Coalition-Building in American Indian Communities

1. Coalition-Building in American Indian Communities October 13, 2011 Albert Gay, M.S.

2. Objectives • To define “coalition” • To explain the purpose of a coalition • To list community groups that should be “at the table” • To identify barriers and plan around them • To improve coalition recruitment and retention

3. How Do You Define a Coalition? CADCA defines coalitions as a formal arrangement for collaboration between groups or sectors of a community, in which each group retains its identity but all agree to work together toward a common goal of building a safe, healthy, and drug-free community.

4. Here’s What Coalitions are NOT: • Not human service organizations • Not single entities • Not run by outside organizations

5. Purpose of Coalitions • To serve as catalysts for change in the community • That goal often includes one of the following: • Adapting, creating, or developing public policy • Influencing the community’s behavior • Creating a healthy community

6. Here’s What Coalitions Do: • Connect with their community members on a grassroots level. • Collaborate on problem-solving and community development.

7. Here’s Why Coalitions Form • To address an urgent situation demanding action • To acquire or provide services • To deliver effective and efficient practices, policies, and programs

8. Here’s Why Coalitions Form (cont’d.) • To provide resources • To facilitate communication among groups • To strategically plan community-wide initiatives

9. Here’s Why Coalitions Form (cont’d.) • To foster leverage within the community • To create and sustain social change

10. Coalitions & The Public Health Model • This model requires coalitions to think in a comprehensive manner beyond the part of the problem they see.

11. Coalitions & The Public Health Model (cont’d.) • Problems arise through the relationships and interactions among the agent, the host, and the environment.

12. The Influence of Coalitions Influencing the HOST Reaching people directly through schools, social programs, workplaces, daycare centers, religious organizations, and other groups. Influencing the AGENT Working to diminish impact of the substance.

13. The Influence of Coalitions (cont’d.) Influencing the ENVIRONMENT Reinforcing healthy behaviors in schools, families, neighborhoods, and communities, as well as broader social and cultural settings.

14. Risk & Protection • Identifying and understanding the risk and protective factors in your community provides a solid base from which to begin planning. • An important goal of prevention coalitions is to change the balance so protective factors outweigh risk factors.

15. Who Should Be at the Table? • Youth • Parents • Businesses • Media • Schools • Youth-Serving Organizations • Law Enforcement • Faith-based Community • Civic and Volunteer Groups • Health Care Professionals

16. Who Should Be at the Table? (cont’d.) • Schools • Youth-Serving Organizations • Law Enforcement • Tribal, State or Local Agencies • Other Organizations Reducing Substance Abuse

17. Youth: Positive Peer Groups Potential Benefits Potential Barriers/Pitfalls Transportation to meetings Tokenism Keeping engaged • Insight into youth’s perspectives • Youth involved in planning • Youth ownership in initiatives • Youth as volunteers • Youth as leaders • Direct influence of youth

18. Parents Potential Benefits Potential Barriers/Pitfalls Transportation Keeping them interested Busy schedules/work hours conflict with meetings • Big stakeholders in the well-being of youth • Important feedback on successes or failures of initiatives • Volunteers

19. Local Business Potential Benefits Potential Barriers/Pitfalls Decisions based on finances outweigh decisions for the good of the community “Business mindset trumps coalition heart” MBEs are often small, and owners only have time to run business • Financial support • Fiscal management expertise • Strategic plan development • Managerial expertise • Opportunity to interact with MBE/WBE

20. Media Potential Benefits Potential Barriers/pitfalls Sensationalism overshadows prevention message • Getting message out • Multiple avenues of dissemination • Expertise on message delivery • Exposure increases recruitment • PSAs • Provision of expertise in: • Media Advocacy • Social Marketing • Issue Framing

21. Schools Potential Benefits Potential Barriers/pitfalls Isolation Preoccupied with trying to achieve State standards No volunteers to commit to coalition duties Protection of school reputation Little to no sharing of data or info • Access to school youth • School data for assessment • Valuable staff insight • Ease of school engagement • Community planning from school perspective • Bridge between families and coalitions

22. Youth-Serving Organizations Potential Benefits Potential Barriers/Pitfalls Organizations may be too busy with youth programming to be productive in coalition matters Too much dependence on organization’s youth Competing interests cause conflict • Access to youth • Expertise in youth development and programming • Youth recruitment for coalition

23. Law Enforcement Potential Benefits Potential Barriers/Pitfalls History of mistrust / bad relations Officers live outside community No positive relationships with residents Focus more on punishment than prevention • Key resource in fulfillment of strategy • Enforcement of policies and laws • Police image improved throughout community

24. Faith-Based Organizations Potential Benefits Potential Barriers/Pitfalls Involvement contingent upon agreement with religious standards Outspoken spiritual views may offend some coalition members. Diverting attention from common cause to personal belief debates • Visionary leadership • Inspirational leadership resulting in momentum • Ready volunteer base

25. Civic Groups Potential Benefits Potential Barriers/Pitfalls Potential conflicting message during social events (i.e., serving of alcohol) • High visibility in community • Community service initiatives • Volunteer base • Strategies for raising awareness in community • Donations towards coalition cause • Reach out to local businesses/gov’t. for policy shaping around ATOD

