Working with Local Nonprofit Organizations

Local nonprofit organizations today play a vital role in delivering social services in the U.S. With the emergence of greater funding opportunities from state and national sources, local organizations have become a key funding conduit for the delivery of a variety of social programs.1

An increasing reliance on community initiatives and local organizations has been particularly noted in the housing field. With the decline in federal responsibility for housing programs and the increasingly limited resources of state and local governments, the local nonprofit sector emerges as a source of creative solutions for meeting America's needs for safe, decent, and affordable housing. Many innovative and cost-effective housing development programs have been designed, implemented, and managed by local organizations. The Extension professional can have a key role in addressing community housing issues through these organizations.

Local organizations are often loosely organized entities, even if legally incorporated. They tend to democratic decision- making processes and generally eschew a leadership hierarchy. These groups are often issue- and process-oriented. As such, they not only rally citizens to action on a particular concern, but also reinvest local residents with some control over their community. They offer an excellent opportunity to further the educational mission of Extension. The Extension professional, by combining technical expertise, an understanding of local needs, and skills in community organizing, can be a catalyst for the formation, growth, and development of local organizations.

Active participation allows the Extension professional to apply research-based knowledge to solve the com-munity's housing problems and extend the effectiveness of the local organizations. Furthermore, Extension has an opportunity to help develop organizational and leadership skills and promote volunteer growth in the community. A 1988 study of Cooperative Extension programs in rural America suggests community involvement is necessary to successful technology transfer education programs.2

The Extension professional can bring specific expertise to the local housing organization's developmental process:

1. Knowledge of the Community. The Extension professional's job is to know local needs, especially issues affecting the well- being of families. In conducting and managing a community education program, Extension knows the people in the community and is able to identify potential resource people.

2. Knowledge of Housing. Through Cooperative Extension faculty at the university, and personal knowledge, the Extension professional brings expertise useful in identifying potential solutions to housing problems. In addition, Extension can focus on direct educational needs of the organization's clientele to complete its delivery of services and increase the likelihood of the resolution of housing problems.

3. Volunteer Development Skills. The Extension professional is effective in recruiting and working with volunteers. Coupled with a knowledge of community resources, this expertise can be instrumental in getting the "right mix" of people together to spark the development of the organization.

4. Organizational Development Skills. Local organizations tend to be informal. However, even in a loosely structured group, people need to work cooperatively. If the group is to incorporate as a nonprofit and take advantage of funding opportunities through governmental agencies and private foundations, some formalized structure is required. The Extension professional, through volunteer training, can help the organization achieve the necessary level of structure.

The role of the Extension professional in the development of the local housing organization is shown in Figure 1. In this conceptual model, the Extension professional is in direct contact with the "caring community," the nucleus of volunteers who provide the commitment to the formation and growth of the organization. The Extension professional is also linked to the local organization, taking a role as consultant or, in some cases, active member. Finally, the Extension professional helps bridge the local organization and bureaucratic system of larger, formal organizations. This allows the community group to maximize its effectiveness while retaining a local, participatory focus. These formal organizations can provide resources, such as grant funding; carry out service functions, such as building construction; or have regulatory powers, such as the Internal Revenue Service.

Figure 1. Developing a local housing organization.

The benefits to Extension participation in local housing organizations are many, and apply to both the community and Extension. Skills of the Extension professional, such as grant writing or knowledge of governmental housing programs, can directly benefit the local organization. In addition, Extension can provide a link between the local housing organization and other resources within the community, as well as with larger bureaucratic institutions.

Perhaps even more important are the opportunities for human resource development presented by Extension professionals' involvement in such organizations. Strengthening leadership capacities within the community can contribute to community well- being and vitality long after a group's initial objectives have been reached and citizens have gone on to new projects. Community organization members can move on to play stronger advocacy roles for housing concerns, and in turn, influence public policy. Finally, participation in local housing organizations can raise Extension's profile in the community and promote it as a reliable source of housing information and help. This can increase the participation in, and effectiveness of, other educational programs.

One concern posed by supporting the involvement of Extension professionals in local initiatives is accounting for these individuals' time and activities and documenting program impact. Evaluation is a necessary component of Extension programming to gauge effectiveness in using resources to provide educational programs that respond to community needs.

Evaluation is an assessment tool, however, and the applicability of commonly used evaluation methods shouldn't be a driving force in how Extension activities are developed. Our experience supports Sundet and Mermelstein's conclusion that person-training hours aren't always a useful means of judging program impact. This practice doesn't reflect the time, energy, preparation for, and results of Extension professionals' participation in community initiatives. Also, it in fact discourages such activities by placing no value on them and forcing them to remain an invisible component of the professional's workload. Rather than encouraging interaction, consultation, and involvement in small-scale community projects, this method of accountability "rewards staff for general and impersonal program activities precisely at a time when specific and personal services are required."3

With the increasing dependence on local organizations for the provision of housing services, Extension professionals have an important opportunity to use their knowledge and skills to benefit their communities. This poses a challenge not only to individual organizations and Extension units, but to the whole Extension System. To meet this challenge, the system needs to re- examine how it can fulfill its mission and develop a flexibility to reach down into American communities to help them respond to the challenges they face in the '90s.

1. C. Milofsky, "Structure and Process in Community Self-Help Organizations," in Community Organizations: Studies in Resource Mobilization and Exchange, C. Milofsky, ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), pp. 183-216.

2. P. Sundet and J. Mermelstein, "Community Development and the Rural Crisis: Problem-Strategy Fit," Journal of the Community Development Society, XIX (No. 2, 1988), 93-107.

3. Ibid.