CHAPTER 1
BEFORE YOU BUILD YOUR CAMPFIRE!
Before you ever strike a match, you are responsible for pre-fire planning.Whether you are making a fire for fun, cooking, or warmth, good decisionswill ensure a safe and appropriate fire.
Decide whether you should build a campfire or not. There arefire-burning restrictions for every national park, state or federal forest,and all public land. Restrictions may range from "any fire any place"to "no fires at all," depending on fire danger levels and environmentalimpact issues. Campfires can become wildfires that destroy thousandsof acres of wilderness and nearby homes when people make poor choicesand build fires in high winds or low humidity. Only start a fire whenconditions are favorable.
Choose your fire site. Once you decide to have a campfire, whereyou actually build your fire and how you prepare the site are critical. Yourgoal should be to leave no trace of fire once you move on, so minimize yourimpact by heeding the following tips:
• Gather fuel. Gather wood far away from camp and take onlydead, downed branches.
• Fire site. Make a small fire that can be easily erased. If a firering is available, use it or build your own.
• Disperse ashes. Burn all wood down to ash and take it with youwhen you leave. Disperse it well off the trail, or you will attractothers to overuse the same spot.
BEFORE YOU BUILD YOUR COALITION!
Before you decide to build a coalition, you must understand what thisorganization is and whether you actually need to build one to accomplishyour community's work. Coalitions are complex entities that requiresignificant investments of time and resources to establish and maintain.A general rule of thumb is not to build a coalition or partnership if asimpler structure will get the job done or if the community does not embrace thisapproach.
Why Collaborate?
Collaboration is at the root of all community building. Generally,collaboration occurs whenever people work together to achieve a commongoal or goals. The kind of collaboration that is required of a coalition orpartnership involves shared resources, rewards, responsibility, and risks,as well as mutual accountability for success (Mattesich and Monsey2001, 7). This formal, sustained commitment allows organizations toachieve results that they would be less likely to achieve alone (Winer andRay 1994, 24). Despite the rewards, organizations involved in collaborativeefforts must understand and respect each other's self-interests (i.e.,structure, agenda, values, and culture), relationships, linkages, and howpower is shared and distributed (Gray 1996, 59).
Collaboration changes the way organizations work together. It movesorganizations from competing to building consensus; from workingalone to including others from diverse cultures, fields, and settings;from thinking mostly about activities, services, and programs to lookingfor complex, integrated interventions; and from focusing on short-termaccomplishments to broad, systems changes (Winer and Ray 1994, 24).
Collective Impact
Collaboration is recognized as an essential ingredient of communitybuilding, although a new take on community collaboration is gainingattention across the country. The Strive Group tackled the studentachievement crisis to improve graduation rates, reading and mathscores, and preschool readiness in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky;the Elizabeth River Project engaged stakeholders over fifteen years todevelop an eighteen-point plan to conserve more than 1,000 acres of thesoutheastern Virginia watershed by restoring water quality and wildlifethat had been polluted by industrial waste; and Shape up Somervilleinvolved the Massachusetts city to collectively define wellness and implementweight-gain-prevention practices in schools, restaurants, farmers'markets, businesses, and along walking routes to significantly decreasethe body mass index among elementary school children between 2002and 2005 (Kania and Kramer 2011, 38 ). The success of these initiativesis based on an approach called collective impact, the commitment of agroup of actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving acomplex social problem.
Collective impact is more rigorous and specific than collaborationamong organizations due to five conditions that lead to meaningfulresults (Kania and Kramer 2011, 39–40):
1. Common agenda. Participants have a shared vision for change,which includes a common understanding of the issue(s) and ajoint approach to solving it through agreed-upon actions.
2. Shared measurement. Collecting data and measuring resultsconsistently across all participants ensures that efforts remainaligned and participants hold each other accountable.
3. Mutually reinforcing activities. Participant activities aredifferentiated and coordinated through a mutually reinforcingaction plan.
4. Continuous communication. Consistent, open communicationis needed among players to build trust, assure mutual objectives,and appreciate common motivations.
