1. Recruit coalition members.

You need a group with a broad range of skills and abilities—because you’re going to need to accomplish a broad range of tasks and goals. The more diverse your group is—political stances, careers, incomes—the stronger your team will be.

When recruiting, look for people who:

  • Are able to brainstorm with a group
  • Are active in the community
  • Are involved in media or have media connections
  • Are outgoing and have a lot of energy
  • Are political movers
  • Have public speaking experience
  • Previously worked on car seat safety campaigns
  • Work in injury prevention

Basically when you’re planning the team, you look for people who are dependable and are comfortable taking the lead when another person is gone or could share the same type of knowledge.

When gathering your list of people to recruit, keep these people in mind:

  • From your community:
    • Car accident survivors (whether they were buckled up or not)
    • Caregivers
    • CHRs
    • Day care workers
    • Elders
    • Nurses
    • WIC associates
    • Cultural leaders
  • From your Tribal programs:
    • Early childhood program people
    • Tribal Council members
    • TANF employees
    • Fish and wildlife employees
    • Health education professionals
    • Head Start employees
  • From your schools:
    • Teachers
    • Principals
    • Nurses

You need a group with a broad range of skills and abilities—because you’re going to need to accomplish a broad range of tasks and goals. The more diverse your group is—political stances, careers, incomes—the stronger your team will be.

2. Schedule an interest meeting.

The purpose of the interest meeting is to recruit coalition members. At the meeting, you will explain the goals and time commitments of the coalition and gauge the interest of community members. This is an opportunity for both you and the potential members to see if the coalition is a good fit for them.

You will want to hold the interest meeting, and all future coalition meetings, at a neutral, public setting. When you meet at a community center or local library, it’s a place where you can present people with new information in an environment where they’re willing to listen and even change their way of thinking.

3. Advertise the interest meeting.

To recruit coalition members, you will first need to attract them to your interest meeting. You can advertise the interest meeting:

  • At parent conferences
  • During back-to-school fairs
  • During health and safety fairs
  • On Facebook and other social media
  • On the Tribal website
  • Through newsletters, posters, and flyers
  • By calling up key people and inviting them

When you tell people about the interest meeting, use the phrase “safety team” instead of “coalition.” “Safety team” is more understandable and not as intimidating.

Make sure that when you tell people about the interest meeting, you explain exactly what will happen there. It will make them more comfortable because they will know what to expect and won’t be surprised.

4. Hold the interest meeting.

In the initial interest meeting, the most important thing you need to communicate is the list of benefits of joining the coalition, like:

  • Be a part of saving kids’ lives or preventing them from serious injuries.
  • Increase your networking opportunities.
  • Get training on child car seat safety.
  • Learn about child passenger safety technician certification.
  • Learn more about different tribal and community programs.
  • Be able to provide resources to others.
  • Increase your community involvement.
  • Learn how to refer people to other agencies.
  • Build your résumé.

Our [sample first meeting agenda] will help you with planning your interest meeting. In the interest meeting, you will:

  • Go through introductions.
  • Distribute [volunteer packets].
  • Explain the goals for the campaign.
  • Talk about the overall time frame for the campaign.
  • Gauge the interest of attendees.
  • Get a signed [commitment form] from potential coalition members.
  • Set expectations for meetings times and dates.
  • Study group dynamics and see how the group works together.
  • Create a task list so members have something to work on before the next meeting.

5. Hold subsequent meetings.

Meetings are at the core of building your coalition. Here are some ideas on how to run successful meetings:

  • Find a time that works for everyone. Although this may be nearly impossible, we’ve found that Fridays during lunch or after 5 p.m. work best. The best advice we can give is to try different meeting times and communicate with coalition members about what works best for them.
  • Provide people with an agenda several days before the meeting. Since most people are busy, they may only want to attend the meetings that interest them or pertain to their area of expertise. And when you send out the agenda, ask people what they would like to discuss and accomplish at the meeting.
  • Keep the meeting short. Limit it to one hour and stick to it. You want to honor people’s time and commitment. If the meeting is running long, cut it off and say you will be available for questions afterward.
  • Provide free food at the meetings. More people will attend, and it is always a less-threatening and more comfortable atmosphere when people meet over a meal or even snacks. For ideas on how to pay for this, see the [seek funding for the coalition section].
  • Make meetings fun and engaging. There’s nothing worse than a boring meeting that accomplishes nothing and wastes time. Planning ahead and thinking of fun, engaging activities will go a long way to keeping people interested, participating, and attending meetings.

