The coalition leader of the Sheboygan Drug-Free Coalition has asked you to attend their upcoming monthly meeting. Mrs Stewart learned about the Guard and you mission at the CADCA national forum she attended in February.
What are some questions you might ask her to ensure mission success?
-What is the goal of the Coalition (Problem)
-What is the coalitions history
-What is the capacity of the coalition
-Do you currently have any planning products
-How do you see my role in the coalition
-Is the coalition registered with the state or CADCA
-What are funding implications (funding ending soon?)
Following your call with Mrs Stewart you discover your program has never supported the Sheboygan Drug-Free Coalition before what are the four things that must be completed prior to setting up a mission?
-Request letter on agency letterhead
-OPORDER/Event detail
-Risk Assessment
-Coalition Action plan, logic model, or Strategic Plan
After briefing your Operations NCOIC you discover that your program has already received a fiscal year request letter from Department of Mental health and State National Prevention Network representative requesting that your program support all statewide community anti-drug coalitions.
Do you still need a request letter from Sheboygan Drug-Free Coalition?
For mission and FTSMCS purposes who is the lead agency for this mission?
What information will you need to setup this mission?
-Start and end date of the mission
-Address of the coalition within the area they serve
-Population of the residents receiving services from the coalition
-Drug priorities
-Is the coalition a DFC, SPF/SIG, CTC or a CADCA registered coalition
-Mission purpose
-County and congressional district
You have received all required documents, your CDC has approved the mission and it is now loaded into FTSMCS. You then pick-up the phone and call Mrs Stewart to let her know you will support her coalition and attend the upcoming meeting. While on the phone Mrs Stewart asks you to join the coalition executive, how should you respond? What are some of the pros/cons with your decision?
-Joining executive could viewed as a threat to other members and hamper a helping relationship
-Joining executive team could impact your mission of being a natural convener
-Joining executive could make the coalition more reliant on you (unpaid staff member)
Prior to attending the meeting you discovered that the coalitions SPF/SIG grant funding ended two years ago. The current members have been primarily focused on supporting two major events they host yearly one is a prescription take-back event and the other is a drunk driving reenactment at the local high school during Red Ribbon week. They do have planning products but they were developed six years ago for the underage SPF/SIG grant. They receive 2000 dollars in state grant money to support these two events. The coalition consists of two community members who have joined the coalition because their kids attend the local public school, one Regional Support Center (RSC/PRC) state contracted service provider, Jim Bell a current school board member running for a state representative, Mr Smith who is the youth group coordinator for Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow, and Mrs Stewart who is currently assigned as the assistant principal of the local High School. Historically the Coalition had over 20 active members, but attendance has slowly decreased to the six previously described. Identify additional research/data needed before you attend?
-Community Geography
-Census data (population, economic, cultural aspects, business)
-Media or recent events
-Schools
-Faith
-Who is on the executiveboard?
-Political implications (School representation, state rep, RSC, hidden agendas)
You arrive 30 minutes early to the coalition meeting at the local middle school. As the coalition members start to arrive at the meeting you great as many members as possible, introduce yourself and your role as a Civil Operator in the community. What questions might you ask each of these individuals to build a strong helping relationship while gathering more data on the coalition?
-How long have you been working with the coalition
-What do you think are the most important aspects of the coalitions mission
-What keeps you so involved with the coalition
Mrs Stewart finally calls the meeting order as soon Mr Bell arrives at the meeting, ten minutes after the agreed to starting time of the meeting. The group immediately begins to discuss the upcoming Drug Driving crash reenactment activity that is scheduled three months from now. During the discussion you notice the non-verbal communication one of the parents (soccer mom). After a few minutes of what you perceive to be a level of frustration in her behavior she blurts out “Are these events even effective, we have had four Drug Driving car crashes in the past month involving our seniors?” In addition, my daughter keeps telling me that there are kids smoking pot every day after school at the local park. How is this car crash event impacting this event? A few members give a nervous response, “We have done this event for the past six years and the students always have fun doing it.” Mrs Stewartasks you if these types of events are effective, how you should respond.
-The guard member MUST first deliver an empathetic response
-“I see that this event and its impact is very important to the community and you are asking the same questions that all coalitions ask at some point”
-What does your evaluation data tell you?
-Does this activity fit in with your Logic Model or Strategic plan?
Before your questions even conclude, Mr. Bell says “Did you all see the news last night, apparently we have some local merchants selling K2 to local kids…we need to involve voters to make this illegal.” At this point, more members begin to look to your for answers, how do you respond?
-What does the data tell us in our community assessment
-Has the coalition identified any indicators of these problems in your community
A few of the members look at you and ask “What is a community assessment, logic model, strategic plan? At the point the local RSC representative chimes in and say “We have all these items and I was personally involved in developing this seven years ago”. How do you respond?
-Great, maybe we should relook at these, it’s not uncommon for coalitions to take this approach
Following your answers, the coalition’s members ask you to tell them more about the Strategic Prevention Framework. You quickly respond that that will take more time than we have available today. Mrs Stewart says “it’s settled, we would like you training us on the importance of community assessments at our next meeting.” The group all responds favorably to the decision except for the RSC who looks like she just bit into a lemon. Following the meeting what should you do?
-Get everyone’s contact information in the coalition
-Inform Mrs Stewart that you need assistance with this project
-Ask the RSC member to help you in the training
Knowing the new Civil Operations policy of entering mission’s events into FTSMCS within fifteen days of completion what steps and information will you need to complete?
-Select the correct activity and function for this mission
-Enter in the correct mission location & personnel data
-Enter in specifics of the mission in the notes section of the mission event
Now that you are tasked with providing training for the coalition on the importance of community assessment you have about a month to prepare. Based on your skill level as an individual, what do you do to provide that training for the coalition? Please answer on a sheet of paper as an individual. In 5 minutes we will discuss as a small group.
-Assess my ability to provide the actual training (am I qualified?)
-Access Tools and Resources
-CTB
-Coalitionswork
-CADCA’s Community Assessment handbook
-FTSMCS Library
-Contact a SME for
-Recommendations for presentations
-Reviewing presentations, recommending resources
-Providing presentation
- Provide coalition members read-a-head materials
- Work with other TA providers to build a positive working relationship
In your small groups, discuss your answers.
Ask the students in the room:
Someone with less than a year of experience as a CO please brief us on your answers
Did your answers differ from others?
Someone with more than 2 years of experience as a CO please brief us on your answers
How did your answers differ from others in your group?
Point out any essential information that may not have been covered in the large group discussion, most importantly, that you need to understand your own skill level and as a result, go to the right resources to provide the best product for the coalition.
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