By Dena Sher

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This story appeared earlier in the Chestnut Hill Local.

            "Good partnerships add up to a total entity that is greater than the sum of its parts - one plus one plus one can equal five." This is how Michael DiBerardinis emphasized the value of partnering for nonprofit organizations in his talk on "Public Private Partnerships," presented June 6 at the annual meeting of the Friends of the Wissahickon.

            For eight years, prior to his present position as vice-president for programs at the William Penn Foundation, Mr. DiBerardinis served as Commissioner of Philadelphia's Department of Recreation.   

            Before the good-sized audience that filled the lecture room at the Morris Arboretum's Widener Center, he spelled out the essentials of a good partnership. Each partner, he said, has to bring to the table resources that are attractive and complementary. A park organization, such as the Friends, contributes membership and thorough knowledge of the park.        

            Another essential for the partnership, according to Mr. DiBerardinis, is accountability. What each partner does and when the task or effort is done has to be agreed on. "Honesty and integrity have to be in place early in the partnership." 

            During his remarks to the Friends, he described a very successful public-private partnering that took place in an inner-city recreation center. Niki Corporation, producer of athletic shoes, gave the center a new gym floor created from reprocessed sneakers. The community's contribution was collecting used sneakers that were then given to Niki. Hopefully, old sneakers were replaced by newly-purchased Nikis, even though this definitely wasn't spelled out in the contract.

            Mr. DiBerardinis considers that an important role he played both with the Recreation Department, and prior to that as a community activist, was helping people who felt disenfranchised to find their voice and use it to improve their lives.

            A question from the audience concerned the use of the power of the ballot box to move politicians to respond to citizens' needs.  Mr. DiBerardinis responded, "The problem is folks vote only if they are engaged in issues prior to elections. Voting is an end outcome of community activism."

            Mr. DiBerardinis recommended that the users of a particular facility engage the broader community. "Churches and schools bordering the Wissahickon could be brought in to support preservation of the park, for example.

            "Users should be mobilized around a specific project or initiative - then community support can be built on that groundwork. It's also important to articulate the issue in an engaging way.

            "The more support and partnerships, the more the message resonates and has political value," was how the speaker summarized his remarks.

            Ed Stainton, President of the Friends, thanked Mr. DiBerardinis for his stimulating talk, and ended the meeting by greeting new Board Members and thanking Board Members in place for their hard work and achievements over the past year.

Board member Shirley Gracie (left) introduces Michael DiBerardinis (right) guest speaker at the Friends' annual meeting.