December 1, 2004
National Coalition Institute's Research into Action
Environmental Strategies Make Sense for Coalitions

Recent research suggests that coalitions are most successful at preventing substance abuse when they engage in environmental strategies to change community-wide norms and policies. Environmental strategies help shift the substance use culture of a community toward healthier norms and expectations.

Environmental strategies can affect community norms and attitudes

A case study published in the 2003 Journal of Community Psychology details the policy efforts of the Fighting Back Coalition in South Carolina. The study illustrates various roles a coalition can play to affect environmental and policy change. The Fighting Back Coalition generated ideas, strategies, and new language for specific policies and programs, such as no-use policies at county recreational facilities and a multi-strategy early intervention program for the local university.

The Fighting Back Coalition also became the facilitator of important policy efforts.

  

When parents lost their young teenager in an alcohol-related boating accident, they went to the coalition for help. The coalition was able to facilitate a community process to enact a Safe in the Lake campaign. The campaign resulted in boating under-the-influence legislation. Because the coalition was considered a neutral, community-led organization, it had the trust and buy-in of the community and could engage in significant environmental and policy level change.

A preliminary evaluation suggests these efforts had a positive impact on the community. After Safe on the Lake was implemented, alcohol-related boating accidents decreased by 30 percent, and repeat offender rates at the local university decreased. While additional research is needed, coalition prevention using environmental and policy change has great potential for success.

See: Snell-Johns, J., Imm, P., Wandersman, A., & Claypoole, J. (2003). Roles assumed by a community coalition when creating environmental and policy-level changes. Journal of Community Psychology, 31(6).
What Coalitions Can Do

Create a Policy Development Committee to develop environmental strategies.
The subcommittee or taskforce is responsible for developing and facilitating environmental changes within your community. Representatives on this committee may include law enforcement, schools, universities, criminal justice, county agencies, city agencies, nonprofit organizations and grassroots organizations.

Ensure representation from multiple sectors within your community.
Make sure that you have key sectors involved so the community is mobilized and ready for action. With full stakeholder involvement, you can quickly convene all key players needed to implement a policy change in a timely manner.

The Policy Development Committee should collaborate with the public awareness arm of your coalition.
The collaboration between these two groups can further environmental change efforts because of increased community awareness of policy change efforts.

Stay up-to-date on evidence-based prevention practices.
This allows your coalition to help implement effective policy changes.  For example, if the community and local university raise concerns about high-risk drinking by campus youth, your coalition can advocate for an evidence-based environmental strategy. A resource for evidence-based programs and practices is http://modelprograms.samhsa.gov.
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Research into Action may be copied without permission citing CADCA's National Coalition Institute as the source.
CADCA's National Coalition Institute is federally-funded through a grant from the Office of National Drug Control Policy that is administered by SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. The Institute's mission is to increase the effectiveness of community anti-drug coalitions throughout the nation.