United Way of Northwest Michigan

United Way of Northwest Michigan

Report on Community Outreach for a 5-County

SUBSTANCE FREE INITIATIVE OF NW MICHIGAN

INTRODUCTION

United Way of Northwest Michigan (United Way NWMI) has been in an ongoing strategic planning process designed to transition our work to make the greatest impact in our region.After researchingindicators in the areas of education, basic needs and health, United Way NWMI created investment strategies that would be rigorous, relevant, and worthy of our community’s generosity and trust.We use the resources we have to invest volunteers, funds, time, and advocacy to influence the condition of all with our focus on the three areas outline below.

Education:After deliberate review of the most pressing needs in our region, a decision to focus onHigh School graduation and a successful post-secondary launchwas established in the education category.United Way recognizes that a strong community is an educated community.Education is one the most important factors in the path out of poverty.We carefully reviewed statistics in the region it was evident that we could do better by working together to help students across our region graduate on time, prepared for the next steps.

Basic Needs: Keeping families safe and stable is a critical and traditional role for United Way for over 5 decades. By consistently supporting basic needs for food, shelter and utilities, we are investing in our vulnerable and fragile populations. Our region cares, our donors care, our volunteers care. United Way is there along the way to connect our community to the resources it needs to thrive and focus on what’s really important: keeping families safe and warm.

Health: Data indicates two areas of critical need in this category. One area, childhood obesity,has been consistently recognized as a need across our region, state and nation.United Way promotes healthy lifestyles so neighbors can be the best they can be.Efforts to keep young people active, playing at least 60 minutes every day, and providing access to healthy, nutritious food choices is paramount to childhood health. The second area,substance abuse,was a bit of a revelation to our band of researchers.As they considered health indicators in the region, it was certainly substance abuse that was seeing a disturbing, upward trend. This issue is affecting individuals, families, schools, businesses, and our community safety. Across our region, substance abuse is ravaging families in every neighborhood. The more United Way’s research team discussed the issue, the more they realized that it was a bigger concern than the media or their neighbors may have suggested. Statistics were startling, United Way was pleased to convene and participate in community based discussion and fact finding to build a strong foundation to change the disturbing trend of substance abuse in the region.

Early in 2016, United Way of Northwest Michigan responded to community requests to provide facilitation and coordination of a regional coalition/collaboration dealing with the issues of substance abuse covering Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Leelanau counties. Through a coalition of organizations and service providers that have unique roles in bringing resources and developing solutions from a variety of perspectives, the thought was that our community can attack this complex issue from every direction; thus weakening its strength and negative impact on human lives.

Currently there are local county level substance abuse coalitions in all five counties. However, all are at different levels of community involvement. Some are geared specifically to prevention or youth programming. Some are shared with counties outside of this five county region: Antrim is combined with Charlevoix and Emmet counties while Benzie is combined with Manistee. The intention of this project was not to eliminate or replace these county level groups, or any other groups that are currently working on substance abuse issues; it was to identify ways that these local groups could be strengthened and enhanced and connected regionally.

The most important role for any coalition/collaborative is to make sure that the people, agencies, and organizations that can positively impact its work are both brought to and kept at the table. Who is invited and how that happens is critical. We need to make sure everyone feels they are an important part of the coalition’s success. The next critical piece in keeping them involved is to have clear guidelines for what the coalition provides and how they can play an impactful role in ending substance abuse within our region.

We recognize that it would be impossible to solve, or even significantly impact, all of the issues involved with substance abuse without understanding the complexity of the problem. To that end, incorporating a Collective Impact approach is ideal. At its core the idea behind Collective Impact is that the problem is so complex that no one service area or resource segment or even geographic region can solve the problem without working directly and collaboratively at some level with other related services, segments, and geographic regions. There are 5 key pieces that need to come together to truly make a collective, positive impact on the complex issue of substance abuse:

·  Common agenda

·  Shared Measurement

·  Mutually Reinforcing Activities

·  Continuous Communications

·  Backbone Organization

Before we can address these Collective Impact pieces, we need to understand the make-up of a meaningful coalition/collaborative. How do we know who to invite and how to keep them involved? Actively listening to those involved with working on substance abuse related issues is the best strategy for initially understanding and moving forward. Most important is providing safe spaces for them to say what they need to say. We needed to go to them, not expect them to come to us. There are a variety of agencies, governmental entities, community groups, individuals, and existing collaborative groups that are working on the issue right now. We needed to ask them what they would want from a Substance Abuse Coalition. Allowing for informal discussion and allowing them to give their comments and ideas to someone not connected with an existing substance abuse service organization, was considered extremely important in providing a safe space to be heard and understood.

This proposal project provided an opportunity for United Way leadership to both hear and learn from the community and to build trust by addressing their viewpoints and needs before forming any kind Substance Abuse Coalition. They understood that if used as a tool for understanding and the building of trust, these discussions would change the culture of communication between the United Way and those within our community who have the ability to enact change and build support for a meaningful 5 county substance abuse coalition/collaborative.

PROCESS

“One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.”

