Strategic Planning for
Communities
Part 1
Tracy Johnson
April 20, 2007
Workshop Objectives
• Overview of Strategic Prevention Framework
• Need/Capacity Assessment Review
• Engaging Partners
• Developing a Vision Statement
• Developing a Problem Statement
How Can We Create a
Comprehensive Plan?
By using SAMHSA’s Strategic
Prevention Framework (SPF) which
outlines the elements that should
be included in a comprehensive
planning model.
SAMHSA’s
Strategic Prevention Framework
Supports Accountability, Capacity, and Effectiveness
Assessment
Profile population needs, resources, and
readiness to address needs and gaps
Capacity
Mobilize and/or build capacity to address
needs
Planning
Develop a Comprehensive Strategic Plan
Implementation
Implement evidence-based prevention
programs and activities
Evaluation
Monitor, evaluate, sustain, and improve
or replace those that fail
Focus of the
Strategic Prevention Framework
• Community development
• Strategic planning
• The change process at the community
level
The SPF Principles
• Prevention is a continuum
• Prevention is prevention is prevention
• Successful prevention decreases risk factors
and enhances protective factors
• Prevention requires adoption of known
effective prevention practices within a
framework that works
The SPF Principles
(continued)
• Systems of prevention services work better
than service silos
• Common data sets across service systems
can help assess prevention efficacy and
promote accountability
• Recognizes the importance of States and
communities
• Comprehensively address substance abuse
Outcomes-based Prevention
• Effective prevention is grounded in a solid
understanding of alcohol tobacco and other
drug consumption and consequence patterns
• Documenting the nature and extent of
consumption (e.g., underage drinking) and
consequences (motor-vehicle crashes) at the
start is critical for determining intervening
variables and aligning strategies to address
them
Substance-related Consumption
Patterns
• Overall consumption
• Acute heavy consumption
• Consumption in risky situations
– Drinking and driving
– Smoking around young children
• Consumption by populations/groups
– Youth, college students, older adults
– Pregnant women
SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention
Framework
Supports Accountability, Capacity, and Effectiveness
Two Common Threads
Throughout the Strategic Prevention
Framework
Cultural competence and
sustainability are at the center of
the Strategic Prevention
Framework because they are
integral to each step of the
framework
Cultural Competence
Can be defined as “a set of congruent behaviors,
attitudes and policies that come together in system,
agency or among professionals and enable that
system agency or those professionals to work
effectively in cross-cultural situations.”
(The Lewin Group, 2002)
Identified 7 Domains that reflect
cultural competence- page 3.28
Cultural Competence Indicators
•
•
•
•
•
Immediate
Mission Statement addresses Cultural
Competence.
Strategic Plan addresses Cultural
Competence, including a Cultural
Competence Plan.
Integration and implementation of Cultural
Competence Plan
Reports to stakeholders on Cultural
Competence activities/Issues
Monitoring and evaluation reports related
to Cultural Competence.
Cultural Competence Indicators
Immediate
• Conducts regular community/needs assessments
including specific sub-populations if needed
• Membership on relevant planning committees of
community participants that represent groups
served
• Resources and capacity to collect/manage/report
cultural competence-related information/data
• Process for obtaining client/community input in
the development of cultural competence-related
plans
• Participant satisfaction regarding cultural
competence-related planning and Service Delivery
• Staff satisfaction regarding cultural competencerelated planning and service delivery
The SPF and Sustainability
• Sustainability is “the process of ensuring an adaptive and
effective substance abuse prevention system that achieves
long term results that benefit a focus population”
(Johnson, Hays, Center, and Daley, 2004).
•
•
•
•
•
Applies to more than funding
Sustaining outcomes, not programs
Think sustainability from the beginning
Look to the system to sustain outcomes
Sustain prevention by making it everyone’s job!
Prevention Planning
Why create a plan for action?
