Ignite!

Before You Build Your Campfire! Before you ever strike a match, you are responsible for pre-fire planning. Whether you make a fire for fun, cooking, or warmth, good decisions will ensure a safe and appropriate fire. Decide whether you should build a campfire or not. Every park, state or forest, and all public land has fire burning restrictions. Restrictions may range from 'any fire any place’ to 'no fires at all', depending on fire danger levels and environmental impacts. Campfires can become wildfires that destroy acres of wilderness and nearby homes when people build fires in high winds or low humidity. Only start a fire when conditions are favorable. Choose your fire site. Once you decide to have a campfire, where you actually build your fire and how you prepare the site are critical. Your goal should be to leave no trace of fire once you move on, so minimize your impact by heeding these tips: • Gather Fuel. Gather wood far away from camp and taking only dead, downed branches. • Disperse Ashes. Burn all wood down to ash and take it with you when you leave. Disperse it well off the trail or you will attract others to overuse the same spot. • Fire Site. Make a small fire that can be easily erased. Use a fire ring or build your own. Before You Build Your Coalition! Before decide to build a coalition, you must understand what this organization is and whether you need to build one to accomplish your community’s work. Coalitions are complex entities that require significant investments of time and resources to establish and maintain. A general rule of thumb is not to build a coalition or partnership if a simpler structure will get the job done or if the community does not embrace this approach. WHY COLLABORATE? Collaboration is at the root of all community building. It occurs whenever people work together to achieve a common goal(s). The collaboration that is required of a coalition involves shared resources, rewards, responsibility, risks, and mutual accountability for success (Mattesich et al, 2001). This formal, sustained commitment allows organizations to achieve results that they would be less likely to achieve alone (Winer & Ray, 1994). Despite the rewards, organizations involved in a collaborative effort must understand and respect each other’s self-interests (i.e., agenda, values, and culture), relationships, linkages, and how power is shared and distributed (Gray, 1996). Collaboration changes the way organizations work together. It moves organizations from competing to building consensus; from working alone to including others from diverse cultures, fields and settings; from thinking about activities, services and programs to looking for complex, integrated interventions; and from focusing on short-term accomplishments to broad, systems changes (Winer & Ray, 1994). COLLECTIVE IMPACT Collaboration is recognized as an essential ingredient of community building, although a new take on community collaboration is gaining national attention. The Strive group in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky improved graduation rates, reading and math scores and preschool readiness; the Elizabeth River Project restored water quality and wildlife in 1,000 acres of land in southeastern Virginia polluted by industrial waste; and Shape up Somerville decreased body mass index among Massachusetts elementary school children (Kania & Kramer, 2011). These successes are based on an approach called collective impact, the commitment of a group of actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a complex social problem. Collective impact is more rigorous and specific than collaboration among organizations due to five conditions that lead to meaningful results (Kania & Kramer, 2011): 1. Common Agenda. Participants have a shared vision for change that includes a common understanding of the issue(s) and joint approach to solving it through agreed upon actions. 2. Shared Measurement. Collecting data and measuring results consistently across all participants ensures efforts remain aligned and participants hold each other accountable. 3. Mutually Reinforcing Activities. Participant activities are differentiated and coordinated through a mutually reinforcing action plan. 4. Continuous Communication. Consistent, open communication is needed among players to build trust, assure mutual objectives, and appreciate common motivations. 5. Backbone Organization: A separate organization with staff members who are skilled in facilitation and management serves as the backbone for the initiative and coordinates participating organizations. Backbone organizations focus people’s attention and create a sense of urgency, apply pressure to stakeholders without overwhelming them, frame issues in a way that presents opportunities as well as difficulties, and mediate conflict among stakeholders (Kania & Kramer, 2011). Ultimately, an effective coalition embodies the first four conditions of collective impact. The “backbone organization” may be either the coalition itself (if non-profit) or the lead agency that supports the coalition. WHAT IS A COALITION? In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1600), he penned: “What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.” Similarly, we use many terms interchangeably to describe collaborations with mutual goals, even though each of these working relationships is different. Strictly speaking, a coalition is group of diverse organizations and constituencies working together toward a common goal (Feighery & Rodgers, 1989). In this book, we will be concerned with community level coalitions that operate in rural, urban and suburban locations. A community coalition 1) serves a defined community recognized by those within it as a community (a common location or experience), but also serves the broader community; 2) is viewed by community residents as representing and serving them; and 3) reflects the community’s diversity, both at grassroots and grasstops (professionals) levels (Butterfoss et al, 1993; Clarke et al, 2006). Unlike networks whose member organizations act independently, coalitions bring organizations together to act jointly. Coalitions may form to address a specific, time limited issue or may establish a more sustained collaboration (Chavis & Florin, 1990). They achieve population-level policy changes by focusing on multiple strategies with sufficient scale and scope. With a comprehensive action plan, a coalition can engage people, ideas, and resources across sectors and settings to create synergistic health and prevention efforts that will have a lasting effect on people’s health.