The Spirit of the Coalition

Coalitions are powerful tools that can raise community participation and increase community trust as part of community-based public health. Within public health, there is a wide range of practitioners involved in coalition building on such important topics as teen pregnancy, AIDS, hunger/nutrition, immunization, tobacco control, substance abuse, violence prevention, and more. This new book gives public health practitioners and others the "nitty-gritty" details of what makes coalitions work. These first-hand accounts, told by public health practitioners, show through vivid stories and examples and through practical lessons and illustrative documents, how coalitions can be built and sustained and bring measurable and lasting results. Actual samples of materials coalitions have used, such as planning documents, membership brochures and publicity flyers, are provided.