Most elected officials and key staff understand and appreciate the benefits of working together, and many are engaging in various forms of collaboration in some capacity. While, there are also many documents in existence on collaboration and working together, this guide focuses on bridging the gap between an understanding of and intention to collaborate with purposeful action.

To that end, this resource provides context for the current and always changing environments that local government agencies are working within, and builds on the growing efforts to connect violence prevention and healthy eating, active living strategies, to more effectively and efficiently meet the needs of their communities. This guide seeks to help local government officials connect their intention with action – to leverage their understanding of the importance of working together with concrete, purposeful action towards developing and/or expanding successful partnerships and collaboration that stretches their local dollars while creating vibrant and healthy environments for all children, families and the community as a whole.

This is a living document; comments and stories for inclusion are appreciated. Please share your ideas, best practices and case stories with the Institute as we will continue to update this document into 2016 as part of our work on a Healthy & Vibrant Community Grant. The project is supported by Kaiser Permanente Northern California Community Benefit Programs.