This webinar focuses on building effective coalitions and partnerships for building healthy communities. We all spend too much effort in time-consuming and ineffective coalitions. We know what makes collaborative solutions work. This workshop will explore the six key principles for building effective collaborative solutions and provide participants with stories and tools for the creation of effective collaborative solutions.

1. The Power of Collaborative Solutions
Tom Wolff
February 15, 2012
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4. Today’s Speaker
Tom Wolff
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5. The Power of Collaborative
Solutions
• Building Effective Coalitions
• Nonprofit Webinars
• February 2012
• Tom Wolff Ph.D.
• Tom Wolff & Associates
• 24 S. Prospect St.
• Amherst, MA. 01002
• 413 253 2646
• tom@tomwolff.com

6. Stand and Declare
•What do we
believe about
collaboration?

7. Stand and Declare
• Collaboration with representatives
from all parts of the community
is fun and easy.
Strong agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree

8. • In collaborative efforts in our
community we always engage
those most affected by the
problem as equal partners and
they willingly join us and
participate actively.
Strong agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree

9. What are collaborative solutions?
• Doing together that which we cannot do alone
• A collaboration is a group of individuals and/or
organizations with a common interest who
agree to work together toward a common goal.
» From S.Fawcett et.al

10. Why collaborative solutions have
been encouraged?
• To create social change
• To encourage social innovation
• Expand interventions to the whole community
• To do more with less when there are budget cuts
• To address limitations of the health and human
service systems
• To promote civic engagement
• To build healthy communities

11. Concerns with Health and Human Service System
• Fragmentation
• Duplication of effort
• Focus on deficits
• Crisis Orientation
• Failure to respond to diversity
• Excessive professionalism
• Detached from community & clients
• Competition
• Limited and inaccessible information
• Failure to engage those most directly affected

12. Experiences in Coalitions and Partnerships
• Please describe two partnerships or coalition experiences that
you have had that have been positive and two that have been
negative.
Positive Experiences Negative Experiences
Why? Learnings? Why? Learnings?

13. Collaborative Solutions
1. Engage a broad spectrum of the
community
– Especially those most directly affected
– Celebrate racial and cultural diversity
2. Encourage true collaboration as the
form of exchange

14. The Continuum of Collaboration
Definitions:
• Networking Exchanging information
for mutual benefit.
• Coordination Exchanging information
and modifying activities for mutual benefit.
• Cooperation Exchanging information,
modifying activities, and sharing resources
for mutual benefit and to achieve a
common purpose.

15. The Continuum of Collaboration-
cont.
• Collaboration Exchanging information,
modifying activities, sharing resources,
and enhancing the capacity of another for
mutual benefit and to achieve a common
purpose by sharing risks, resources,
responsibilities, and rewards.
– From Arthur Himmelman

16. The Continuum of Collaboration Worksheet
•
Instructions: Given the definitions of networking, coordinating, cooperating and collaborating, identify the
following:
• With an “x” identify which functions are most frequently used in your collaborative efforts
• Discuss how you might like to change this “mix”
• With an “o” identify where you would like to be (which functions you would like to use more frequently, etc.)
• Discuss and note what your collaborative needs to do to make this happen
• Use Frequently Use Sometimes Hardly Ever Use
• Networking _____________ _____________ _____________
• Exchanging Information
• Coordination _____________ _____________ _____________
• Exchange Information
• Alter Activities
• Cooperation _____________ _____________ _____________
• Exchange Information
• Alter Activities
• Share Resources
• Collaboration _____________ _____________ _____________
• Exchange Information
• Alter Activities
• Share Resources
• Enhance Capacity

17. Collaborative Solutions cont.
3. Practice democracy
– Promote active citizenship and
empowerment
4. Employ an ecological approach that
emphasizes individual in his/her
setting.
– Build on community strengths and assets

18. Slum Housing
Mental
Crime Illness
Teenage Drug Neighborhood Needs Map
Rat Bites
Slum Housing Pregnancy Abuse
Domestic
T Lead Poisoning Welfare Violence
r Dependency
u
a Gangs Alcoholism
n Illiteracy
c
y
Unemployment
AIDS
Pollution
Broken
families Boarded-up Buildings
Dropouts
Child Abuse
Homelessness
Abandonment