5. Backbone organization. A separate organization with staffmembers who are skilled in facilitation and project/data managementserves as the backbone for the initiative and coordinatesparticipating organizations. Backbone organizations focuspeople's attention and create a sense of urgency, apply pressure tostakeholders without overwhelming them, frame issues in a waythat presents opportunities as well as difficulties, and mediateconflict among stakeholders (Kania and Kramer 2011, 40).
Ultimately, an effective coalition embodies the first four conditionsof collective impact. The "backbone organization" may either be thecoalition itself (if it is a non-profit organization) or the lead agency thatconvenes and supports the coalition.
What Is a Coalition?
In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1600), hepenned: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose,by any other name would smell as sweet." Similarly, weuse many terms interchangeably to describe collaborationswith mutual goals, even though each of these workingrelationships is different. Strictly speaking, a coalitionis group of diverse organizations and constituencies working togethertoward a common goal (Feighery and Rodgers 1989, 1).
In this book, we will be concerned with community-level coalitionsthat operate in rural, urban, and suburban locations. A communitycoalition 1) serves a defined community recognized by those within itas a community (a common location or experience), but also serves thebroader community; 2) is viewed by community residents as representingand serving them; and 3) reflects the community's diversity, both atgrassroots and grasstops (professional) levels (Butterfoss et al. 1993, 316;Clarke et al. 2006, 15S).
Unlike networks whose member organizations act independently,coalitions bring organizations together to act jointly. Coalitions mayform to address a specific, time-limited issue or may establish a more sustainedcollaboration (Chavis and Florin 1990, 20). They can help achievepopulation-level policy changes by focusing on multiple strategies withsufficient scale and scope. With a comprehensive action plan, a coalitioncan engage people, ideas, and resources across sectors and settings tocreate a synergy of health and prevention efforts that will have a lastingeffect on people's health. Coalitions develop an internal decision-makingand leadership structure that enables member organizations to speakwith a united voice and engaged in shared planning and action. Links tooutside organizations and communication channels are formal. Memberorganizations are willing to pull resources from their organizations, aswell as seek new resources to develop a joint budget. Agreements, roles,benchmarks, and assignments are usually written.
A partnership is similarly defined; however, it often refers to amore business-like arrangement and may involve only two organizationsor many more. Other collaborative relationships are defined as follows(Winer and Ray 1994, 23):
• Network—a loose-knit, non-hierarchical group of individualsand organizations with flexible roles, leadership and decisionmaking.
• Advisory committee—a group that is formed at the request ofan organization or person of authority (e.g., mayor) to providereview, advice or services, recommendations, and ideas. Thegroup exists for input into decision making, not decision makingitself, and is made up of professionals or citizens who representdifferent sectors of the community.
• Commission—a group that is appointed by an official bodyand is authorized to perform specific duties or steps or take oncertain powers.
• Federation, consortium, alliance, or league—a union or connectionof interests that have similar character, structure, oroutlook; a semiofficial organization of organizations. Usually acentral body of facilitative leaders develops semiformal links anda joint budget, and seeks new resources to coordinate tasks andlimit duplication of services.
• Executive board or committee—a formal group that holdsdelegated power in a particular area and performs planning andgoverning functions for a larger collective body or organization.Participants are elected or appointed and represent specific organizations,sectors, or shareholders.
• Task force—a self-contained group of "doers" that is not ongoing.It is convened for a narrow purpose over a defined timeframeat the request of another body or committee.
The name of the organization is not as important as the fact thateveryone agrees on its structure and purpose. However, if it is composedsolely of individuals and not groups, then it is probably an organizationor network and not a true coalition (Butterfoss 2007, 71). Coalitions operateat many levels—block, neighborhood, city, town, county, regional,state, national, international—and their scope, structure, and functionwill vary accordingly.
Why Do Coalitions Form?
