and monographs on specific policy issues continue to focus on specific categorical topics and fail to indicate how community collaboratives can address these issues. To fill this void, The Together We Can Initiative, in partnership with the Center for the Study of Social Policy, will publish The Community Agenda, a series of policy briefs for community collaboratives. These briefs will address specific issues and capture the most recent developments in the systems reform and community development arenas.

• Welcome to the Community Agenda

• Community Agenda, Vol. 1, No. 1, Summer 1997: A Focus on Welfare Reform

The Community Agenda is a joint effort of the Center for the Study of Social Policy and the Together We Can Initiative. Support for this publication comes from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Ewing M. Kauffman Foundation. The Center for the Study of Social Policy provides information and technical assistance to states and local governing entities working to change systems and improve results for children and families. The Together We Can Initiative -- a partnership among the Institute for Educational Leadership, California Tomorrow, the Child and Family Policy Center and the Program for Community Problem Solving -- is a leadership development and capacity-building initiative supporting state and community collaborative efforts. We hope to publish at least three times a year. Please let us know what you think of our first edition. Write or e-mail your comments to us at the addresses listed below. Let us know if the information you've picked up here is useful. Tell us what your collaborative already is doing to meet the objectives of welfare reform in effective and innovative ways. Let us know about other topics you'd like to see us cover.

Frank Farrow
Center for the Study of Social Policy
1250 Eye Street, NW, Suite 503
Washington, DC 20008
Telephone: 202-371-1565
Fax: 202-371-1472
Email: ffarrow@cssp.org