Because of shifts in funding resources and calls for mandated cooperation, small community-based organizations are increasingly engaging in collaborative partnerships. This article focuses on how well collaboration works in practice for small community-based organizations. Existing research suggests that small community-based organizations, because of their informal organizational structures and adapttability, can develop highly effective partnerships. However, such organizations are largely inexperienced at implementing formal partnerships with other groups, leading to a potential for significant conflict. The article presents the case study of three small community-based organizations and illustrates the rather unexpected result that even with high degrees of interagency conflict, collaboration can result in highly effective programmatic outcomes.
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