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Strategies For Community Coalitions

Decent Essays

This study of LWOK aimed to identify potential strategies to improve coalition formation practices for facilitating community action and intervention to improve healthy weight in children. Previous studies by a group of authors have explored the successes and challenges of collaborative efforts in promoting active living at the community level. For example, Litt and colleagues (2013) found that investing in community and policy engagement activities represents important levers for achieving structural and policy changes, while Gustat and colleagues (2013) found that the main challenges experienced by collaborative groups were funding and personnel changes. However, the actual processes to forming an effective coalition have not been …show more content…

This represents both a constraint on furthering this critical issue and an opportunity for future work. Collaboration requires that partners place priority on collaborative goals and outcomes, and commitment to actual collaboration presents a significant challenge (Wolff, 2010). Collaboration also requires a willingness to share information and resources, alter activities and enhance the capacity or interests of partners (Himmelman, 2001). The key constructs associated with effective coalition formation include: lead agency selection, staffing and leadership, coalition membership, coalition process and coalition structure (Kegler et al, 2010). Consequently, many of the struggles that the LWOK coalition experienced are highlight the importance of establishing a coalition framework. For example, structural characteristics refer to the administrative rules in place that facilitate the management of the community coalition. The CCAT illustrates that coalitions with structures are more likely to achieve collaborative synergy in the coalition. Researchers have also identified the importance of coalition structures in predicting coalition progress. Butterfoss (2007) notes that the development of structure, rules, and responsibilities early in a coalition’s development enables community coalitions to operate effectively.

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