Sustainability: Don’t Leave Your Change to Chance

Course Description:

If you have heard the word “sustainability” a thousand times but still are not sure exactly how to plan for it, then this training is for you! This course will provide an overview of sustainability fundamentals and go beyond the basics to teach you how to create a realistic sustainability plan for your coalition. Examples of sustainability plans will be provided, and networking opportunities will enable coalitions to learn from each other.

Learning Objectives:

·  Participants will understand the differences between planning to sustain individual interventions and planning to sustain an overall coalition or community partnership.

·  Participants will know how and when to use a six step planning process to sustain individual interventions.

·  Participants will know how and when to use a six step planning process to sustain an overall coalition or community partnership.

·  Participants will know the characteristics of effective sustainability plans and will be able to use these characteristics to critique and improve their own organization or coalition sustainability plan.

·  Participants will gain new sustainability ideas from their peers, CADCA trainers, and State and Federal representatives.

Trainer Biographical Sketches:

Rhonda RamseyMolina

Ms. Molina currently serves as part-time director of the SAGA Coalition, a Drug Free Communities grantee on the east side of Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition to her work as coalition leader, Rhonda serves as consultant to community coalitions across the country.Rhonda is a recognized national expert in coalition development and management with sixteen experience years in substance abuse prevention and community organization.

Between 1999 and 2006,Rhonda served as President and CEO of the Coalition for a Drug Free Greater Cincinnati. Under her leadership the Coalition was recognized as CADCA's outstanding Coalition f the Year and received the Entrepreneurial Award from the Partnership for a Drug Free America.

Rhonda has been awarded the “Award of Excellence in Community Organization” presented by the Alcohol & Drug Addiction Prevention Association of Ohio and the Indiana University Campus Life “Community Leadership Award”. She has received commendation by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation for her work with developing drug free workplace programs and was recognized by the Monroe County Indiana Commissioners for leadership in building a county wide drug prevention strategy.

Ms. Molina has served as advisor to the Presidents Commission for Drug Free Communities, the Office of National Drug Control Policy Anti-Drug Media Campaign, Partnership For A Drug Free America and was a member of the CADCA Coalition Advisory Council.

Sharon O’Hara

Ms. O’Hara is the Director of the Center for Community Action and Training (CCAT), a project of Community Action Resource Exchange, Inc. In this capacity she coordinates technical assistance and training for communities throughout California through a variety of funding sources, including a subcontract from the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs. Sharon is also a trainer for the Coalition Institute of Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), providing training and technical assistance across the United States to coalitions seeking to reduce alcohol and drug-related problems in their communities.

Sharon was previously the Associate Director of Community Support for the Marin Institute (TMI). She led TMI’s training and technical assistance efforts to support communities and grass roots groups in developing strategies to reduce alcohol-related community problems. She has worked extensively as a community organizer and was the founding executive director of Community Action Resource Exchange of Ventura County (CARE-VC), a community based organization specializing in environmental and policy approaches to alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention. CARE-VC currently coordinates a Weed and Seed project in Oxnard, CA, which incorporates neighborhood revitalization and resident leadership strategies as core elements. In 20 years in the alcohol and drug field, she has conducted training and technical assistance on a wide variety of topics, including: strategic planning, media advocacy, prevention and the legislative process, environmental prevention, and alcohol policy. She authored a prevention strategic plan for the Ventura County Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, which promoted community-based problem solving through; needs assessment, coalition building, public policy strategies, and support for neighborhood prevention efforts.

Sharon currently serves as the President of the Board of Directors of the California Prevention Collaborative (CPC), a statewide organization that organizes the California Prevention Training Summit and Annual Meeting of the Prevention Field, and provides recommendations from the field to the CA Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.