In January 1994, more than 50 national organizations concerned with the well being of children, youth, and families convened to develop a set of principles that would lead to unprecedented collaboration among essential services at local, state, and federal levels. We have listed the principles, 32 of them, below.

• Services should be community based and community delivered.
• Services should be family centered; driven by the needs of children, youth, and families; and built on strengths.
• Needed services should be available and accessible to all in a variety of settings, using a combination of public, private, community, and personal resources.
• Services should be culturally competent.
• Services should focus on primary prevention, early intervention, and strengthening the ability of children, youth, and families to help themselves.
• Services should be comprehensive, and a continuum of services should be available.
• Services should be flexible.
• Public, private, and community services should be coordinated, integrated, and collaboratively delivered.
• Services should be of high quality and developmentally appropriate.
• Services should be cost effective.

• Two priorities should guide funding policies--a focus on achieving desired results and greater flexibility in how dollars are used to accomplish them.
• States and communities should have greater flexibility in using categorical funds.
• Stable and adequate funding should be available to support collaboration, particularly the infrastructures needed for effective services.
• Funding should promote intra-agency, interagency and intersystem decision making.
• Dollars gained by increased efficiency and expenditures on prevention and early intervention should be invested to further expand prevention and early intervention.
• Funding should protect vulnerable populations.

• Needs assessment, program development, and evaluation should be part of an ongoing process.
• Needs assessment and program evaluation should be tailored to each community and shaped by community members.
• Needs assessment should focus on community strengths and available resources, as well as needs and service gaps.
• Needs assessment and program evaluation should give communities the information they need to meet their objectives.
• Funding from all levels and sources, private as well as public, should balance accountability with the need to encourage service innovation.
• Federal and state agencies should establish uniform reporting requirements and standardize their data definitions.
• To support change, investments should be made in multiple strategies for needs assessment and program evaluation.
• Communities should receive technical and financial support in assessing needs and measuring progress.

• Coordinating structures should be collaborative.
• Coordinating structures should be community based and reflect the diversity and uniqueness of the community.
• Coordinating structures should be empowered to guide systems change and ensure collaboration.
• Coordinating structures should have flexibility in defining geographic boundaries and institutional relationships.
• Coordinating structures should establish and maintain a results-based accountability system.
• Coordinating structures should be encouraged without prescribing a specific structure or authority.
• Federal and state levels should model collaboration that supports community efforts.
• Federal and state policies should provide incentives that encourage collaboration among public, private, and community agencies.

The above is excerpted from Principles to Link by:
Integrating Education, Health, and Human Services for Children, Youth and Families:
Systems that are Community-Based and School-Linked. Final Report,
The National Consensus Building Conference on School-Linked Integrated Service Systems., 601 13th Street, NW Ste 400 North, Washington DC 20005, 1994.