It writes the grant proposal within six weeks, using the assistance of a consultant with expertise in the substantive area, which in this case is violence prevention. In the rush to meet the deadline, the agency submits the proposal before the collaborative group members have ever met as a group, and before they have reviewed it. Because of the source of the funding, and because the proposal was submitted in its name, the public agency becomes by default the collaborative's lead organization. The agency's formal, hierarchical structure governs many aspect of the collaborative's operations, from the hiring of staff and hours of work, to certification, payment and reimbursement. They bring these previous relationships into the new collaborative group, as well as their thinly veiled disdain of the lead public agency.
All partners maintain a strong commitment to the project concept.
It is their rallying point. When the grant is approved, the collaborative group proceeds to recruit and hire a project coordinator- a process that takes three months because of the lead organization's inflexible hiring procedures. These small reimbursements are too little incentive to make significant changes in the way services are delivered. The public agencies, one of them a school district, display a lack of accountability and sensitivity to the families that the nonprofit partners find offensive. At the end of the 2-year grant cycle, the collaboration dies quietly.