building and sustaining your oral health coalition december 3, 2014 1-2 pm
TRANSCRIPT
Webinar Objectives
By the end of the webinar you will have an understanding of:• What a coalition is and the benefits/costs• Characteristics of effective coalitions• Recommendations on how to build, evaluate and
maintain an effective coalition over time• The role of the coalition in oral health advocacy on
the statewide and local level• Hot topics for oral health advocacy in Colorado
What Makes a Healthy Coalition?
A Healthy Coalition = Engaged and Active Members = Success
But how do you get there?
A coalition is a group of individuals representing many organizations who agree to work together to achieve a common goal
What is a Coalition?
Why Build a Coalition?
Coalitions enable organizations to build capacity and develop interventions that meet their needs, are community-owned, culturally sensitive, and likely to be sustained.
The Benefits of a Coalition
• Exchange knowledge, ideas, and strategies • Share risks and responsibility • Build community concern and consensus for issues• Engage in collective action that builds power • Improve trust and communication among
community sectors • Mobilize diverse talents, resources, and strategies
Costs of Coalition Membership
• Conflict over goals and methods• Loss of autonomy, competitive edge or ability to
individually control outcomes• Loss of resources (time, money, information, status)• Delays in solving problems• Not being individually recognized for accomplishments
Coalitions that survive over time must provide ongoing benefits that outweigh these costs
Characteristics of Effective Coalitions
Successful coalitions have the following traits in common: • Ownership and support of coalition by coalition
members and community• High level of trust and reciprocity among members• Frequent and ongoing training for members• Active involvement of members to develop action
plan of goals and objectives• Implementation of a community action plan• Productive meetings and decision-making
• Effective structure• Committed leadership team that guides coalition
to design/implement strategies guidelines and procedures
• Continuous evaluation of coalition and its activities
Building an Effective Coalition• Create a strong foundation
– Develop your leadership team– Define your mission and goals– Have a clear operating structure– Clearly articulate the role of staff (if applicable)– Recruit diverse community organizations
• Engage in strategic planning– Identify community strengths, assets and resources – Develop a community action plan with feasible and appropriate goals,
objectives and strategies – Implement and sustain policy and environmental change strategies to
reach goals – Develop a process to evaluate and improve the coalition and its strategies
• Have an organized process– Have a regular schedule for meetings– Use the committee structure for achieving objectives– Define a decision-making process– Identify needed resources – Engage in concise and frequent communication
In the Beginning….
• Coalition members find common ground and are committed to coalition and each other
• Members share information, learn more about issue and begin to develop possible solutions
• Mission and the roles members play are defined• Structure, leadership and decision-making are
formalized and members begin to take action
Starting to grow……• Structure becomes functional• Coordinator or director is hired/appointed• Steering committee established• Recruitment more proactive• Search for funding initiated• Needs assessment conducted• Action plan created• Coalition activities begin
Early outcomes begin to be achieved
• Fiscal and management structureMeeting minutesOperating procedures“Job” descriptionsBudget
• Conflict resolution process
• Membership skills to enable coalition to work as team and implement work
• Campaign development to build community awareness
More refined process are needed….
Coalition begins to develop its identify• Group members carry out commitments and
help each other when needed
• Coalition has clearly defined expectations, goals and objectives
• Members are clear about each person’s role and have collectively decided how to operate
• Members respect and recognize diversity that each person adds
Stuff starts to happen…..• Implementation of activities and projects begins• Members learn to deal with power distribution and
resource allocation• Group is able to take on more challenges as trust and
competence builds• Coalition becomes more visible in community• Goals and strategies are continuously refined• As initial goals are realized, members either recommit or
leave coalition• Early leaders also may move on and coalition must address
leadership development and succession
Coalition hits its stride….• Structure is developed• Coalition is full partner with other
organizations• Regular progress reports appear• Engagement of membership is priority• Planned activities expand• Communication network fully operational
Maintaining the coalition over time..• Keep members and organizations engaged; review/renew
member agreements• Keep membership growing and informed; replenish or expand
if needed• Address organizational needs within coalition and revise
structures/procedures as needed• Rotate and develop leadership• Continue to revise/implement action plans and keep projects
moving ahead• Assess changes and accomplishments• Build on past successes to move to new goals and strategies
Evaluating the Coalition and Partners• Are we partners committed to collaboratively
evaluate coalition and its work? – Are we making progress? – Are we achieving our intended outcomes?
• Am I a high functioning member of this coalition?
Sharing of Best Practices
Julie Nutter, Chaffee County Dental Coalition, and Patricia Brewster-Willeke, North East Colorado Dental Coalition
Oral Health Coalition and Advocacy
• What is the issue?• What activities/tactics will you use? • What interim outcomes do you hope to achieve?• Where in the policy-making process is your target policy and
where are you trying to move it?• What social impact will your advocacy work and that of others
achieve?• Map how you are going to get where you want to go• Identify the signposts you need to look for along the way.• Prepare contingency plans for roadblocks, traffic jams, and wrong
turns along the way
Hot Topics in Colorado• The elections- mixed bag• The revenue- good news (money)/bad news (Tabor)• Where we are now• 2015 state policy perspectives/what to expect
– Virtual dental home– Medicaid rates– Regulatory efforts = INTEGRATION of oral health– Keeping adult dental
• Local issues– Community water fluoridation– School policies– In school oral health services
Local Strategy Development• Local values• Diverse partners• Ordinary citizens• Proactive• What we have been facing:– Breckenridge– Loveland– Project 7 (Monterose, Delta, Ouray)
Thank you!
Oral Health ColoradoPO Box 1335
Nederland, CO 80466
www.oralhealthcolorado.org