Planning allows us to create an objective
profile of our community, identify how to
focus resources and efforts, and to
implement more effective strategies
Focus for Communities
• Across the lifespan (not just youth)
• Consumption and consequences
(prevent the problem associated with use)
• Outcomes measured at the population level
(not just program level)
• Based on evidence-based research/empirical data
–Appear on a Federal list
–Appear in a peer-reviewed journal as effective
–Demonstrate “documented effectiveness” in some other
way. (Presently being clarified by SAMHSA/CSAP.)
SAMHSA’s
Strategic Prevention Framework
Supports Accountability, Capacity, and Effectiveness
Assessment
Profile population needs, resources, and
readiness to address needs and gaps
Capacity
Mobilize and/or build capacity to address
needs
Planning
Develop a Comprehensive Strategic Plan
Implementation
Implement evidence-based prevention
programs and activities
Evaluation
Monitor, evaluate, sustain, and improve
or replace those that fail
Needs/Capacity Assessment
Refresher
How to gather community data?
Step 1 – Assessment
What is Assessment?
• Assessment of substance use and related problems
of substance use
Assessment requires us to explore rates and
patterns of ATOD use and abuse as well as
related problems (consequences).
• Prevalence data
• Incidence data
• Consequence data
• Assessment of resources, gaps, and readiness
• Leads to recommendations regarding community
priorities
Why do we need to do
an assessment?
• It answers the question, “What is going on in my
community?”
• More specifically, it identifies:
– How big and what type of a substance use
problem do I have in my community?
– What resources currently exist in my
community that are addressing the identified
problems related to substance abuse?
– What is supporting the substance abuse
problem in my community?
– How ready is my community for prevention?
How do I conduct
an assessment?
• Create a needs assessment profile
• Define your community
and Mobilize your community
• Assess available resources and gaps in
services
• Implement a community readiness tool
What Is Community Readiness
and Why Is It Important?
Community readiness is the extent to which a
community is adequately prepared to implement a
substance abuse prevention program.
A community must have the support and
commitment of its members along with needed
resources to implement an effective prevention
effort. Because community readiness is a process,
factors associated with it can be objectively
assessed and systematically enhanced. (National
Institute on Drug Abuse, 1997)
Why Increase Community Readiness?
Effectiveness
Enduring, coordinated, and comprehensive efforts at the
local level are more likely to have the desired impact if
prevention professionals work with local citizens and
community leaders from many segments of the community
in planning, coordinating, and implementing the prevention
effort.
Continuity
Prevention programs are more likely to succeed and
continue to operate when they are created by local citizens
and tailored to the needs and resources of
the local
community.
Community A
Community B
Background
•
Growing awareness among prevention practitioners that
understanding a community’s level of readiness is key to
implementing successful substance abuse prevention strategies
•
Three components of needs assessment:
1. Knowledge of actual substance use rates in the community
2. Prevention resource infrastructure in the community
3. Residents’ attitudes and community norms
Minnesota Institute of Public Health, Mounds View, MN
Readiness Assessment Tools
• Community Readiness Survey, Tri-Ethnic
Center for Prevention Research
(www.triethniccenter.colostate.com)
• Community Readiness Survey, MIPH
• Organizational Readiness for Change,
Lehman, Greener and Simpson
• Community Readiness Inventory (NIDA)
Using Findings from the Community
Readiness Survey
Identify prevention strategies appropriate to residents’
attitudes
• Select strategies appropriate to residents’ attitudes
• Select strategies easily understood by residents
• Inform community leaders about respondents’ attitudes
Inform general public about respondents’ attitudes.
Inform community leaders about respondents’ attitudes.
Steps to Changing Behavior
Increase Awareness
Change in Attitude
Change in Behavior
Questions to Consider
• Has your community used ATOD
consequence data in the past as part of its
Assessment process?
• Is community level consequence data readily
available? What is the utility of the currently
available data?
• How does community readiness impact
prevention planning and interventions?