19. Neighborhood Assets Map Public Information
From John McKnight
Fire
Libraries Depts.
Public
Public Information
Personal Parks
Schools Income Capital
Improvement
H Cultural Expenditures
Organizations Associations
o of Business
s
p
i Individual
t Businesses Police
a Individual
l Capacities
s Vacant
Religious Organizations Bldgs.,
Gifts of Land,
Higher Labeled etc.
Education Citizens Associations People Social
Institutions
Service
Home-Based Enterprise Agencies
Primary Building Blocks: Assets and capacities
located inside the neighborhood, largely under
neighborhood control Energy/Waste Resources
Secondary Building Blocks: Assets located
within the community, but largely controlled by
outsiders.
Welfare Expenditures
Potential Building Blocks: Resources originating
outside the neighborhood, controlled by outsiders.

20. Types of community assessment
questions
• Traditional:
• What are your needs?
• How can we (providers) meet those
needs?
• Asset-based assessment questions:
• What are your community’s strengths?
• How can you contribute to helping us find
a solution?

21. Collaborative solutions cont.
5. Take action
– Address issues of social change and power
– Move from social services to social change
– Build on a common vision
6. Engage your spirituality as your compass for
social change
Align the goal and the process
– ―Be the change that you wish to create in the
world.‖ (M. Gandhi)

22. Four spiritual principles that are
critical to community building
• Appreciation
• Acceptance
• Compassion
• Interdependence

23. Interdependence
• The community is a complex whole
• Take an ecological view of individual in
their community settings
• Focus on the full range of social
determinants of health
• All systems/settings have an impact and
they all interact with each other

24. Story of the
Cleghorn Neighborhood Center

25. CNC Story
• Moving from social service to social
change
• Start with door-to-door visits
• Build leadership with adults and youth
• Take action - advocacy
• Build community
• CNC as an illustration of the six principles

26. Unique characteristic of
community collaborations
• Holistic and comprehensive
• Flexible and responsive
• Build a sense of community
• Build and enhance resident engagement in
community life
• Provide a vehicle for community empowerment
• Allow diversity to be valued as foundation of the
wholeness of the community
• Incubators for innovative solutions to community
problems

27. Factors Affecting a Collaboration’s
Capacity to Create Change
• Having a clear vision and mission
• Action planning for community and systems
change
• Developing and supporting leadership
• Documentation and ongoing feedback on
programs
• Technical assistance and support
• Securing financial resources for the work
• Making outcomes matter
– From Roussus and Fawcett

28. Working with Conflict in Collaborations
• Conflict is inherent in Collaborations
• It is useful to recognize different types of conflict
and conflict behavior:
Power, Accountability, Unity & diversity, Mixed
loyalties, Division of labor, Interpersonal conflict
• Expression and negotiation of conflicts is healthy
coalition behavior. It leads to better results.
• Use a variety of approaches to prevent, minimize
and resolve conflicts
From Beth Rosenthal in Wolff and Kaye From the Ground Up

29. Barriers – What are your biggest
concerns?
• Turf and Competition
• Bad history
• Failure to Act
• Lack of a Common Vision
• Failure to provide and create collaborative
leadership
• Minimal organizational structure
• Costs outweigh the benefits
• Not engaging self-interest
• Overcoalitioned community

30. Agency-Based and Community-Based
Approaches
Issues Agency-Based Community-Based
• Approach Weakness/Deficit Strength/Asset
• Definition of By Agencies, By Local
Problem Government Community
• Role of Central to Decision Resource to
Professional Making Community
Problem Solving

31. Agency-Based and Community-Based
Approaches
Issues Agency-Based Community-Based
• Primary decision Agencies, Community
makers Gov’t
• Potential for Community Low Hi
Ownership
• Community’s Low Hi
Control of Resources

32. Outreach questions
• Strengths and Gaps in your present
membership
• Who is missing? Who else do we need
to have in the room?
• Who else in the community cares about
your issue?
• Who might you engage?

33. THE FORMAL SECTORS

34. THE INFORMAL SECTORS

35. Degrees of Involvement – Ladder
of Participation
Community initiated – shared decision making with agencies
Community initiated and directed– agencies support
Agency initiated – shared decision making
Consulted and informed
Assigned roles
Tokenism
Decoration
Manipulation

36. Benefits of Involving Grassroots
Organizations and Leaders
1. Can reach ―high risk‖ and ―hard to reach‖
populations
2 Work with ―formal‖ and informal‖ leaders
3 Know what works in their communities
4. Community organizations are community
archivists
(continued....)

