Macc

Executive Summary:

The Metropolitan Alliance of Community Centers (MACC) is an organization composed of 11 member nonprofits dedicated to providing services to low-income residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. Incorporated in 1999, MACC’s mission was to “assist individuals and families in achieving greater self-sufficiency by strengthening the capacity of community-based social service organizations”. For several decades prior to 1997, declining philanthropic contributions, decreasing visibility of their vital community services, and pressure to deliver “quick-fix treatment programs,” squeezed community centers in the Twin Cities. Additionally, there was a pervasive ambivalence between Minneapolis and St. Paul; the cities operated in separate municipalities, but “the metropolitan area was not big enough to sustain operation in two separate spheres.”

To combat the regional thinking problem, and increase cohesive collaborations, 40 community service agencies from Minneapolis and St. Paul were invited to a meeting to discuss the feasibility of a metropolitan alliance.

The alliance formation process began in 1997. A well-respected external planning facilitator was brought in to facilitate talks, but the process took two years from start to finish. Initially, the meeting hoped to join the agencies to lower membership costs at the United Neighborhood Centers of America, and discuss some of the positive aspects of a metro wide alliance. Eventually 11 agencies committed energy and resources to the formation of an alliance with Pillsbury Neighborhood Services’ executive director taking primary leadership of the process.

The initial implementation plan set aggressive and broad goals to explore cost saving opportunities, identify members with the current best practices, recruit new members, create an agenda in support of metropolitan community agencies and joint infrastructure support.

The fact that the community center executives were already familiar...