Abstract

1. What do community coalitions need to be effective policy, systems, and environmental change agents? Holly Pope PhD, MSPH, Sonya Jones, PhD, Casey Childers, MA University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health Abstract Results Discussion • Survey respondents • Seventy-four were from 28 SC counties and represented 39 community coalitions and a wide variety of roles in community coalitions. • Most coalitions had a mission related to healthy eating and indicated they had been working on PSE changes for two or less years or have never engaged in PSE change. • Themes • The most important things coalitions should be doing to support healthy eating includes: increasing awareness; advocacy work; and building capacity within their organization, and many reported that getting organizational and community buy-in is a challenge. • Policy advocacy • Most respondents had policy advocacy support from community leaders on a local level. • Media advocacy • More than 40% of respondents indicated no experience in media advocacy strategies, such as holding a press conference; using a paid advertisement campaign; writing a letter to the editor; and writing an opinion editorial. Many respondents indicated a desire to learn more about holding media events and using a paid advertisement campaign. • Community organizing strategies • Respondents expressed a strong desire to learn more about using social media and email to organize campaigns and raise money to support their cause. • Evaluation • Most respondents wanted more evaluation skills in the areas of assessing if a campaign reached decision makers and to assess if their efforts resulted in changes in the community’s health. • Needs assessments • There was interest in learning more about implementing needs assessments strategies; identifying the coalitions’ allies; assessing how community members might respond to an issue campaign; and how the media frames and portrays the coalition’s issues. • Capacity to lead • Few respondents indicated that they strongly agreed that their coalition could perform data analysis; handle conflict well; systematically recruit people to participate in activities; and felt their group was widely known within their community. Background Determinants of health include policies, systems, and environments (PSE) that are designed to influence health behaviors. This presentation will describe the quantitative and qualitative results of a survey completed by 75 individuals from 39 community coalitions in South Carolina involved in PSE changes for healthy eating, active living, and tobacco-free living. Community coalitions' capacity levels and desired areas to increase capacity will be discussed related to policy advocacy, media advocacy strategies, community organizing, evaluation, needs assessments, and leadership. Methods:Surveys were administered online and completed by individuals (n=74) from 39 SC community coalitions involved in the planning and/or implementing PSE strategies for healthy eating, active living, and tobacco- free living. Descriptive statistics were used to explain facets of community coalitions’ organizational capacity levels. Desired areas to increase organizational capacity were also described. Results: Results highlighted that the majority of respondents had policy advocacy support on the local level. More than 40% of respondents indicated no experience in media advocacy strategies and experienced a desire for training opportunities. In areas of community organizing, evaluation, coalition building, and needs assessment, respondents had varied levels of experience and desired more training to increase organizational capacity in these areas. A small proportion of respondents strongly agreed with their organization’s ability to lead in specified areas, which may also be addressed in capacity trainings. Specifically, a majority of community coalitions reported capacity building needs in developing funds outside of grants (76.9%), collecting data to prove a need exists (57.7%), and in aspects of community organizing, including social media advocacy (68.6%), emailing campaigns (56.9%), and legislative visits (43.1%). Survey results were used to design capacity building institutes. PSE change requires different skills and approaches than traditional public health programming, and systematic capacity building efforts are needed to prepare the new public health workforce. This presentation is likely to provide insights into designing and implementing capacity building trainings and can serve as a model for other communities interested in engaging in PSE changes Community coalition members attending a capacity building training to improve local food systems. Figure 2. Local coalitions that participated in survey by SC counties Table 1. Survey respondents’ characteristics % of respondents % of respondents Figure 1. Facets of organizational capacity assessed by survey Conclusion Survey results indicate that many community coalitions in SC are interested in engaging in PSE changes. Insights from the survey are helpful to designing and implementing capacity building trainings in areas that will be relevant to the community coalitions’ needs and can serve as a model for other communities interested. Building the capacity of coalition leaders to effectively engage community decision makers, increase the base of support, and advocate for PSE changes will increase the effectiveness of coalitions. The COPASCities project is supported by the USDA, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Contact information: Holly Pope, hpope@sc.edu