Building State Affiliate Capacity
The NEA Foundation’s Building State Affiliate Capacity Initiative was launched in the fall of 2013 and supported four NEA state affiliates—Colorado, Kentucky, Illinois, and Utah—as they sought to expand their mission and role in a variety of ways. It was designed to test whether state affiliate influence and relevance to both its members and the broader educational community increased by expanding services and building skills in support of the professional needs of educators and their students.
Latest Reports
Read Organizing for Change: A Road Map for Organizational Transformation and Lessons Learned to discover the strategies, challenges, and lessons learned from the union leaders involved in the Building State Affiliate Capacity initiative.
Then, check out Organizing for Change II: Moving Toward Organization Transformation for details on how to get started in transforming your organization—and what to expect as efforts intensify. No two affiliates are alike, so the focus is deliberately open-ended.
In this framework, affiliate leaders can assess how to better serve professional advocacy, in whatever form those leaders determine is the best for their members, schools, and students.
Strategic NEA State Affiliates
The NEA Foundation, with our team of consultants and staff, supported the transformation work of four state affiliates with:
- Consulting on a preliminary organizational assessment of the affiliate’s structure, human capital, service delivery and more. The assessment identified areas of strength and challenge, and prioritized recommendations for how to improve.
- Coaching to develop an implementation plan for a selection of the organizational recommendations – and grant funding to execute that plan.
- Grant funding and technical support for the state affiliate to support local work on teaching and learning issues, in ways appropriate for each state’s policy context and environment.
- A learning community of like-minded state leaders. The Foundation designed and developed summits for state affiliate leaders to collaborate and share ideas and lessons learned.
The participating NEA state affiliates— Colorado, Kentucky, Illinois, and Utah—have engaged in extensive assessment of educator needs, designed and implemented new strategic plans, reimagined the roles and responsibilities of headquarters and field staff, designed online professional development tools, and more.
The NEA Foundation is not currently accepting new state affiliate opportunities. Should there be future opportunities, we will advise state affiliate leadership.
