How to Develop Government Partnerships

Government partnerships are often built slowly by developing personal relationships with government representatives – from legislators and agency directors to highway superintendents, Town supervisors, and Town clerks. This relationship building may require many one-on-one visits to multiple individuals.

One 501-c-3 byway organization mounted an aggressive campaign to jump-start government and public support for its projects. It called a meeting with eleven state agencies to learn where the byway had common ground with the state, where state funding could be leveraged with other available funding, and where compromise would be needed.

This byway also held a series of town meetings to discuss how the byway organization could blend history and preservation interests with economic development measures. The organization developed an organization business plan and a strategic plan for how to build the byway as the new ribbon connecting 60-some communities across eight counties. It also developed a resource tool kit to help small businesses along the byway access grants.