The purpose of this unit is to clarify how AODA prevention and community involvement are linked in prevention planning and program implementation. Methods are presented for mobilizing and involving all sectors of the community in AODA prevention. Emphasis is placed on the importance of community involvement in the early stages of planning, i.e., identifying, defining, and analyzing factors underpinning AODA problems.
This unit occupies the first place in a day of training that is devoted explicitly to community development. Since community involvement is one of the cornerstones of the partnership grant program, the unit is of central importance to the teams.
This unit depends on, and relates closely to, the framework presented in Unit 1D. It is also connected to the preceding units on cultural consciousness, because community mobilization necessitates interaction with diverse communities. The concurrent workshops that follow this unit consider in more detail several of the topics touched upon here, e.g., conducting community meetings.
Braithwaite, R. L., F. Murphy, N. Lythcott, and D.S. Blumenthal. (1989). Community organization and development for health promotion within an urban black community: A conceptual model. Journal of Health Education, December (Special Issue), 56-60.
Bryson, J. M. (1988). An effective strategic planning approach for public and nonprofit organizations. In Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations, ed. J. M. Bryson. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 46-70.
Chavis, D. M., and P. Florin, (1990). Community participation and substance abuse prevention: Rationale, concepts, and mechanisms. San Jose, CA: Prevention Office, Bureau of Drug Abuse Services, Department of Health, County of Santa Clara, May.
Fawcett, S. B., A. L. Paine, V. T. Francisco, and M. Vliet. (submitted for publication). Promoting health through community development.
Fawcett, S. B., T. Seekins, P. L. Whang, C. Muiu, and Y. Suarez de Balcazar. (1984). Creating and using social technologies for community empowerment. In Studies in empowerment, ed. R. Rappaport. New York: Haworth Press, 145-171.
Florin, P., and D. M. Chavis. (1990). Community development and substance abuse prevention. San Jose, CA: Prevention Office, Bureau of Drug Abuse Services, Department of Health, County of Santa Clara, May.
Gibbs, J., and S. Bennett. (1990). Together we can reduce the risks: A conceptual framework for planning comprehensive prevention programs. Seattle, WA: Comprehensive Health Education Foundation.
Manger, T. H., J. D. Hawkins, K. P. Haggerty, and R. F. Catalano. (in press). Mobilizing communities to reduce risks for drug abuse: Lessons on using research to guide prevention practice. Journal of Primary Prevention.
Moore, C. M. (1991). A working paper on community. Paper presented at "Community in Conflict," a conference of the National Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution, 4-6 June, 1991, Charlotte, NC. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University, National Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution.
Williams, R. M. (1990). Rx: Social Reconnaissance. Foundation News, 31:(4)24-29.
Wolff, T. (Unpublished, undated). Coalition building: One path to empowered communities. Amherst, MA: Statewide Massachusetts Area Health Education Centers, University of Massachusetts Medical Center.
Trainers for this unit may also wish to consult the articles listed at the end of workshop 2C.
A. Two major authors on prevention, Lawrence Green and Marshall Kreuter, assert that, "Given reasonable resources, the chances are good that a community prevention effort will succeed" if a partnership (T-1)
". . . . [B]uilds from a base of community ownership of the problems and solutions (T-1: Conditions),
Plans carefully,
Uses sound theory, meaningful data, and local experience as bases for decision making,
Knows what types of strategies work best for specific populations and circumstances, and
Has an organizational and advocacy plan to orchestrate multiple strategies into a complementary, cohesive program."
B. The first phase of the planning framework asks "what, who, and why" questions. It seeks answers that are both subjective and objective. We called it "community assessment" (T-2).
C. This unit looks at why and how communities are or ought to be involved in each phase of the planning framework discussed earlier in the Institute (T-2: Community Prevention Planning Framework).
D. Such levels and varities of involvement are what we are calling "community mobilization."
A. The Green and Kreuter framework starts with an assessment of the community's subjective perceptions of the world. The first phase of the framework deals with the perceived aspirations, needs, goals, and AODA problems of the community.
B. The community assessment also marks the start of a process of mobilizing the resources of the community; in other words, of awakening the community to its own understanding of its hopes, its needs, and its AODA problems-and what the community might do about them.
C. AODA behaviors are shaped by the interaction of individuals with many powerful factors within the family, peer group, school, and organizational and community systems.
D. The community can put flesh and blood on these interactions and point towards what can be done to affect them. To involve community members in this process is to "mobilize" them.
E. Our sessions on cultural consciousness highlighted community diversity and the importance of including various viewpoints, not only in assessing needs, problems, and goals, but also in knowing how AODA prevention can be planned with the community and how various cultural groups might work together on common AODA problems.
F. Nothing ensures success of AODA prevention more than engaging people in assessing their perceived problems, needs, and hopes. If your partnership cannot find ways to link your mission to the social goals and concerns of a target population or setting, there is little hope that the community will value what you are doing (T-3: Nothing . . .).
G. It is for these reasons that our planning framework starts by asking the community to assess (or validate) its own perceived needs. It then moves to a study of objective data that refine those perceptions.
H. Since people's worries and concerns are often very concrete and specific, they sometimes fail to see how closely AODA may be connected with those concerns.
Until this connection is made, the actions necessary to prevent AODA will probably not be taken.
I. So assessment, the first step in our community prevention planning framework, is also a first step in community mobilization.
J. Viewed this way, community needs assessment is (T-4: Community Needs):
A process of determining people's perceptions of their own needs and hopes for the common good through
Broad participation and
Different kinds of information-gathering activities, that are
Designed to increase the understanding and involvement of the community.
