Building Blocks:
Collaborating for a
Successful Coalition
Stacy Reliford
Field Government Relations Director
American Cancer Society Cancer Action
Network
Overview
 Forming your
coalition
 Strategizing for
success
 Recruitment &
Retention
 Media: Read all
about it!
Forming Your Coalition
 Identify potential partners supportive of your
cause
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Healthcare providers – nurses, doctors
Public health – local health dept., nonprofits
Teachers
Faith Community
Youth
General Public – grassroots & grass tops
Voluntary agencies – American Cancer Society,
American Lung Association, American Heart
Association
Forming Your Coalition
 Clearly identify the goal – POLICY CHANGE
 Establish leadership – Chair/Director, Media
Contact, Secretary
 Identify the host for the coalition
 Mobilize: Core Group v. List of Supporters
Who will come to the table?
Strategizing for Success
 Conduct a needs assessment
 Develop a strategic plan
 Establish your timeline
 Determine Community
Readiness
 Decide on Dealbreakers
Strategizing for Success
Conduct a needs assessment
 Review local, state & national data
 Resources: County-level data, BRFSS
 Understand the environment on your issue
 Local and state laws
 What are the community’s needs?
Strategizing for Success
Develop a strategic plan
 Create a mission statement
 Review your needs assessment
 Define goals to meet your needs
 Identify objectives – steps to reach
your broader goals
 Action steps & activities
 Determine how to allocate
resources
Strategizing for Success
Establish Your Timeline
 Be reasonable, policy making takes time!
 Set immediate, intermediate, and long term
benchmarks:
 Immediate – host a community event or public
forum
 Intermediate – identify supportive decision- makers
and meet with them
 Long-term – implement a policy change
Model Smoke-Free Timeline
Opposition especially active! Be prepared
Plan for Implementation & Enforcement
Build Power/Database 
Engage Grassroots advocacy
Education/Contact with Decision Makers
Community Education
Strategizing for Success
Community Readiness Assessment
 Is your community ready for a policy change?
 Understanding the dynamics – what is the process
for policy change in your community? Who are the
decision makers?
 Community education and gauging support
Decide on Dealbreakers
 When to compromise, walk away or oppose
Recruitment &
Retention
 Build a dynamic presence in the community
 Attend community events
 Generate support online
 Build a website
 Social Media = Small Investment + Large Returns
 Facebook Page
 Twitter Account
 Encourage coalition members to be ambassadors
Capacity Building
Recruitment & Retention
 Invest in your coalition
 Say Thank You
 Celebrate reaching benchmarks
 Meet for happy hour at a smokefree restaurant
 Publically thank grassroots and grass tops for their
support
 Continue to revisit your strategic plan!
 Policy making is frustrating, show progress by
reaching incremental objectives and goals
“Real World” Coalition Issues
 Policy Change is a Long Process
 Right People vs Not-So-Right People
 Personality Conflicts
 Sticking to Roles
Media: Read All About It!
 Media advocacy essential to building
credibility
 Build relationships with media
contacts
 Meet with the newspaper editorial board
 Identify any personal connections to
reporters, radio DJs, newsletters, etc.
 Broaden your definition of “media”
 E-alerts, newsletters, social media,
blogs, radio, church bulletins, school or
business announcements, billboards
Messaging
 Determine a clear, cohesive message
 Know your audience
 Use evidence based or tested messages
 Everyone has the right to breathe clean air!
 Stick to the message that is true to your mission
 Don’t chase opposition talking points
Messaging
 Health messages
 Factual vs Emotional
 Complicated vs Simple
Commonly Used Acronyms
 ANR – Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights
 ASHRAE – American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning
Engineers
 ACS – American Cancer Society
 ALA – American Lung Association
 AHA – American Heart Association
 SHS - Secondhand Smoke
 ETS - Environmental Tobacco Smoke*
 RSP – Respirable Particulate Matter
 IAQ – Indoor Air Quality
 Cotinine – Metabolized nicotine
* not recommended
Words to Use, Words to Avoid
Words to Use
Secondhand Smoke
Smokefree Workplaces
Smokefree Environment
Smokefree Ordinance
Words to Avoid
Ban
ETS or Environmental Tobacco Smoke
Media: Read All About It!
 Earned Media
 Letters to the Editor
 Op-Ed or Guest
Editorial
 Press Release
 Public Service
Announcement
 Pitching stories to
local reporters
 Paid Media
 Brief TV commercials
 Website banners/ads
 Radio
 Billboards
 Direct Mail
 Newspaper or
classified ads
Paid Media
Sample Educational Brochure
Takeaways from Today
 Recruit a diverse coalition that is representative of your
community
 Seek committed volunteers
 Strategic planning will keep you
path for success
 Pick a key message and stick to it
 Be ingenuitive in getting the word out
 Policy changes makes for healthy communities
on the
Why Smoke-Free Indoor Air
Policies Are So Important
 Reduces exposure to secondhand smoke among
workers & the public
 Reduces cigarette consumption rates
 Increases successful quit attempts
 Reinforces efforts to reduce tobacco use among children
(behavior modeling)
 Improves the overall health of our community
Contact
 Stacy Reliford
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
stacy.reliford@cancer.org
 Traci Kennedy
Director, Tobacco Free Missouri
info@tobaccofreemissouri.org
www.tobaccofreemo.org
Sources
CDC Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs –
User Guides: Coalitions State and Community Interventions
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/stateandcommunity/bp_user_guide/pdfs/u
ser_guide.pdf
Clear Thinking Communications. Building Successful Coalitions to
Address Underage Drinking
http://www.clearthinkingcommunications.com/case_studies_for_clear
_thinking_communications/ReducingUnderageDrinking.pdf
Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium. How-To Guides on
Community Health Promotion - Building and Maintaining Effective
Coalitions
http://www.ttac.org/tcn/peers/pdfs/07.24.12CA_BuildingAndMaintainin
gEffectiveCoalitions_Resource.pdf