37. Benefits of Involving Grassroots
Organizations and Leaders (continued)
5. Promote ownership and participation
6. They are the best architects of solutions
7. Build local leadership
8. Create positive ―norms‖ in the community
9. Promote community ownership

38. Stakeholder Analysis
• Capacities, skills, resources?
• Potential role?
• Self interest? Why should they join?
• How will you recruit?
• Barriers to recruiting?
• Who?
• When?

39. •The main reason
someone volunteers is
that someone they
know asks them!

40. Retention _ The 6 R’s of
Participation
• Recognition
• Respect
• Role
• Relationship
• Reward
• Results

41. REACH 2010 Boston
Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community
Health

42. Boston Blueprint for Action
• Health Care and Public Health
– Health Insurance.
– Data Collection
– Patient education
– Health Systems –
– Cultural Competence-.
– Public Health Programs
– Research Needs
• Environment and Societal Factors
– Neighborhood investment –
– Jobs and economic security –.
– Public awareness –.
– Promotion of key community institutions –

43. About the REACH Coalition
Mission—What is our work?
The mission of the Boston
REACH Coalition is to promote
health equity and eliminate racial
and ethnic health inequities in
Boston.

44. the Boston REACH Coalition
• Initially focused on breast and cervical
cancer in Black women in Boston
• Now taking a broader SDOH approach

45. Social Capital
A Health
Equity Education
Framework
Transportation
Employment
Food Access
Socioeconomic Health
Racism
Status Outcomes
Environmental
Exposure
Health Behaviors
Access to
Health Services
Housing
Public Safety

46. Jamaica Plain Youth Health Equity
Coalition
• Why focus on youth
– We’re doing it
already!
– Youth issues =
community issues
= family issues
– Narrows the
focus (but not
much)

47. Jamaica Plain Youth Health Equity
Collaborative - Goals
• Involve
residents,
organizations
and youth
• Examine health
disparities
• Identify causes
including social
determinants
• Common
language and
framework
• Define and
implement
programs

48. Bucket Meetings
• Case Study
• Employment inequities for low income
African American/Latino youth – role of
institutional racism
• Employment Health impacts for low income
African American/Latino youth
• Possible Action Steps/Strategies

49. Youth Retreat August 2009
Undoing Racism Activity

50. Current Focus:
Youth Employment
• Job Development
• Communications
• Job Training

51. Youth Report 2009

52. March and Rally February 2010

53. Skills for Collaborative
Leadership
• Be inclusive, promote diversity
• Practice shared decision making
• Resolve conflicts constructively
• Communicate clearly, openly, and
honestly
• Facilitate group interaction
• Nurture leadership in others and
encourage top-level commitment

54. Attributes of Successful
Collaborative Leaders
• Ability to share power
• Flexibility
• Ability to see the big picture
• Trustworthiness
• Patience
• Abundant energy and hope

55. Do’s and Don’ts of Collaborative
Leadership
• DO remember to delegate
• DON’T try to juggle too many balls
• DON’T take it personally
• DO maintain an action orientation
• DON’T hog the spotlight
• DON’T avoid conflict
• DON’T forget to celebrate the small
victories

56. Myths of Sustainability
• Sustainability is best thought about in the
waning months of your funding
• Everything we do must be sustained
• It is all about finding the money
• Communities have the money to fund and
sustain all pilot projects that show
themselves to be effective and of value to
the community

57. Four Approaches to
Sustainability
• Institutionalization of changes
• Policy change
• Finding resources to sustain the effort
• Community ownership/capacity building
• www.gjcpp.org

58. Sustainability Tool
• Global Journal of Community Psychology
Practice
• www.gjcpp.org
• Jan 2010 Issue:
• http://www.gjcpp.org/pdfs/2009-0017-
Final%20Version-011410.pdf

59. ―Be
optimistic, it
feels better.‖
Dalai
Lama

60. New February 2010 from Jossey
Bass/John Wiley- available at
www.tomwolff.com

61. Web Resources
• Community Tool Box
• http://ctb.ku.edu
• Tom Wolff & Associates
• www.tomwolff.com

62. Find listings for our current season
of webinars and register at:
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