The Gateway ImpACT Coalition is a community coalition coordinating and empowering Clinton community area’s effort to keep our communities healthy, safe, and drug free. In those circumstances, putting together a coalition of groups and individuals can be an effective strategy for bringing the community's resources to bear, and getting everyone moving in the same direction
Community coalitions are
groups of individuals and/or organizations with a common interest who agree to work together toward a common goal. That goal could be as narrow as obtaining funding for a specific intervention, or as broad as trying to improve permanently the overall quality of life for most people in the community. The Gateway ImpACT Coalition is mobilizing at the local level to make our communities safer, healthier and drug-free.
• A coalition is not a program, although staff and partners often carry out programs as their “piece” of the community-wide strategic plan.
• Coalitions seek to insure that all causes of identified problems are addressed. Systems level solutions (integration, coordination, policy and practice changes)
• Action in coalitions is diffused and taken by all members
• Coalition staff plays a coordinating and supportive role
• Members (Sector Representatives) act within their own spheres of influence enlarging the coalition’s ability to create change and implement multiple strategies
• New members are invited to join in an effort to increase the coalition's sphere of influence and gain needed capacity
• Coalition staff assists with support for planning, problem solving and information management (evaluation, reporting, etc.) Everything that happens in coalition work occurs because people and organizations lend their time, energy, skills, resources and expertise to these collective activities. The coalition represents a nexus of different organizations that are organized around substance abuse issues. The Gateway ImpACT Coalition responds to community conditions by developing and implementing multi-faceted plans to lead to measurable, population level change in regards to substance abuse issues. While the staff of the coalition does provide some direct service/activities/programs, the goal is for the Gateway ImpACT Coalition to provide support internally to coalitions, including coalition management, support, fundraising, grant management, and evaluation, and work with partner organizations to implement coalition activities. By creating a strategic plan, we are able to determine a clear delineation of responsibilities between staff and coalition members, and to ensure there is not duplication of services.
