Case Study of the Partnership Project. Texas Municipal League

摘要

The Texas Municipal League (TML) social services assistance project sought to inform TML - member cities regarding their potential roles in the delivery of human services through a structured program of (1) research, (2) demonstration, and (3) liaison with State agencies. The league project manager devoted most of his attention to the first two of these three elements. The Texas Municipal League is the official local government organization for the State with a membership of 770 cities. The demonstration program was designed to give cities an opportunity to work on locally defined intergovernmental problems. The demonstrations were to explore five approaches to city involvement in social services: (1) Fort Worth --- coordinating the planning and management activities of several existing social services organizations, including role definition and cooperation agreements; (2) Austin --- developing an overall social services policy statement and information system for elected officials; (3) Wichita Falls --- developing a social services planning and coordination body and I and R function; (4) Grand Prairie --- conducting a social services needs assessment; and (5) La Joya --- operation of a human resources center as a mechanism for coordinating delivery of services to city recipients. The demonstrations at Austin, Fort Worth, and Grand Prairie are described. To complete the research component, a random sample format of 47 cities was chosen so that findings could be generalized to present an overall picture of the social services planning and management capacities of city officials in Texas. Comparative analysis was conducted using the criteria of city size and geographic location. City officials responded promptly, and research findings were well documented and made available for dissemination through a TML publicaton.