Bryant H. McGill

The primary intent of this project was to:

1. Determine the local community interest in a 5-county regional substance abuse coalition/collaborative
2. Identify key sectors required to make a collective impact
3. Determine a working design for a 5-county regional substance abuse coalition/collaborative

A focus was placed on insuring a safe space to gather the needed information, attitudes, and ideas. A combination of private, small group, and large group discussions was used to flesh out obstacles that might stand in the way of having a successful working design. At the onset of each discussion, it was made clear to all participants that this project would be considered a success whether or not they supported the idea of a 5-county coalition/collaborative. They understood that United Way was there only to gauge their interest, not to force an idea that participants did not think would work in addressing substance abuse. The process was not designed to provide information, but to receive it from the participants. We did not begin with a preconceived idea of how it would end. We understood that this first step may be the last, and that was OK. If any collaboration is going to work, it must start with listening to what participants want and following up on what they have said.

Since our intent was to cover a 5-county area in a fairly short period of time, care was taken to reach out to as many of the most identified sectors as possible. Individuals in leadership positions were identified and invited to participate. There were a few that did not respond; many more welcomed the opportunity to share. That being said, the individual participants came from a wide variety of sectors and geographic areas. Beyond individual talks and discussions with multiple people from the same agency, care was taken to reach out to all 5 of the Human Services Collaborative Bodies and existing local substance abuse coalitions. We also reached out to existing groups working with populations that are significantly impacted by substance abuse issues, such as the Homelessness Continuum of Care and the Suicide Prevention Coalition.

A list of discussion questions was developed that sought to lead the participants through a logical progression of thought. Discussion began with these two simple questions:

·  When I say “Regional Substance Abuse Coalition” what first comes to mind?

·  What do you see as the top 3-5 local issues or concerns in the area of controlled substance misuse and abuse?

These questions were meant to assess the attitude of the participants; did it make sense to move forward with a 5-county coalition/collaboration? Do they believe that substance abuse is an issue that needs to be addressed in their community?

The next section began with a short description of the Collective Impact approach that United Way planned to take if the community wanted a 5-county coalition/collaboration to move forward. Participants were then asked:

·  When we talk about Collective Impact, what are some of the sectors and services that would need to be included in a SA Coalition in order to attack the problem from all directions?

This questioning was meant to give the participants an opportunity to think through the complexity of the problem and to illustrate the need for some kind of collaborative effort if significant impact is to be attained. Once they thought about WHO needed to be at the table, these following questions asked about WHAT their role and responsibilities would be as members:

·  How would you envision the membership of a regional Substance Abuse Coalition?In other words:

o  Who has the expertise to help inform and who needs to be part of the solution?

o  Talk about how you see the value of this membership mix.

·  Describe your idea of the role of a coalition member.

As the discussions moved forward, the focus moved to the WHY or the value of membership in a regional coalition/collaboration:

·  Where and how would you see a SA Coalition bringing value to and benefitting the work of you/your agency/your “group” in attacking regional SA issues?

·  Where and how do you see yourself/your agency/your “group” bringing value to a regional coalition to attack regional SA issues?

These questions were designed to drill down beyond the role and responsibilities of identified sector membership, and more about the value that would be found through a 5-county coalition/collaboration. Even more specifically, they were designed to ascertain how each member, both organizationally and personally, can provide value to others. It was expected that this would be some of the most valuable information when developing the working design.

Finally, we moved on to questions about potential structures, with the first question being:

·  Do you think that a well-structured regional SA Coalition/Collaborative/Task Force is key to making a significant positive local impact to those who most need our help?

This question was a recheck of the attitude presented in the first question. We wanted to know if any negative concerns were alleviated through this discussion process.

The last few questions were specifically about structure. A variety of structures that are currently working in our community and others were presented as examples. Participants were asked to talk about structures that they felt had a positive impact on their work in other contexts. Most of the discussions that got to this point fell more along the lines of brainstorming sessions and less formally addressed the questions than those earlier in the process.

Notes were taken during all of the discussions and those notes were then put together and analyzed to develop the working design for the Regional Substance Free Initiative. The intent was to look at commonalities; what are the areas of agreement that will allow us to move forward quickly with impactful actions and to create a sustainable framework for that continued interaction.

RESULTS

Primary Intent #1: Determine the local community interest in a 5-county regional substance abuse coalition/collaborative

There is no question that there is concern about any kind of coordinated effort being successful. Some participants felt that 5 counties was too big and others felt it was too small, but even with those conflicting viewpoints it became clear that the community is ready to take the chance of moving forward. There was clear consensus that we should create a collaborative effort only if it means taking action. Participants were hesitant in expressing full confidence in the ultimate benefits of using a Collective Impact approach. However, all agreed that it would be better to try it rather than continuing to do things in a disjointed manner.

In looking for commonalities of interest and the WHY from participants, there was consensus on a clear desire for a coordinated effort to provide education, resources, and convening.

Education:

·  Opportunities to learn about substance related issues

·  Opportunities to learn about how issues impact local communities

·  Opportunities to learn different sector perspectives on issues

·  Opportunities to provide own sector perspectives on issues

Resources:

·  Current prevention and treatment system map

·  Gap analysis

·  Project funding opportunities

·  Information sharing/updates/calendars

Convening:

·  Hold annual or semi-annual topic based summits

·  Support/strengthen local coalitions

·  Hold meetings of individual sector groups with representation from all 5 counties