Activating Your Community

Return to Opioid Top-Level Strategy Map    

SWITCHING TO "Activating Your Community

 

 

Background

There are many barriers that prevent and limit the efforts of communities addressing drug misuse and substance use disorder, but one particular challenge that many communities face is the ability to elevate their initiative above other local competing priorities.  Identifying champions who can publicly support the coalition’s mission can help to build and foster strategic partnerships, generate buy-in, and increase commitment to bolster supports. With a solid understanding of the current programmatic needs in your area, you can build power and mobilize the community by successfully bringing together advocates, policymakers, and professionals to take collective action.

Whether you are developing legislative or regulatory efforts, building and strengthening programs, or attempting to reach a diverse audience with a wide range of needs, communities of all sizes should consider the following principles when activating your community around this crisis:

• Put equity at the center for your efforts
• Engage individuals with lived experience or those directly impacted by substance use disorder in decision-making roles
• Create alliances and form strategic partnerships that build political will and support from a broad range of stakeholders
• Build relationships with federal, state, and locally elected leaders
• Understand your community’s most powerful levers for change 
• Allow data to drive your strategy development and decision-making
• Focus on measurable individual and community-based outcomes
• Empower citizens by increasing public awareness and community engagement opportunities
• Strengthen your system or infrastructure in order to achieve impact at scale

It’s important to note that any community organizing or political will building strategy should be implemented with regularity - it should not be a single event or effort.  For the greatest impact, communities should show the link or intersection of substance use disorder with other competing community priorities, consistently focus on drumming up new interest, and relay progress made over time back to community stakeholders using a message of hope in order to sustain engagement.

Drug misuse and SUD has consequences for all residents of local communities.  The current epidemic increases costs related to public health, public safety, criminal justice, treatment services, and many more.  Locally elected leaders are typically motivated by the economic impacts to improve local response, but a far greater price comes from the fatalities caused by the epidemic and related overdoses and the loved ones who must face the pain of those lost.  This is what motivates many others to create and join efforts to combat the epidemic within their communities.  Many of these leaders typically work in prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery support services, and other efforts that save lives and help those in need find recovery, but it may be necessary for communities to tailor messaging to suit a wide variety of audiences in a manner that speaks to the receiver’s particular interest.  When identifying champions or strategic alliances, communities should consider their most powerful levers for change.  Who or what in your community can unlock opportunity and accelerate change?  What is the backbone of your community?  Is it your local hospital system, community college, or a specific business or company?  Communities may find that some individuals or organizations may have conflicting viewpoints – try to approach them and open a door for conversation.  Sometimes non-traditional partners are only “non-traditional” because we label them as such.

 

Key Community Members

Elected Officials and Local Health Leaders

Locally elected leaders and health officials can play a key role in leading efforts to improve the response to the SUD epidemic.  Mayors, County Executives, County Managers, Commissioners, and the local health leaders they appoint, can be powerful allies in raising public awareness about the extent of the problem, the availability of resources, and providing information on specific strategies, like harm reduction, that can help save lives.  In many instances, elected officials and local health officials might already be part of some type of community task force or other group charged with coordinating and improving local response to the epidemic; however, in the absence of such an effort, elected and health leaders can and should be engaged in raising awareness about the issue and solutions while also increasing support within the community.  

Elected leaders, and especially legislators, play an important role in the creation of budgets and ultimately decide on how local revenues are allocated to different programs, so it is critical they are aware of the scope of these issues in their communities and what is being done in response.  In most cases, they have political allies and are regularly invited to speak at community events or participate in meetings with diverse audiences where they can help to relay your message and share information about the response.

Although locally elected leaders are important champions, it’s also critical for a coalition to work alongside its state partners to help align efforts for maximum impact, inform policy, support funding, and make recommendations on scalability of programs that are working on-the-ground to avoid duplication or manage expectations that might not be feasible or sustainable at the local level.

Community Stakeholders and Infuencers

Anyone in your community can be a leader or a champion.  Drug misuse and substance use disorder affects a substantial number of residents in all communities.  Having a wide variety of stakeholders imbedded within the community can help to advance policies, programs, and systems that can work together and improve local response.  When appropriate, consider engaging other community partners to leverage efforts and boost support within the community.  These individuals in your community who could be key champions or partners along the way, but might not necessarily participate in the coalition.  Some examples might include:

• Health Professionals and Community Health Centers
• Hospital System Administration
• Faith Leaders
• Law Enforcement or other First Responders
• Public and Private School Systems
• Colleges, Universities, and Institutions of Higher Education
• Parent Groups
• Youth and Young Adults
• Local businesses, corporations, or the Chamber of Commerce
• Philanthropic Community

Individuals with Lived Experience

Communities should also engage individuals with lived experience in decision-making roles - meaning those who have had first-hand involvement with substance use disorder and those who are friends or family members of those directly impacted.  Individuals with lived experience bring knowledge, understanding, and experience not learned through formal education.  To be most effective, it is imperative that communities honor and reflect the voices of those most impacted in their programs and systems. If possible, find ways to offer fair compensation for their time.  

Improving Pubic Awareness And Engagement

Public education and awareness is essential to activating a local community.  Residents need to know the unvarnished reality of what is taking place.  They need to know what the problem is, and what needs to be done to improve the local response and save lives.  In addition order to be educated, local residents also need to be involved in the process.  The people are the community, and many have first-hand experience with drug misuse and SUD.  Many others have lived experience with family and friends who are struggling with these issues, and their input and participation is needed to create a Comprehensive and effective Community

 

 

Public Availability of Data

Making data available to the public can help increase awareness and move community members to take action.  Local data is particularly effective, as pepe are more likely to care and take action to help their own communities.  Many state and local communities have created data "dashboards" typically hosted and maintained by the state and local health departments.  These dashboards include information about opioids and other substances, and related data on overdoses.  

Most states and localities who have developed dashboards have greatly expanded available information to include additional data and information on other programs and efforts to address the epidemic.  These provide additional opportunities for community members to take action.  Topic covered in by one state include: 

Prescription Monitoring Program

Naloxone (Narcan)

Drug-related Hospital Visits

Crime Statistics

Treatment Statistics

Viral Hepatitis

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome

An additional example of a state wide dashboard can be seen here.

 

 

 

 

Develop Outreach Strategies

There are many strategies and options to conduct outreach to the community and decision makers.  Outreach can include a broad public awareness campaign, or something more focused that asks community members to become involved in new or existing programs and campaigns.  Communnities have empoyed numerous outreach strategies to provide education, awareness, and move people to action.  These include:

Public Service TV and Print Ads

Signage in Public Facilities

Outreach within Schools

Outreach to Faith Based Communities and other exisitng Community Groups.

Door to Door Canvassing

Grassroots Letters of Support

 

 

Overcoming Stigma

Anti--Stigma Campaigns:

SAFE Project’s #NoShame Pledge – This virtual campaign helps to combat negative perception and offers support to others when seeking treatment or speaking up about mental health and substance use disorders.  It was designed to include a toolkit for communities who want to replicate the campaign locally and use it a community mobilizing tool to drum up political will and raise awareness about local efforts underway to combat stigma.  By using the pledge as a catalyst, communities can identify new stakeholders who can be activated and drive social impact, as well as help to change behaviors at scale.

State of Massachusetts - Sate Without StigMA.  The State of Massachusetts has developed a comprehensive anti-stigma campaign at the State level.  This resource provides information about what stigma is, how it contributes to the current epidemic, and personal stories of people who talk about their own experiences with stigma and how they overcame it to find help for themselves and others in a variety of settings.