Community coalitions often form in response to an opportunity,such as the release of the federal "stimulus funds" to promote healthycommunities in 2009. They also may form because of a threat such as anational story about the rising prevalence of autism or a local outbreakof measles on a college campus. Local organizations may voluntarily formor join coalitions to augment their limited resources. Joining with otheragencies and individuals can reduce duplication, maximize efficiency,and give organizations expanded access to media coverage, marketingservices, community residents, influential community and professionalnetworks, and expertise (Whitt 1993, 11). Coalitions also may be requiredby funders, such as the National Business Coalitions on Healthcommunity seed grant program.
Why Do Coalitions Work?
Coalitions provide four main benefits to those communities thatchoose to build them:
1. Strength in numbers. A main advantage of working in partnershipis having the support, encouragement, and sheer numbersbehind your effort. While one organization is composed of agiven number of members, a coalition is composed of organizations,which multiplies the number of members available to carryout a strategy or support an advocacy action in exponentialfashion. Your mayor, state legislator, or school superintendent ismore likely to work with your coalition because of the influenceand representativeness of your membership.
2. Strength in relationships. Coalition building is all about relationshipbuilding. Organizations are invited to join a coalitionbecause of their credibility, reputation, expertise, or resources. Incultivating strong relationships among your members, you willovercome obstacles and be more likely to reach mutual goals.
3. Strength in diversity. The knowledge and wisdom needed tosolve the health or social issue of interest rests with communitystakeholders who have direct experience in dealing with it. Astrong coalition represents the breadth of the community inall of its unique diversity. When the experience of a coalitionreaches across races, ethnicities, ages, special populations, education,income levels, and career paths, all perspectives will berepresented fairly and fully. Your coalition will be able to viewissues in all their complexity and develop solutions that areacceptable and more likely to work.
4. Strength in resources. Individuals and organizations bringtangible resources that will sustain your coalition and its effortsover the long haul. Resources may take the form of actualfunds, expertise, influence, and connections to others. In-kindresources, such as meeting space, assistance with communicationsand technology, refreshments, or incentive items will helpto engage your community in the work.
Assess Your Community
According to the campfire analogy at the beginning of this chapter,you should know the fire safety rules and regulations, do an environmentalscan of the proposed site for risk factors, and either postponeyour campfire building or prepare your site accordingly. Similarly, beforeyou decide to build a coalition, you should do an environmental scanor assess the community that your coalition will serve. Each coalitionis a unique product of the community it serves. Coalitions must bedynamic and responsive to cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity, and howpeople work together. Many of the following contextual factors withincommunities can influence and shape coalition development (Butterfossand Kegler 2009, 254):
• Connectedness or linkages between individuals groups andorganizations
• Political climate or history surrounding collaboration, power,and decision making
• Policies, laws, and regulations
• Environmental, in-kind, financial, and human resources
• Community motivation, readiness, and awareness of key issues
• Flexibility and adaptability in problem solving and taskaccomplishment
• Trust and ability to communicate to reach consensus amongcommunity sectors
• Existing identifiable leadership
Conducting a SWOT Analysis
Identifying these factors can be one part of doing a simple SWOTanalysis with a group of knowledgeable community members in 60-90minutes. SWOT elements are defined and illustrated in the followinglist and illustration:
• Strengths—internal factors that allow the coalition to takeadvantage of opportunities or reduce barriers
• Weaknesses—internal factors or challenges that prevent thecoalition from taking advantage of opportunities or reducingbarriers
• Opportunities—external factors that allow the coalition to takeaction, build membership, or improve the community
• Threats—external factors that hinder goal attainment, momentum,or long-term survival
This process will help you to identify the community's assets andneeds; specifically those of current and potential populations that you'lltry to reach. The SWOT analysis process includes: 1) reviewing thestrengths and weaknesses of your existing coalition (or potential organizationsif you haven't built into a coalition yet); 2) reflecting on thecommunity and broader environment in which your coalition (or itsorganizations) operates to identify the opportunities and threats that itfaces; and 3) specifying strategic issues that your coalition should addressand setting priorities in terms of time or importance.