Questions to Consider
• What seems to influence the prevalence rates
of use? (risk and protective factors)
• Once you have completed an assessment,
how much more refined will your target
population be?
• Do you anticipate that your target population
will change through the assessment?
SAMHSA’s
Strategic Prevention Framework
Supports Accountability, Capacity, and Effectiveness
Assessment
Profile population needs, resources, and
readiness to address needs and gaps
Capacity
Mobilize and/or build capacity to address
needs
Planning
Develop a Comprehensive Strategic Plan
Implementation
Implement evidence-based prevention
programs and activities
Evaluation
Monitor, evaluate, sustain, and improve
or replace those that fail
Step 2 – Capacity: What is it?
Types and levels of resources needed to
address identified needs including:
• Human resources
• Technical resources
• Management and Evaluation Resources
• Financial resources
Capacity: Why Is it Important?
The resources, people, partnerships,
coalitions, and skills are essential to the
successful implementation of prevention
plans
Capacity: What does it involve?
• Mobilizing resources
• Engaging stakeholders
• Partnerships with the community
• Building coalitions
• Developing readiness
• Focus on cultural competency, sustainability and
evaluation
Capacity: Resources and Gaps
Resources and gaps in resources is a coalitions
capacity to engage in prevention efforts:
Examples of capacity include:
• Number of community organizations collaborating on
addressing ATOD-related problems
• Leadership within the coalition and the community to
engage in solving ATOD and other related problems
• Prevention knowledge at the community level
• Resources that are allocated and available to address
ATOD problems
Questions to Consider
• What type of prevention intervention
planning has occurred in your
community in the past?
• What types of resources will your
community need in order to develop a
strategic plan?
Why Assess Capacities?
•
Will help make a realistic match between the needs
identified and the capacities (e.g. infrastructure,
funding, etc.) necessary to address them.
•
Will reveal strengths and shortfalls in key resource
categories (e.g. human, fiscal, technical, community
collaboration).
•
Will provide an opportunity to address any shortfalls in
advance.
Who Watched These?
What is the correct order of
the first year they appeared
on TV. ?
1
2
3
4
5
6
66
70
74
75
79
89
Priorities for Sale
How to assemble , engage, and
get buy in from a planning team?
Assembling, Engaging and Getting
Buy in of a Team
•
Set Your Sights missions, values, goals, or
resources are in line with your prevention
strategy.
• Get Started ongoing process
• Make Contact by sharing information materials,
lessons learned, eval. report)
• Become Known attend receptions, forums,
conferences, and committee meetings
Assembling, Engaging and Getting
Buy in of a Team
• Be Heard Most listeners will not digest more than a few
major points. Develop a script;
• Gain Agreement All partners need to understand and
agree on their roles. So, put agreements in writing.
• Join Forces As you begin recruiting partners, you may
discover that some local agencies and organizations are
involved in similar prevention efforts
Assembling, Engaging and Getting
Buy in of a Team
•
Networking or communication links Minimal involvement
(mainly to share information)
• Publicity Partners may serve as channels, or gobetweens, to help spread information
• Endorsement Partners publicly endorse each other's
programs to broaden appeal or lend credibility
Assembling, Engaging and Getting
Buy in of a Team
• Coordination Partners remain self-directed but conduct
mutually beneficial activities and work together with a
common purpose
• Co-sponsorship Partners share their resources
• Collaboration Partners work together from beginning to
end to create a vision and to carry out a program
Assembling, Engaging and Getting
Buy in of a Team
• Defining a shared mission, vision, and goals.
• Maintaining a high level of trust and mutual respect.
• Making decisions jointly.
• Contributing staff time and other resources.
Assembling, Engaging and Getting
Buy in of a Team
•
Committing to build knowledge, skills, and systems by
seeking or offering technical assistance
• Staying in close contact with a partner,
• Listening carefully to what is communicated and.
providing regular and consistent feedback,
• Encouragement, guidance, and recognition help to
sustain partnership
Questions to Consider
• Who are some of the key stakeholders in
your community?
