But these actors too often work in parallel but separately when they could be more effective working together. Just like the problems they face, local actors need to become more interconnected themselves.
Local governments are uniquely positioned to lead. Not by going it alone, but by acting as catalysts — bringing together public, private, nonprofit, philanthropic and community voices to align efforts and share responsibility. Structures such as shared dashboards, cross-sector tables and community-driven planning are not just procedural upgrades. They are essential infrastructure for equitable, lasting change.
The path forward is not about doing more with less. It is about doing more — together.
Traditional single-sector approaches rarely deliver the scale or staying power needed to meet today’s multifaceted demands. Today’s challenges do not just require collaboration across government, business and nonprofit entities but should expand beyond the old tri-sector model to include philanthropy and community residents as full partners.
In an era of tighter budgets, shifting federal priorities and increasingly complex community challenges, the question for local governments is not whether to collaborate, but how.
Place-based, collective impact models, such as the Promise Neighborhoods program, offer an impressive example. In Dallas, the Jubilee Park Promise Neighborhoods program catalyzed a comprehensive cradle-to-career support system for children and families in Southeast Dallas. It brings together cross-sector partners to expand access to outside-of-school-time programs, while also developing high school support systems that prepare students for career success.
Truly effective collaboration draws from the local knowledge, experience and insight that each sector brings to the table — including residents. Cross-sector collaboration becomes most powerful when it is embedded in how a community sets goals, manages performance, allocates resources and listens to the people it serves. Local governments must act as conveners and catalysts for true cross-sector collaboration, driving collective impact that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Siloed approaches stifle efficiency and innovation. Without shared data or feedback loops, multiple organizations may work on the same problem without coordination, leading to duplicated efforts and missed opportunities for synergy. Innovation is harder when sectors operate in echo chambers, insulated from new perspectives or community-driven ideas.
The result is a fragmented landscape: uneven service delivery, resource misalignment and slower progress on complex problems. But it does not have to be this way.
For example, the North Texas Maternal Health Accelerator represents an unprecedented collaboration between Dallas and Tarrant counties, uniting TCU's Burnett School of Medicine, UT Southwestern, and more than 50 health-care providers and community organizations in a $40 million initiative aimed at reducing severe maternal morbidity by 20 percent over three years.
This kind of collaboration enables public, private, nonprofit, philanthropic and community actors to move beyond parallel efforts and toward sustained, aligned action. In San Antonio, Texas, a housing task force used court and hotline data to coordinate eviction prevention efforts, aligning city and community resources.
The Child Poverty Action Lab in Dallas is the archetypal example because it brings together the collective intelligence of dozens of local organizations, gleans on-the-ground insights from engagement with community residents, and uses hard data to identify problems as well as track solutions.
But there are many other models. Cincinnati’s StriveTogether partnership brings together schools, employers and nonprofits around cradle-to-career outcomes, tracking metrics like third grade reading proficiency and postsecondary enrollment to guide strategy and investment. Through What Works Cities, cities such as Baltimore and Tulsa, Okla., have embedded performance management tools into budget decisions.
Throughout these efforts, local governments played a central role, not simply as funders or implementers but as catalysts for collective impact. In addition, having a nonprofit facilitator that is able to bring together partners, share data and track action can supercharge progress.
The siloed models of the past are no longer sufficient to deliver the equity, efficiency or durability that today’s communities need. Real progress — on housing, education, health, climate and more — requires sectors working in coordinated partnership, grounded in data, evidence and the lived experience of residents.
Jed Herrmann, a former federal official and nonprofit executive with extensive experience in place-based programs, provides consulting services to public-sector and nonprofit organizations. This article was inspired by his work with 17a and Alan Cohen, president and CEO of the Child Poverty Action Lab in Dallas.
Governing’s opinion columns reflect the views of their authors and not necessarily those of Governing’s editors or management.
