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Recent events such as the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 against the United States and the national disaster of Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the acute need for interagency collaboration. Using a semi-inductive method, we conducted two studies with senior homeland security leaders to learn more about organizations’ collaborative capacity during the early planning stages. In study One, we used an interorganizational systems perspective to identify factors that create or deter effective collaboration. Study Two elicited vignettes from a second group of senior homeland security leaders to gain further insights into the ways in which their organizations are successfully building collaborative capacity.

The purpose of this study is to identify strengths and weaknesses in knowledge sharing between related post-bushfire investigative agencies. Based on this study, such a sharing of knowledge is essential to enhance collaboration amongst practitioners in the reduction and management of the risk of bushfires.

The authors use a case study methodology; the research design is based on comparative analysis of six post-bushfire investigative departments in Italy and Australia (Victoria). A total of 44 bushfire investigators were interviewed between 2012 and 2013, across the two countries. Using focus groups and face-to-face interviews, the extent and quality of intra- and interagency knowledge sharing is analysed.

Despite the desire to collaborate, there are three main conditions that prevent an effective interagency collaboration within the bushfire investigation network, namely, separation, unidirectionality and interpersonal disengagement. This study finds that knowledge sharing suffers from a missing “feedback system” culture, where agencies give each other feedback with strictly bureaucratic purposes, rather than create an ongoing learning mechanism that develops after every investigation. At agency level, we also find that, sharing investigative knowledge and experience through daily and planned meetings is a standard practice to police members; but this is not found in the fire agencies. When made cross-country comparisons between Australia and Italy, the existence of common courses, joint manuals and the sharing of human resources witnessed in Australia (Victoria) is something that would benefit Italian agencies still trapped in a competitive and jurisdictional mindset. At the same time, Australian agencies might want to reconsider the separation between bushfire suppression and investigation, a distinction that has been made clear in Italy through the creation of full-time bushfire investigator positions.

This paper contributes to the improvement of interagency collaboration through the development of an investigative “social knowledge”. It reinforces the assumption that, to reduce and effectively manage the risk of bushfires, a combined effort from different stakeholders involved in forensic investigation is necessary.

Given the lack of research undertaken in the area of bushfire investigation, the current paper represents a unique piece of work. It is unusual, not only in identifying the current issues within the bushfire investigation network but also in providing agencies with theoretical and practical insights on how to reduce the extremely high number of bushfires and their risks.

Successful National Security Special Events (NSSE) have several critical components that will ensure success; one key component is collaboration among various and distinctive organizations. During the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, 11,000 public safety officers came together from federal, state, and local agencies and successfully protected the games. In subsequent years following the 9/11 terror attacks and the Olympic Games, however, law enforcement and public safety agencies at every level have, at times, struggled to successfully implement collaborations on a continuing and consistent basis.

Creating collaborations that endure throughout a national security event is an important issue for public safety organizations. What are the key factors that foster an environment in which collaborations can be sustained? Based on research and numerous interviews with law enforcement and public safety leaders involved in the 2002 Winter Olympics, several factors were identified that impact the effectiveness and endurance of collaborations. The enablers for effective collaborations before, during, and after the 2002 Winter Olympics included leadership, trust, social capital, and felt need.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges and critical factors of interagency information sharing (IIS) from the perspectives of technology, organization, policy and public participation in a developing country.

This study conducted a case study encompassing documentation analysis and in-depth semi-structured interviews of 15 public managers and other public officials in the Regency of Bojonegoro, Indonesia.

The findings demonstrate that addressing factors residing in organizational and policy and regulations challenges are critical and should precede the needs of technology. The findings also identified three factors affecting IIS in a developing country. First, the embeddedness of agencies in rigid bureaucratic and autocratic structure complicates the collaboration in IIS, such as promoting jurisdiction conflicts. Second, this study identifies the crucial influence of top executives on every activity in IIS, including resolving conflicts. Finally, political instability augments the crucial function of creating public awareness and participation. Public awareness and participation become more critical because public support carries political precedent that eventually affects the continuity of ICTs initiatives.

Owing to the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability beyond Indonesia. Furthermore, this research design did not specify the interviewees to rank and prioritize the challenges and critical factors, nor that the authors ask for the strategy to alleviate the challenges.