26. Health Professionals Potential Benefits Potential Barriers/Pitfalls Lack of consistency due to time constraints Rotating staff to meetings as representatives • Access to community-specific information • Voice of authority on health matters • Respect gained from community

27. Tribal, State or Local Governmental Agencies Potential Benefits Potential Barriers/Pitfalls Political one-sidedness Political suicide Getting tied to politician’s views & political agenda Loss of coalition’s voice by adhering to politician’s views Dominance of government Loss of vision for political gain Falling for politics as usual • Expertise on local government • Policy-making for coalition’s favor • Key stakeholder in the city • Amped-up voice for under-represented minority populations • Media coverage • Leadership

28. Other Organizations Potential Benefits Potential Barriers/Pitfalls Spread too thin between coalition and other community involvement • Extremely close to heart of community • Previous community action • Involvement in other community coalitions

29. Barriers & Pitfalls Activity • Split into groups. • Look at the sectors around the room. • Determine which sectors are missing & which are present in your coalition. • Instruct each group to gather at a different sector.

30. Barriers & Pitfalls Activity (cont’d.) • If a sector is missing, write BARRIERS keeping them from being at the table. • If a sector is present, write current or potential pitfalls that impede progress in the coalition’s goals. • After 1 minute, rotate clockwise to the next sector • After final rotation, return to seats as a group and fill out the following matrix for missing sectors only

31. Activity: Recruiting Sectors

32. Breaking Through Barriers • Activity • Look at your starting sector and the listed barriers. • Discuss/write ways to overcome barriers discussed using action plan.

33. Beyond Barriers Action Planning

34. How Can We Recruit These Missing Sectors? • Create a Marketing Plan that: • Is Sector-Specific • Culturally • Politically • Acknowledges Barriers • Is Strategic in Placement • Accurately Displays Goals • Mutually Beneficial

35. 4 P’s Marketing • Product is the goal of the campaign. It is the behavior we would like the focus audience to change or maintain. • Price is what the people in the focus audience must give up in order to receive the program’s benefit.

36. 4 P’s Marketing (Cont’d.) • Promotion is the overall strategy (messages) used for persuading people to accept the price for the product. • Placeis the communication channel that will be used to get the promotional message to the focus audience.

37. 4 P’s Marketing Activity

38. Building Blocks of Coalitions 1. Relationship 2. Dedication 3. Trust 4. Shared Knowledge 5. Leadership 6. Assessment (Doherty, 2000; Perkins, Borden, and Knox, 1999; Thompson et al., 2003)

39. Relationships • They are the cornerstone for networking & collaborative agreements • They take time!  • They require repeated conversations and frequent occasions for working / planning together. • They help shared visions and common purposes emerge. Perkins, D. E, Borden, O., & Knox, A. (1999)

40. Dedication • Long-term dedication among staff members • It takes time for leaders from the different organizations to count on one another to supply needed services • It takes time for people to recognize that they are not in competition • It often takes a long time for change and transformation to occur in distressed communities. Doherty (2000)

41. Trust • Facilitates communication • Creates a willingness and commitment to identify with the collaboration • Nurtured when members together produce written mission, expectations, and terms for exchanging resources.  (Perkins, Borden, & Knox, 1999).

42. Trust (cont’d.) • Cultivated & maintained through constant communication: • a constant exchange of information • not one-sided (Perkins, Borden, & Knox, 1999).

43. Shared Knowledge • Knowledge of the community’s history, its strengths, and its needs is a vital element • (i.e. demographic information, suggestions etc.) • Involves building a deeper, common understanding.  • Buried, unacknowledged memories of past resentments and/or of injustices negatively affect current efforts to work together. (Thompson et al. 2003)

44. Leadership • Strong leadership is required to move the cooperating organizations toward shared goals and objectives • Successful collaborative leaders focus on intentional and goal-directed relationship-building • Don’t forget about your Champions! Perkins, D. E, Borden, O., & Knox, A. (1999)

45. Assessment • Ongoing process of assessment is always present in successful networking. • It’s the vehicle through which networks maintain and reinforce their shared visions and mission. • It provides clarity about how success will be measured is essential to the network’s health.  Perkins, D. E, Borden, O., & Knox, A. (1999)

46. SWOT Analysis Exercise Positive (+) Negative (-) Internal External

47. Coalition Building/Action Planning

48. Maintaining a Healthy Coalition Using the 6 Elements

49. Coalitions do more than bring people together: They bring systems together! • The Paradigm shift of Leadership: understanding that Prevention is Community Leadership • Bringing systems together that normally may have functioned on their own (independently) • SAMHSA has greatly helped coalitions by creating a prevention platform as a tool.

50. References • Doherty, W. (2000). Family science and family citizenship: Toward a model of community partnership with families. Family Relations, 49 (3), 319-325. • Perkins, D. E, Borden, O., & Knox, A. (1999). Two critical factors in collaboration on behalf of children, youth, and families. Journal of Family and ConsumerSciences, 91 (2), 73-78. • Thompson, M. et al. (2003). Facilitators of well-functioning consortia: National health start program lessons. Health & Social Work, 28 (3). 185-195.