Live blogging from the Parenting Leadership Institute - Dr. Pennie Foster-Fishman on building an effective coalition

Blogging live from the Parenting Leadership Institute inside the Kellogg Center in East Lansing.

It's 9:15 a.m. Thursday and Dr. Pennie Foster-Fishman, professor of psychology at MSU. Her topic is the challenges coalitions face in recruiting and sustaining an active membership base and provide practical solutions coaltions can implement to build local, diverse constituencies.

Her first point, during a team building exercise: You have three sources of support -- your coalition, of course, your active volunteers and your broader available constituency.

What is a participation mindset?

Foster- Fishman says they are attitudes and beliefs an individual has that determines if they want to get involved, believe they should get involved and believe they CAN get involved.

"This mindset is what matters most. You can build a coalition, but if they don't believe they have the skills to contribute, they'll stop coming. If you've never had your voice heard, you're saying to yourself you're not valuable."

-- Individuals need to believe there are benefits to participating. (Examples: I might learn something that helps me in a job or job search, gain skills, opportunities. I benefit socially from this.) If you are mobilizing, organize around what THEIR goals are.

-- They need to want to make a contribution and believe they have something to offer.

-- Individuals need to believe that barriers and costs to participation can and will be addressed. (Examples of costs/demands: work, time conflicts, lack of child care or transportation, lack of peer support.)

Your goal is to understate attitudes in those key areas.

Exercise: Write down examples of YOUR community about how you would address those three barriers to participation.

How to build it:

1) Acknowledge that people have concerns about participation.

2) You have to understand and assess what people are REALLY thinking what they're feeling in their community. (Remember, concerns change over time.)

Building the Participation Mindset:

When you're meeting with families to recruit them, help them see their own skills and knowledge. Acknowledge that it is common to feel like they have nothing ton contribute. Communicate and celebreate accomplishments and successes.Explain there will be opportunities to build their skills. Constantly acknowledge successes!

(Fishman notes that Bryn Fortune will have copies of many of the documents from this presentation. E-mail bfortune@ecic4kids.org)

You want people to feel that they will get something out of particpating in the coalition.

"If people believe only public speaking ability is important, they're going to stop coming," she said.

Tips to acknowledging:

-- Ask what people want out of participating.

-- Create ways to meet their need.

"The best way to build your coalition is word of mouth. If people hear the coalition is the place to learn x, y,z, they'll come."

Tips to understanding and assessing:

-- Regularly assess barriers.

Exercise: Write down one idea you can try in your coalition based on what she's shared with you.

Exercise: Think about your current coaltion members, what one thing would you try with them to encourage more participation from them?

Tip: If people's needs don't fit what your coalition is doing, find another place or way for them to engage. (Connect them with other organizations that fit their needs and skills. Other organizations will return the favor.)

Next topic: How do you build an empowering coalition (ideas very similar to prior material)

An empowering coalition:

-- Provides members with opportunities to have influence in the coaltion and increased control in their lives.

-- Members are more satisfied with their involvement.

-- Members are more likely to have their desired impact and have an easeri time recruiting.

You have an empowering coaltion if:

-- There is shared decision-making. (An inclusive leaders shares decision-making.)

-- Diversity is respected.

-- People have meaningful roles, diverse roles, opportunities to develop skills.

-- It focuses on people's strengths and goals.

-- There are numerous peer supports available. (Example: Sue is having trouble with childcare. And you know that someone does childcare. And you connect the two.)

-- There is a sense of community.

-- Trust is promoted.

Exercise: As you think about your coalition, what makes it empowering for its members? In what ways isn't it empowering?

"When you build meaningful roles, you are building your coalition," she says.

Exercise: Jot down one idea to make your coalition more empowering.

Fishman highlights "Moving to Impact."

To move to impact:

-- You need a shared vision.

-- You need a strategic plan or action plan that is aligned with community need.

-- You need to ensure that the enactment of your plan is monitored and adjusted.

-- You need to continuously learn.

-- You need to continually grow you constituency base.

How To Build Your Constituency Base

-- Recruit face to face.

-- Have living room conversations. Find someone in neighborhood to host a recruitment meeting.

-- Ask those who come to host other living room conversations.

-- Then you move to a larger community conversation. (Keep it in neighborhood -- church, school -- so others see there are others like them. )

-- Photovoice. Give people cameras to show what's going on in their community. Enables discussion of community conditions.

-- Host block parties.

Resources

The Community Toolbox

http://ctb.ku.edu/en/

CADCA

http://www.cadca.org/resources/series/Printers

Session ends.

For more information, contact Pennie Foster-Fishman, 517-353-5015, fosterfi@msu.edu

Submitted by aheller on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 11:42

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