A. Active involvement minimizes a "my/their" mentality fosters an "us" relationship.
B. Involvement generates community awareness, which benefits not only the partnership but also the other sectors of the community whose cooperation is needed for effective comprehensive prevention strategies.
C. One of the goals of AODA prevention is to effect behavioral and environmental changes that have "staying power." To the extent that prevention plans are conceived and developed apart from the spirit and perceptions of a community, they are outside of that community and less likely to endure.
A. Plans formulated by a partnership with input from decentralized or "grassroots" levels are better than plans developed without such input.
B. "Grassroots" or decentralized levels are defined as those "closest to where the people whose needs are in question live or work, e.g., a work team in a factory, a department of workers in an office, a plant within an industry, a classroom within a school, a school within a district, a neighborhood within a town, a town within a county." (T-7: Grassroots)
C. Plans that take their origin and impetus from grassroots levels are even better than those that only have community input.
A partnership's plan for AODA prevention should include processes for input and consultation at the outset and at every stage of development.
The prospects for long-term solutions to AODA problems will be increased to the extent that the partnerships stimulate, give advice and guidance, and help those at the grassroots level to define, to plan, and implement their own AODA initiatives.
D. To do this is to activate-or mobilize-a community to take action on AODA problems.
Our discussion of grassroots initiatives implies that the necessary skills and technical knowledge to carry out a systematic assessment of needs are present in a local group or community. This cannot be assumed for all communities. However, with active searching and encouragement, much skill and knowledge can be found in any community.
Ongoing interaction is needed between the partnership and the communities that are involved or need to be involved in planning. The objective is to engage the community progressively greater degrees of responsibility for managing and evaluating its own prevention programs.
As community participation grows, the role of the partnership will change. Its major activities will be to coordinate community initiatives and provide training or technical advice. Assistance may include finding seed monies to help a local group implement its comprehensive prevention strategy.
The goal is not the solution of the local problems but the activation and mobilization of a problem-solving process by that community.
It is this process that leads some to say that "Community development is prevention."
A. Partnerships must be careful to avoid "cultural invasion," in which a partnership's activity, even community mobilization, is drawn solely from its own values.
B. Partnerships need to approach their communities by "cultural synthesis," i.e., entering the other's "world" from their own, not to teach but to learn.
C. The term "partnership" implies complementary roles and contributions. This will not happen if the partnership starts out with "senior partners" and "junior partners."
A. Step 1: Identify entry points. It is important that the host agencies or groups be well-known and respected in the community. This step should be a "door opener" that focuses on hopes, goals, needs, and problems in general rather than on AODA alone (HO-1: Steps in the Community Sampling Method).
B. Step 2: Identify local cosponsors. Local organizations or groups must support the study in a variety of ways, such as providing a representative to participate in an orientation session, in order to legitimize the it.
C. Step 3: Do research and develop briefing materials.
Compile background data on the community;
Summarize analyses in a briefing book;
Share book with participants and ask them to analyze it; and
Generate questions for discussion and pretesting with sponsors.
D. Step 4: Identify leaders and representatives.
E. Step 5: Conduct field interviews and community meetings. Several should be conducted in the same time period to cover all sectors of the community.
F. Step 6: Analyze interviews and community meetings, report back to the community, and follow up. These tasks are best performed by the local sponsor with technical assistance from the partnership. This includes the important steps of publicizing the report through open meetings and distributing the report to all those who participated in interviews or meetings (T-11, HO-2: Analysis, Reporting, and Followup).
G. Phase 1 of the planning framework is concluded when the partnership has an "objective" assessment of its needs, problems, and goals. If the partnership had already started with the "objective" assessment, it could at any time review it in light of a subsequent "subjective" assessment.
Directions
H. Ask participants if they have questions on community mobilization as it applies to their partnership's efforts back home. Write the first few questions on newsprint.
Engage the group in discussing the questions, adding clarification as needed.
A. Note that during the first portion of this unit, we talked about one method of mobilizing the community-through involvement in the needs assessment process.
B. Ask the participants to brainstorm other ways to mobilize community members. Write the responses on newsprint. Possible responses:
Publicity,
Legislation,
Open forums,
Door-to-door recruitment
Block or neighborhood meetings,
School events, and
In response to a catalyst event (e.g., A public crisis that engages the community).
C. Emphasize it is important to develop a plan to keep people involved. This plan should be developed before large numbers of people are mobilized. Present some of the important considerations:
Content Points
People are drawn to actions, so provide opportunities for immediate involvement in the activities of the partnership.
In the beginning, provide for early successes.
Involve people in decision making; share leadership.
Communicate, communicate, communicate.
Listen, listen, listen.
Provide opportunities to meet individual, organizational, and community needs in ways that are consistent with the goals of the partnership and community.
Directions
D. Ask participants to popcorn ways to keep participants mobilized in the other steps in the adapted Green and Kreuter planning model. Use a fast pace to keep ideas coming. Possible opportunities for involvement include:
During the phase of analyzing problems and setting goals;
When the group is analyzing individual behaviors and community environments to set objectives;
As the partnership assesses the internal partnership and external community environments;
In the strategy- and program-development phases;
Throughout the process, as the partnership conducts impact, outcome, and process evaluations.
A. Summarize the main points. Indicate that the topic of activating community involvement in AODA prevention is a very large one only touched upon here. David Chavis, an expert on the subject, has pointed out that communities are mobilized by full and active participation at every stage of planning and implementing prevention.
B. Remind participants to look at HO-4 in Unit 4B(2), which provides an outline to use during the concurrent workshops that follow.
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