• Are all of the key stakeholders actively
involved in planning and implementing
successful prevention interventions?
• Who is involved in evaluating the capacity
to meet identified needs?
• Is cultural competence deliberately
assessed as part of current capacity
evaluations?
Kinds of Coalitions
Distinctions by:
• Structure—centralized, decentralized
• Geography—single community, multicommunity
• Resources—funded coalitions, nonfunded coalitions
• Also: Coalitions of interest (affinity
groups)
Common coalition questions
spoken and unspoken
• Why are members leaving?
• We have ownership issues, who makes
the decisions?
• How can we have a more diverse
membership
• How can we get more people involved?
• How will we know we were successful?
Community Prevention Systems
• Bring the power of individual
citizens and institutions together
• Create a comprehensive plan
that everyone in the community
has a stake in and owns
• Hold community institutions
accountable
Steps to Changing Behavior
Increase Awareness
Change in Attitude
Change in Behavior
SAMHSA’s
Strategic Prevention Framework
Supports Accountability, Capacity, and Effectiveness
Assessment
Profile population needs, resources, and
readiness to address needs and gaps
Capacity
Mobilize and/or build capacity to address
needs
Planning
Develop a Comprehensive Strategic Plan
Implementation
Implement evidence-based prevention
programs and activities
Evaluation
Monitor, evaluate, sustain, and improve
or replace those that fail
Writing a Winning Plan
Development of A Strategic Plan
Step 3 – Develop a
Comprehensive Strategic Plan
What is a Comprehensive Strategic Plan?
• A comprehensive, logical, and data driven
plan to address the problems identified in
Step 1 using the capacity built or mobilized
in Step 2
• The plan includes Strategic Goals,
Objectives, and Performance Targets, as
well as Logic Models and in some cases
Action Plans
Why Do I Need a Strategic
Plan?
• The Strategic Plan lays the groundwork for:
– Implementation activities, including:
• Capacity Expansion
• Training
• Development of monitoring and
evaluation systems
– The identification of strategies
– The selection of evidence-based
programs, policies, and practices to be
implemented
– The evaluation plan
How Do I Create a
Strategic Plan?
• Include a vision for prevention activities based on:
– Documented needs
– Identified resources and strengths
– Measurable objectives and performance
measures
– Baseline data
• Include a long-term strategy to sustain policies,
programs, and practices
• Adjust plans as the result of ongoing needs assessment
and monitoring
Planning Involves:
• Developing a comprehensive, logical, and datadriven plan to address:
– The problem (s) and related casual factors
– Gaps in resources and capacity
– Further identification of causal factors
– The selection of complimentary strategies that
will impact the casual factors and the problem
• Creating a logic model
Issues to consider when
crafting your strategic planIs the plan truly comprehensive?
Have you looked at all the appropriate data?
Were all the appropriate people involved in the process?
Is it built upon a theory of change? (i.e. comprised of elements and
activities related to the theory of change?)
Have you considered all the angles?
Does the plan, as written, make sense to someone who had no input?
Vision Statement
A vision statement is a statement of what a
community is trying to become; the desired end
state or the ultimate goal.
It answers the question “why do it.”
It should read in the present tense.
If you were to accomplish what you
want, what would it look like.
Writing a Problem statement
• Involves 1-2 sentences
• Describes a situation where they could not
find adequate information on a topic
• Sees this area as a problem which needs
further investigation
• Proposes a way to collect data on that topic
• To gain scientific evidence that can be
added to current knowledge on that topic.
Writing a Problem Statement
• Poses a question which relates directly to background
research
• Clearly states what will be investigated
• Has a measurable way to collect data
• Clearly states what will be measured and how it will be
measured
• Identifies independent and dependent variables
• Identifies sample group
• Uses correct grammar and punctuation
Questions/ Comments