Building community capacity to prevent violence through coalitions and partnerships

This paper will explore the most effective strategic roles that coalitions can play in the prevention of complex, entrenched social and health problems such as violence, alcoholism, and other substance abuse problems. There is a growing body of "wisdom" and research literature that suggests that the most effective role for community coalitions and partnerships in terms of prevention is to build the capacity of community leaders and their institutions to better serve their constituencies. This can be accomplished through the use of the coalition to strengthen the enabling or support system for community initiatives. An enabling system provides a variety of services, including training and consultation, information and referral, networking and local coalition development, communication, incentive grants and recognition, information and social marketing, resource development, and research and evaluation services. This paper also outlines the key internal capacities a coalition will need in order to establish this system.