CONTENTS

About This Course

Table of Contents

1. An Introduction to Environmental Strategies
2. Types of Environmental Approaches
3. Putting Environmental Strategies To Work

Supplements
References
Resources

Environmental Strategies for Prevention
A Guide To Helping the Prevention Professional Work Effectively in the Community

What Makes an Effective Coalition in Prevention?

SAMHSA's Guide to Science-Based Practices provides information summarizing research related to prevention, including the creation of coalitions:

• Effective community coalitions include representatives from every organization that plays a role in fulfilling coalition objectives.
• Effective coalitions retain active members by providing meaningful rewards for participation. These rewards may include opportunities for organizations leadership, distribution of resources to home agencies, and the accomplishment of personal, organizational, and community goals.
• Effective coalitions define specific goals and assign specific responsibility for their achievement to subcommittees and task forces, rather than spending time on elaborating organizational structures and procedures.
• Planning is critical to coalition effectiveness and begins with a clear understanding, drawn from validated empirical evidence, of the substance-related problems it seeks to change.
• Effective coalitions set outcome-based objectives that are used to develop specific strategies and subsequent activities.
• Effective coalitions support a large number of prevention activities, rather than focusing on a single project.
• Residents are more likely to participate in activities at the neighborhood level where they can see how their actions will affect their own situation.
• Effective coalitions routinely assess progress from an outcome-based perspective and make adjustments to the plan to meet their goals.
• Paid coalition staff may be most effective as resource providers and facilitators rather than community organizers.
• Paid staff can serve as catalysts for action and must ensure that community participants receive credit for program success.

Source: Science Based Substance Abuse Prevention, #3 Guide to Science Based Practices, pages 13-15