Background
Methods
Description of the CHCC Program and Evaluation
Case Selection
Community | Total Population to nearest 100 | Population Density (persons per square mile) | Community Descriptor | Coalition Size in Planning Year |
---|---|---|---|---|
Rural Communities | ||||
A | 1,300 | 3.6 | Rural region in Northern California | 13 |
B | 1,600 | 5.7 | Rural region in Northern California | 7 |
C | 5,700 | 4,042 | Rural municipality in the Central Coast region | 15 |
D | 19,400 | 4,522 | Rural municipality in the Central Valley | 15 |
Urban Communities
| ||||
E | 50,200 | 6,440 | Urban neighborhood in Southern California | 10 |
F | 55,00 | 2,370 | Urban municipality in Southern California | 33 |
G | 68,000 | 12,141 | Urban neighborhood in Southern California | 42 |
H | 130,000 | 3,983 | Urban municipality in Northern California | 16 |
Data Collection Methods
Data Analysis
Domains | Explanation of domain | Example quote |
---|---|---|
History of collaboration | Prior experience of coalition members in working together and with others in the community. Includes both organizational collaboration and interpersonal networks and relationships. | "It's usually the same agencies, and that primarily is because, well one, they're the ones willing to play together, and two, they're the agencies in the community that have administrations that's willing, able to sit at a table and put together a proposal or something."
- Local coordinator
|
Community politics and history | Formal and informal divisions, factions and groups within the community, and how these groups interact--or do not interact--with one another. History refers to community-wide shared events that occurred before the coalition began, particularly large events that shaped or influenced the community. | This used to be a stage road, and the stages used to get robbed, and ever since then, we've had a bad reputation. [...] Everybody around here who, needed to look down on someone, whoever those folks were, this was the place they talked about and it probably got a worse reputation than it deserved.
-Focus group of coalition members
|
Community norms and values | Social norms, beliefs, and values prevalent in the community. | "One of the norms is sort of the ferocious independence. It's not very easily breached....If I was going to kind of put one overarching goal on everything that we've done funded by whoever, it's that we're trying to create a community that has the attitude and awareness that we're all responsible for all of our children, and we're going to do as good a job as we can, so those norms and community values have been very challenging, and are being slow to change but are and will."
-Local coordinator
|
Community demographics and economic conditions | The educational, racial/ethnic, and socio-economic makeup of the community. Also includes factors related to the local economy, such as employment opportunities and business presence within the community. | "I think that the economy seems to have a lot to do with the problems that we have. The people that we're working with are, to a large extent, they're economically depressed."
- Local coordinator
|
Geography | Conditions that result from the community's geography, particularly differences observed between urban and rural communities. Also includes issues related to how the CHCC community is situated within a larger county or metropolitan area. | "I think one of the weaknesses here of living in this particular town is, that we, geographically speaking, we're like a forgotten town, because anything that comes our way never gets here. Because we're at the end of --- County and --- County, everything just travels in that direction and the other direction, not in between. And I have seen that, I have seen that whenever we get something started, it's really a struggle to keep it, and to get it. They don't really know we're here."
- Coalition leader
|
Results
Lead Agency Selection
Coalition Factor and Related Themes | History of Collaboration | Community Politics and History | Community Norms and Values | Community Demographics and Economic Conditions | Geography |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lead Agency | |||||
Organizations that served as the lead agency in similar projects in the past tend to remain as lead agencies for new projects. |
X
| ||||
Leadership and Staffing
| |||||
Individuals who have served as staff and/or leaders in similar past projects tend to remain in those positions in new initiatives. |
X
| ||||
Community diversity can affect who is selected as staff when needed skill sets include cultural competence and language abilities. |
X
| ||||
Rural areas with small populations may have a limited pool of people with the skills needed to effectively staff a collaborative initiative. |
X
| ||||
The lack of agency professionals in rural areas can necessitate greater volunteer involvement in coalition staff and leadership roles. |
X
|
Leadership and Staffing
Coalition Membership
Coalition Factor and Related Themes | History of Collaboration | Community Politics and History | Community Norms and Values | Community Demographics and Economic Conditions | Geography |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coalition Membership | |||||
The core group for a new coalition-based project is shaped by past and current network linkages in the community. |
X
| ||||
Composition of the core group can be influential in shaping coalition membership through members' connections and reputation in the community. |
X
| ||||
Divisions based on community politics and history can limit who joins community coalitions. |
X
| ||||
Tragic events can motivate participation in coalitions and collaborative efforts. |
X
| ||||
Shared values motivate organizations and individuals to join a coalition. |
X
| ||||
Values of independence, rugged individualism and privacy can limit community members' willingness to join a coalition. |
X
| ||||
Economic conditions that necessitate multiple jobs for certain population groups within the community limit participation from those groups. |
X
| ||||
Coalitions serving diverse communities with multiple cultures, languages and SES levels can struggle to achieve broad representation. |
X
| ||||
Recruitment from diverse community sectors may not be possible in rural communities in which certain sectors do not exist. |
X
| ||||
Geographic areas with limited opportunities for youth may experience fewer barriers to engaging youth in governance groups. |
X
| ||||
Geographic barriers can limit coalition membership. |
X
|
Coalition Processes and Structures
Coalition Factor and Related Themes | History of Collaboration | Community Politics and History | Community Norms and Values | Community Demographics and Economy Conditions | Geography |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coalition Processes | |||||
When coalitions are comprised largely of organizations that have worked together in the past, coalition processes can be shaped by the way prior work was done. |
X
| ||||
Coalitions in resource-poor communities can experience difficulties carrying out simple operations. |
X
| ||||
Coalition Structure
| |||||
When coalitions evolve from existing collaborative groups, they can inherit those structures, both formal and informal. |
X
|