Wim Wiewel and Ismael Guerrero
Wim Wiewel Professor and Dean of the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Ismael Guerrero is the Associate Director of The Resurrection Project
Abstract
Much has been written in the past few years about the need for universities to become involved in partnerships with other organizations to address societal problems more directly. Many of the articles and conference presentations calling for this new involvement also identify the obstacles and barriers to pursuing this course successfully (see, for instance, the Winter 1996 issue of this journal). In this article we offer an analysis of a successful cross-sector collaboration and seek to identify the critical factors in creating success. Lest this sounds self-satisfied and presumptuous, let us add that the main reason we feel able to do this is that we have experienced plenty of failures as well, and thus can draw on that history in trying to isolate, in a qualitative manner, the key elements that have contributed to the partnership described here.