The challenges of data management engender practical implication in which public managers should focus more on communicating and socializing, as well as providing training on the importance of data and the new technology not only early in the phase of the project but also during the implementation. Furthermore, in the effort to ensure the continuity of the project, public managers could continuously nurture public participation and spark public interest through the use of social media.

Many studies on the challenges of implementing IIS focusing in developed countries might overlook the possible distinctive challenges affecting the adoption of IIS by the government in developing countries. This study identified several unique contexts and critical situational factors affecting interagency information sharing pertinent to a developing country.

This chapter focuses upon high school preparation and transition planning activities as they apply to students with disabilities. The reader will find a review of needs for reform of high school standards-based curricula, the development of inclusive general education curriculum content, and strategies for integrating functional and daily living skill training and meaningful transition planning activities, which include collaboration with adult agencies. The authors further present a number of evidence-based practices to address these needs and make recommendations for moving forward in ways to improve post-school outcomes for youth with disabilities.

Studies of multi-sector collaborations have increased in recent years. However, the topic is still complex and lacks synthesis. Toward that end, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how collaboration is addressed in the public administration and nonprofit sector journals, and applies well-established strategic decision-making theories to shed light on possible research directions that would provide rigor to the field of collaboration.

The authors conduct a literature review of the top nonprofit and public administration journals, believing these most likely to contain articles on the topic of multi-sector collaboration.

The authors identify a number of themes, including need for clarity, temporality, call to collaborate, funding, partnering issues and processes, benefits of collaboration across three different collaborative types.

The authors embed well-known strategic decision-making theories into the themes emergent from this review and offer suggestions as to how future researchers may test strategic decision-making processes within multi-sector collaborations.

In the years following high school, youth, including youth with extensive support needs, aspire to pursue a range of personally important experiences, such as attending postsecondary education programs, obtaining competitive employment, and living independently. However, the level of disability continues to be a powerful predictor of the degree to which desired outcomes materialize in early adulthood. For most young adults with extensive support needs, valued outcomes are elusive. To support youth with disabilities, including youth with extensive support needs, to progress toward achieving their post-school goals, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 mandated the provision of transition services. Despite the legal mandate for transition services, numerous factors continue to impact the outcomes experienced by youth with extensive support needs. However, research has identified numerous practices to support improved post-school outcomes. In this chapter, we address the transition mandates of the IDEA, identify and describe factors influencing the post-school outcomes of youth with extensive support needs, and provide strategies, practices, and interventions for improving these outcomes.

The concept of transition and preparation for adult life has been an important yet controversial governmental initiative since the early 1980s. This governmental focus prompted special educators to develop and implement curricula to better prepare students with disabilities for adult life (Price, Gerber, & Mulligan, 2007). The curricula process involves forming linkages among local educational agencies and other human service agencies, including employment and training, adult services, leisure and recreation, and health and rehabilitation. Educators and policy makers continue to encounter great challenges to building capacity and sustained implementation of the transition curricula process at both the local school and the community levels.

The sexual assault and alcohol and other drug (AOD) sectors have much in common in the context of clients presenting with histories of abuse and trauma. The Establishing the Connection project aimed to improve understanding of the complex intersections between sexual victimisation and AOD use, and to build the capacity of the sexual assault and AOD sectors in Victoria, Australia, to respond more effectively to the needs of affected individuals. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Establishing the Connection involved a detailed literature review; face-to-face semi-structured interviews and an online quantitative survey with key stakeholders from the AOD and sexual assault sectors; and a cross-sector forum to bring together the practice knowledge and needs of both sectors.

Most practitioners and clinicians were aware of the interrelationship between sexual victimisation and AOD use, but many lacked access to resources, formal referral processes and pathways, or information about how the other sector worked – all tools which would assist them to respond to clients with complex co-occurring issues. Participants expressed enthusiasm for greater cross-sector communication and collaboration, but emphasised the need for sophisticated governance and resourcing responses from peak bodies and government departments.

The new knowledge generated by this research resulted in the development of shared practice guidelines to guide practice towards the identification, assessment, response and referral of clients with co-occurring sexual victimisation and AOD use issues. The authors hope that the momentum and goodwill built between the two sectors will be harnessed by policy to drive further collaborative partnerships into the future.