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.
Tom Wolff is a community psychologist who is committed to issues of social justice and community. He is the President of Tom Wolff & Associates.He is a nationally recognized consultant on coalition building and community development, with over 30 years' experience training and consulting with individuals, organizations and communities across North America. His clients include federal, state and local government agencies, foundations, hospitals, non-profit organizations, professional associations, and grassroots groups.
The Power of Collaborative Solutions is his most recent publication and the culmination of forty years of experience in helping communities creat change.
Tom Wolff's previous writings on coalition building include the popular book From the Ground Up: A Workbook on Coalition Building and Community Development (1997 with Gillian Kaye), and The Spirit of the Coalition (2000 with Bill Berkowitz), published by the American Public Health Association. He co-authored Outreach Works: Strategies for Expanding Health Access in Communities in 2001.
From 1985 to 2002, Tom Wolff founded and directed Community Partners, a technical assistance and training program in coalition building and community development affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Tom Wolff is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, which granted him its 1985 National Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Practice in Community Psychology and its 1993 Henry V. McNeil Award for Innovation in Community Mental Health. In 2000, he received the For the People Against the Tide Award from Health Care for All for his "outstanding efforts to energize and educate local communities in areas of health care justice." He has held academic appointments at the University of Massachusetts School of Public Health, the University of Massachusetts Medical School Department of Family Medicine and Community Health and Wellesley College's Stone Center. He received his undergraduate degree from Clark University and his doctorate from the University of Rochester.
