This guide identifies the key steps that any work/education partnership program should take to achieve success and patterns of critical issues that such collaborations must address if they are to survive. It is rooted in the experiences of "The Partnership Projects," a network of 21 work/education partnership programs in cities around the country. The guide investigates the effects of local politics and organizational turf on a partnership, communication between individuals from different professional worlds, and how turnover of staff can affect a partnership. An indepth look is taken at the realities of mobilizing community leaders and of sustaining those leaders' active involvement over time. The following key issues in nurturing a partnership project are explored: brokering, forming two groups of the right players, building commitment through ownership, planning a partnership, and preserving the partnership. A summary discusses seven lessons learned from the projects. A bibliography of 55 items concludes the document. (YLB)