The Newton Polytechnic Center (NPC) at Iowa's Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC), is a cooperative effort among DMACC, Iowa State University (ISU), the City of Newton, the Newton Community School District, and Maytag Corporation to provide the community with innovative educational services. The NPC focuses on the development of personal/social skills, technical expertise, and business excellence in the context of continuous improvement in an international environment. Programs provided include a comprehensive schedule of college credit classes, continuing education courses, industry training, adult basic and general education development courses, alternative high school programming, ISU courses, and community services. A planning group comprised of representatives from the partners meets regularly to identify needs and schedule appropriate courses, activities, and programs. Based on the NPC experience, techniques for establishing effective partnerships include listening to the needs of all partners, deferring financial considerations to the final stages of discussion, and sharing leadership on an issue basis. Advantages to such cooperative partnerships include maximizing resource use, fostering communication between groups with common educational interests, and responding to the needs of the community. Current projects planned by the NPC include a software center to provide training to employees, a University of Iowa Executive Masters of Business Administration Program, and an industrial training lab. (TGI)