UAGC Coalition Group of People & Organizations Discussion

PART 1 :

Although individuals and organizations can advocate on their own, coalitions are particularly effective for public health advocacy. A coalition can include healthcare organizations, public and private sector agencies, for-profit companies, non-profit organizations, grassroots groups, academics, researchers, faith-based organizations, health departments, and health and social justice organizations. A coalition may have several different types of goals/missions, but overall, each aims to come together to agree on a solution to a specific problem that affects their constituents or members and overall improve aspects that affect health outcomes.

For instance, the San Diego Tobacco Control Coalition mission is to improve and protect the health of San Diegans by promoting smoke/tobacco-free lifestyles and environments. This coalition will pursue support of policies that align with improving tobacco-free lifestyles, environments and lastly those that make the default choice the healthier choice.

This discussion activity will focus on coalitions. Students will be asked to read and identify aspects of the advocacy process that coalitions participate in. Next, students will select a coalition from a prescribed list to research, identify, and describe in order to better understand function and structure.

Step 1: Review Chapter 17 of your textbook: “Advocacy”, pps. 335-346 and the corresponding chapter PowerPoint. The following sections will clarify key components of what coalitions are and how they address advocacy issues:

1. Who Can Advocate?
2. Form a Coalition and Table 17.2
3. Begin “Ground Softening”
4. Determine Who Has the Power to Make the Change Sought
5. Understand the Opposition and box 17.3
6. Outline a Set of Possible Solutions

Step 2: Using the textbook, write 1-2 paragraphs describing coalitions in general:

1. What is a coalition and what members can it include/be made up of?
2. Why is including a variety of members in a coalition important?
3. What is ground-softening and why is it needed?

Step 3: Research one of the coalitions identified in the links below:

Contra Costa Tobacco Prevention Coalition Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Imperial County

Nevada Tobacco Control Prevention Coalition National Low Income Housing Coalition

Healthy Out of School Time Coalition Big Cities Health Coalition

St. Mary’s County Community Alcohol CoalitionPhys Ed 4 All

Southern AIDS CoalitionLee County Injury Prevention Coalition

California Coalition Against Sexual Assault End Violence Against Women UK Coalition

Step 4: Looking at the coalition you selected from the link above summarize key aspects of the coalition you selected (2-3 paragraphs):

1. What is the mission of the coalition?
2. What are the goals of the coalition?
3. List 4-5 members of the coalition
4. Brief description (1-2 sentences) of the public health problem the coalition is focusing on
5. Review the coalition web page and tell your colleagues about what entities (organizations, policymakers, government, industry, individuals) could be considered “the opposition”? This may/may not be apparent on the web page, if not, be creative an think about what is feasible.
6. Identify what could be a potential policy solution to the public health problem the coalition identifies and why (1-2 sentences).
7. Include a screen shot of the coalition web page and a web link
8. Are you interested in the cause the coalition is advocating for, why or why not?
9. Describe what policy solution you believe can improve the public health problem the coalition is focused on and why.

PART 2:

Step One: Review the Senate Floor session for March 10th 2016:
http://calchannel.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=7&clip_id=3442 Navigate to ~24 minutes into the video. There is a lag on getting the session started. After that there is a remaining 1 hour 15 minutes in length. Please review it in its entirety.

The session video should be opened using Google Chrome or Firefox (Internet Explorer will not work effectively for this video)

That day, the California Legislature passed a set of landmark public health bills:

Step 2: Each bill that was passed that day has the potential to impact improvements in public health. After reviewing the video, students will select two bills that interest them and then, research and describe.

1. 1. Using the video or the bill text, briefly describe each of the bills (2-3 sentences). The bill text can be found by looking through the agenda on the right-hand side of the screen.
   2. Be sure to include two specific facts you learned about each bill

Step 3: Review Chapters 1 & 2 in your text. Then:

1. 1. Focusing on your text share/describe a few aspects of the policymaking process you saw take place while viewing the video.
   2. Using the internet, briefly research and describe (2-3 sentences) the policymaker that wrote one of the policies you described above. Expand upon the section on p. 32 in the text about policymakers and connect to your description. Why may the policymaker support this policy?
   3. Describe why government intervention is considered appropriate for the population?

1. Do you believe the policy they described is needed to improve the health of the public? Why or why not?
2. Expand on the “actors” involved in the legislative process: policymakers; interest groups; lobbyists; media; citizens or health scientists/practitioners. How may they get involved with one of the policies discussed in this forum?

   Sources:

3. You are required to use at least TWO sources from the textbook, government reports, peer-reviewed journal articles or textbooks. Use your OWN WORDS (e.g., do not cut and paste from a government report or article).
4. • Paraphrase (use your own words) to report the information.
   • Include APA formatted in-text citations to identify your sources AND include full APA formatted references for your sources at the end of your post.