Essential Ingredients
Our Model of Collaboration
CCSJ Partner Organizations and the coalition as a whole bring several ingredients and techniques that have been essential to our successes.
Credit: Bob Hsiang
Community accountability
CCSJ feels a strong sense of accountability to community members at the grassroots level. Whether it is with low-income Chinese immigrants or youth throughout the city, each organization already worked directly with community members as part of its core mission prior to the formation of CCSJ and has decades of trust and credibility with their communities. Our direct engagement means we understand the nuances of community perspectives and needs, which inform our strategies. We also recognize that our staff’s views may differ from some of the views of our community members, but we prioritize engaging in dialogue and meeting people where they are.
Strong relationships and trust among partners
Trust between partners has been built through decades of working together and strengthened through working together in crises as part of CCSJ. Cultivating personal bonds has been especially helpful at the senior leadership and executive director levels. Each organization also knows that each partner is ultimately dedicated to serving the needs of community members, not to serve an ideological agenda or for political gain. There have been moments that could have ignited conflict, such as external actors highlighting one coalition member and detracting others. However, each of the organizations trusts each other and are willing to uplift each other’s work.
Breadth of expertise and perspectives
In this complex and sensitive environment where crises can erupt quickly, it is important to stay coordinated with trusted organizations in the ecosystem. CCSJ’s partner organizations bring perspectives and expertise on different safety-related issues that individual partners may not have. It helps each partner organization be more aware of the overall landscape and the coalition take a holistic approach to safety. For example, one organization can share their analysis of potential impacts of a piece of community safety legislation, which would not otherwise be formally analyzed by the other organizations. CCSJ partner organizations can then be more prepared to navigate changes in the political and policy landscape that might affect programmatic work.
Multilingual capacity and deep cultural competence
CCSJ partners routinely hire people with bilingual capacity, who have grown up in San Francisco, and/or have spent a significant amount of time living or working in the city. This is especially important for community safety initiatives because trust and understanding are necessary for navigating these heavy and sensitive topics. Staff with language capacity, cultural competence, and a deep familiarity with San Francisco will have advantages in building relationships with community members and external program partners, as well as creating programs that are responsive to the specifics of different cultures and contexts.
Political and community recognition
The complex and highly political nature of community safety means that a coalition must be respected by government offices, elected officials, and community members to be effective. Each CCSJ partner holds different relationships with different stakeholders. We leverage our combined relationships to call meetings with people in power and organize community events.
Commitment to long-term change
The complex and sensitive nature of community safety work can create difficult political pressures, often out of one’s control. Each organization’s commitment to long-term change, helps the coalition take a long-term view on improving community safety. CCSJ recognizes that it must weather political storms and stay focused on building safety infrastructure that is responsive to our community’s needs.