Building and Sustaining Your Oral Health Coalition December 3, PM

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

Coalition Stages

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 structure Meeting minutes Operating procedures “Job” descriptions Budget 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

Coalition is achieving its goals Begun to embed activities in partners’ organizations

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)

What would you like to learn more about? – Topics – Guest speakers – Format Future Webinars

Questions?

Thank you! Oral Health Colorado PO Box 1335 Nederland, CO