Community Coalitions

Title:  Creating Community Coalitions for Friends, Trustees and Staff

This program was about how to build, and maintain, coalitions made up of community organizations to further the agendas of your own organization.

Things I learned:

• Create a unified slogan and website with advocacy tools
• One of the problems that libraries face is that they’re not at the table when decisions are made.  There is frequently an uneven distribution of power and influence at the table when budget considerations are made.
•  Decision makers don't realize that the library is a de facto social services provider.
• The key to a successful community coalition is to align your interests, and make yourself relevant, to what other people are doing.  Make them fight for you while they're fighting for them.
• Example:  The #1 transportation priority in the county was the intersection at Robinwood Drive.  In order to get money for it, they pointed out that:
• Main intersection to HCC, so it's an education issue
• Main intersection to HCC's Business Incubator, so it's a business issue
• Main intersection to the hospital, so it's a health issue
• Once a year, you should get everyone together and ask, "What does our community need?"  Throw all the ideas up on a white board and then whittle them down to 3 or 4 items.  Hire a lobbyist in Annapolis and point out to the legislators that everyone in the coalition is singing the same song.
• Make sure that success is measurable - not "improve literacy" but "build a new library building."
• When you ask for money, you get advice.  When you ask for advice, you get money.
• If you're at the table with the coalition, you are perceived as being part of the community instead of being perceived as unimportant and all on your own.

How I can use what I learned in my role at the library:  This will help when I ask my homeschool group to help with library advocacy - particularly at funding time.

Marsha Fuller