In subsequent meetings, you’ll want to:

  • Continue to build your team. Some people may not be interested in joining your team right away. Team membership will be fluid, and team building should be an on-going process.
  • Identify roles for each coalition member. Talk openly and honestly about each person’s strengths and weaknesses. Talk about things that people do and don’t want to do.
  • Talk about each person’s learning style. Think how you can best accommodate how people learn. For example, some people may learn better visually, while others verbally. For more information on learning styles, visit the [example learning styles website].
  • Determine what types of training people need. Find out who is interested in participating in a child passenger restraint training, like what is shown in the training presentations [module 7] or through the Indian Health Service Safe Native American Passengers (SNAP) training by visiting the SNAP website. You’ll want to offer a training within the first few months after the coalition starts.
  • Give out a training kit. Print out and provide them with this [training folder] or another training resource, such as SafeCar.gov, SafeKids.org, or Parents Central.
  • Go over the car seat safety campaign in more detail. Explain the goals and plans again, and continue to answer any questions or concerns attendees may have.
  • Monitor the size of the coalition. The smaller the coalition, the easier you’ll be able to work together. The bigger a group gets, the longer your meetings run, and the more people start to disengage, withdraw, and separate. But it’s still wise to keep your meetings open for others to join.

6. Monitor for any signs of burnout.

Keeping people motivated and free from burnout was the number one obstacle we had to overcome. Here are some ideas we learned to keep people motivated:

  • Set and make realistic expectations at the beginning. Being on the coalition can be hard work. And many people are resistant to change. But change can and will come—it’ll just be at a slower process than we want.
  • Give a lot of positive feedback to members. Continually encourage members by saying they are making a difference. And make them feel like they’re needed.
  • Reward coalition members for their time. For example, if they do an event, give them a small gift card as a token of appreciation—like $5 if it was an in-town event or $10 if it was an out-of-town event. For ideas on how to pay for items like this, see the [seek funding for the coalition section].
  • Allow coalition members to only attend meetings pertaining to their area of expertise. Be aware that your coalition team members may change as you approach new topics. But you should still expect your core few people present at all meetings.

7. Brand and advertise the coalition.

During one of the first few meetings, start to discuss how you can make the coalition visible in the community. Ask how team members would prefer to do this, and listen to their suggestions.

Some ideas for branding and advertising are:

  • Design a logo, or use the [logo we created].
  • Purchase logoed gear from [some promotional item websites: 4imprint.com , www.epromos.com , www.branders.com or www.pinnaclepromotions.com] [show photos of logoed gear] for coalition members, like:
    • Shirts
    • Vests
    • Name tags
    • Backpacks
    • Sticks
    • Car visors
    • Hats
    • Pens
  • Perform “Seat Check” events in highly visible places.
  • Create posters and flyers with pictures of coalition members doing seat checks.
  • Hand out stickers or provide incentives at community events.
  • Advertise in the Tribal newsletter with photos or event details.
  • Attend monthly council and tribal meetings and let the community know who’s on the team and what’s happening.

8. Seek funding for the coalition.

You’re going to need money to pay for several different expenses that will pop up. Here are some ideas to raise funds:

  • Organize an Indian taco fundraiser.
  • Do car seat checks for a small donation.
  • Find small grants within the community, like casinos, organizations, larger business.
  • Do a 50/50 raffle at an event, like a powwow. Ask people to buy tickets where 50% goes toward the prize and the other 50% toward the car seat safety team.
  • Organize a silent auction.
  • Get local artists to donate their work to the highest bidder.
  • Sponsor a walk.

9. Measure the coalition’s impact.

It’s important to check in periodically to see how your coalition is impacting the community. You can then use this feedback to make improvements and become more effective.

For more information on measuring the coalition’s impact, see Module 5 – Make Data-Driven Plans to Improve Use.