Goal 1: Capacity Building
Gratiot County will continue to build infrastructure to sustain substance abuse prevention in communities and institutionalize the SPF five steps, as evidenced by the:
- Development of concise, data driven problem statements
- Development of an annual county communication plan
- Partnership agreements and/or memorandums of commitment, established and renewed
- Provision of local training and orientation to new county prevention staff, coalition members, and county coalition networks
- Enhancement of early problem identification protocol and referral systems
- Development of a comprehensive strategic plan
- Annual development/renewal of substance abuse specific logic models
- Annual development of agency action plans
- Annual development of the county implementation plan identifying effective evidence-based policies, practices, and program.
- Evaluation report produced annually with recommendations for quality improvements
Internal Coalition Capacity Building
There is a need to incorporate evidence-based practices and SPF processes into every substance abuse prevention strategy that is implemented in the county. This should include detailed strategy action plans, as well as formalized data to be collected for evaluation purposes, pre and post intervention. In order for the coalition to effectively speak to strategic impact in the community, it must have systematic planning and evaluation components weaved into its’ strategies. Some of this need is already being addressed, as the coalition has recently developed logic models and an action plan for filling gaps that cause barriers to the implementation of prevention strategies. The coalition has also begun to require that agencies create action plans, which is intended to help them think more about the ways that they can contribute to improved prevention strategy implementation. The quality of all GCSAC strategies will improve substantially, if emphasis is placed on quality throughout the planning and evaluative stages moving forward.
Coalition quality improvement is not just the responsibility of our prevention partners, but of all of the membership. The coalition must build its internal capacity to offer services, and implement strategies that will create change. Coalition membership can become more involved in providing necessary but critical supports such as client referrals, program facilitation, individual action step implementation, and even recruitment of new members. The need for GCSAC to develop a committee structure is evident as the coalition continues to grow, and must be embraced by the membership. True engagement by the whole is necessary, if the coalition is to make its’ desired impact in the community.
The final internal Capacity Building piece to be addressed is the sustainability of the coalition itself. As financial resources become limited statewide, the need to diversify funding sources is apparent. To date the coalition has demonstrated a very limited ability to garner additional funding outside of Mid-South for local efforts. The establishment of improved capacity in the coalition will be essential for the development of other local, state or national sources of funding. These capacity building and funding diversification efforts by the coalition will stabilize our system of substance abuse prevention for the people of Gratiot County throughout 2010 – 2015 Strategic Plan.
Coalition quality improvement is not just the responsibility of our prevention partners, but of all of the membership. The coalition must build its internal capacity to offer services, and implement strategies that will create change. Coalition membership can become more involved in providing necessary but critical supports such as client referrals, program facilitation, individual action step implementation, and even recruitment of new members. The need for GCSAC to develop a committee structure is evident as the coalition continues to grow, and must be embraced by the membership. True engagement by the whole is necessary, if the coalition is to make its’ desired impact in the community.
The final internal Capacity Building piece to be addressed is the sustainability of the coalition itself. As financial resources become limited statewide, the need to diversify funding sources is apparent. To date the coalition has demonstrated a very limited ability to garner additional funding outside of Mid-South for local efforts. The establishment of improved capacity in the coalition will be essential for the development of other local, state or national sources of funding. These capacity building and funding diversification efforts by the coalition will stabilize our system of substance abuse prevention for the people of Gratiot County throughout 2010 – 2015 Strategic Plan.
External Coalition Capacity Building
The Gratiot County Substance Abuse Coalition must continue to explore ways to expand its’ impact and influence in the Gratiot County community. Media efforts which have been conducted largely through word of mouth and the local newspaper have limited the coalition’s scope of awareness throughout the community. As the coalition continues to develop and expand programs and services, additional forms of media must be developed. The GCSAC website, Parents Who Host, Lose the Most social marketing campaign, and other social media options such as Facebook are all possible communication strategies which can help expand the community awareness of the coalition.
