Food Insecurity in Western US States: Increasing Collaboration Between State Agencies and Nonprofit Organizations

摘要

This analysis examines how and why many nonprofits and state agencies fightingndomestic hunger have increasingly collaborated in unexpected ways. Interviews withnnonprofit and state agency leaders in four western US states provide details about thesencollaborative efforts. Drawing on the concept of collaborative governance, the findingsnreveal important roles that anti-hunger nonprofits have played for state agencies, servingnas experts, co-workers and catalysts for even more collaboration, rather than servingnprimarily as lobbyists, subcontractors and generic stakeholders. The opportunity for thisnkind of intimate collaboration emerged from a combination of political and economicndevelopments that changed the incentives for nonprofits and state agencies to workntogether. The study uses empirical evidence to justify an expansive definition ofncollaborative governance while also suggesting implications for effective publicnmanagement in the fight against domestic hunger.