Stronger Partnerships, Stronger Programs:Stacie Strotman Shares Strategies with Kentucky’s 21CCLC Leaders

When after-school and summer programs are at their best, they do more than extend the school day—they create opportunities for students to connect, explore, build skills, and discover new possibilities. Making those opportunities possible often requires something that no program can do alone: strong, intentional community partnerships.

Partners For Change CEO Stacie Strotman recently had the opportunity to share that message with new 21st Century Community Learning Center (21CCLC) site coordinators and program directors from across Kentucky as a presenter at the Kentucky Department of Education’s Level I Orientation.

The two-day orientation provided new 21CCLC leaders with essential information about state and federal programmatic, fiscal, and data reporting requirements. Stacie’s session added another important dimension: helping leaders think strategically about how they can turn their grant goals into meaningful experiences for students—and how the right community partners can help make those strategies possible.

With a long-standing history of building partnerships and bringing community organizations together to support students and families, Stacie challenged participants to look beyond simply identifying organizations that are willing to help. Instead, she encouraged them to be intentional about why they are partnering, what each partner brings to the table, and how the partnership connects directly to the goals of their program.

Participants began by reviewing the goals outlined in their individual 21CCLC grants and identifying strategies that could bring those goals to life. They then worked together to consider what types of community partners could help support those strategies and strengthen the experiences they provide for students.

The conversation highlighted an important reality of out-of-school time programming: the rightpartnership can be much more than an additional resource. A strong partner can bring expertise, new opportunities, relationships, and experiences that expand what a program can offer students.

Meaningful partnerships can also help programs build capacity and create a stronger foundation for sustainability. Just as importantly, Stacie emphasized that successful collaboration requires more than asking, “What can this partner do for us?” It also requires programs to ask, “What kind of partner are we going to be?”

That shift in perspective sparked thoughtful conversation among 21CCLC leaders as participants shared experiences, ideas, and successes from communities across Kentucky. The discussion reinforced that partnerships are most effective when they are mutually beneficial, clearly connected to shared goals, and built on trust and intentionality.

For Partners For Change, the opportunity to share this message with new 21CCLC leaders across the state reflects a belief we see every day in our own work: when schools, community organizations, families, and other partners bring their strengths together with a shared purpose, students benefit.

Building the right partnerships isn’t simply one strategy for a successful after-school or summer program. It can be one of the most powerful strategies a program has.