Developing a Community Fire Saftey Coalition

Developing a Community Fire Safety Coalition

Responsibility for the fire safety of your community falls directly on the local fire department. To ensure your organization has the greatest impact on this critical need, you should include the entire community as you plan your strategies to make your community fire safe. The easiest way to accomplish this and involve a cross-segment of your population is to take the lead role in the formation of a Community Fire Safety Coalition. A Community Fire Safety Coalition brings together different people, representing different areas of the community and business worlds, representing different views, but ultimately representing the same desire and need to take action in order to have a fire safe community.

In addition to helping deliver valuable fire safety messages to your entire community, this group can assist in raising funds, recruiting members and performing many non-operational duties and tasks for your organization.

A Community Fire Safety Coalition works closely with the fire department with to promote fire safety education for our citizens while also identifying ways to eliminate and prevent fire risk and disasters that may impact our community.

An effective coalition (including a Community Fire Safety Coalition) uses the following steps when organizing:

Step 1: Determine Whether to Form a Coalition

Situations are identified that may lead to the formation of a coalition:

A need is recognized (fire statistics indicate the need for fire education)
An organization recognizes a coalition will help fulfill its goals (a coalition is a better avenue to use to reach citizens)

It is important to determine if a coalition is the most appropriate tool for the need at hand.

There should be no other organization currently addressing this specific need.

Identify and state clear objectives, as well as activities that support those objectives.
Understand the political context. Identify the costs and benefits of developing a coalition.

Step 2: Recruit the Right People

The membership of a coalition should be determined by the coalition’s goals and objectives. The individuals and organizations that have a stake in the outcome should be present. Coalitions are usually designed to include the resources, the knowledge and the experience necessary to address the issue. Seek out those individuals or groups that are needed to support the effectiveness of the effort. If specialized knowledge or expertise is needed, consider developing an advisory group.

All the parties at the table should be committed to addressing the issue. If organizations are involved, make sure their respective missions and visions are complementary to that of the coalition.

Once you have identified the potential membership of the coalition, send an invitation letter to those persons to briefly explain your intent (see Module 2 Appendix for a sample invitation letter).

Step 3: Create Preliminary Objectives and Activities

Coalition members should work together to identify objectives that move the fire safety coalition forward. The creation of mission and vision statements can assist this process. Again, it is important that the mission and the vision of coalition members are complementary to those of the coalition itself.

Develop activities that address the needs of the participating groups using the knowledge, skills and experiences of coalition members. Small successes can often be achieved with minimal effort and serve as a foundation to keep members engaged in the process.

Be clear and concise when developing objectives and activities. Keep the objectives and activities simple at first; expand them as more experience is gained.

Step 4: Assemble the Coalition

A coalition is typically started through a meeting. Usually, multiple meetings are needed to get a coalition up and running.

For the first meeting, the fire department should present a clearly defined purpose for the creation of this coalition and outline the expectations of the coalition members. The coalition’s structure and function should be addressed. Coalition members should leave the first meeting with a solid understanding of what it is to be accomplished.

Step 5: Resources

Coalitions require work. The fire department typically takes the lead. The department will be responsible for developing meeting agendas, providing materials and supplies and facilitating the meetings. This requires a staff commitment. It is important to be realistic when allocating time and resources to these efforts. Having a consistent contact person can be extremely beneficial. Coalition members will then know whom to contact with questions.

Step 6: Successful Coalition

Effective coalitions often select a specific frequency, day, time and location for meeting so everyone reserves that time for coalition business. Try to keep the meeting length less than two hours. A well organized meeting is generally a productive meeting. Be prepared. A meeting agenda is a valuable tool for keeping meetings on track. If there are issues to discuss, make sure coalition members have the materials to review well in advance of the meeting.

Decide how membership will be determined. It is important to have these parameters established so everyone knows how members can be added. Establish work groups if necessary. The work groups will then report to the coalition.

Make it clear to everyone how decisions will be made. It is a good idea to establish a procedure before issues arise. Make every effort to hear all points of view before any final decisions are made. Emphasize that communication must be respectful. Everyone at the table should feel valued.

Transparency in all decision making promotes the credibility of the coalition and shows respect for each member’s participation.

Step 7: Coalition Feasibility

You want enough activity to accomplish goals, but not too much work that members burn out. Striking the right balance will be the key to keeping coalition members engaged.

Clearly defined decision making procedures, membership guidelines, goals and objectives are important to keep a coalition moving forward.

Having a well organized agenda, clearly outlined tasks and transparency in decision making should help keep things running smoothly. Should challenges arise, be respectful and address the challenges directly.

Membership will change over time. New members should be encouraged to participate and should be actively recruited over time. Providing training and other educational opportunities builds the capacity of coalition members to participate more fully and can bring new energy to the coalition’s work. Celebrate your successes. Acknowledge the fact your hard work has produced results!

Step 8: Evaluate

Evaluate what the coalition is doing. Continuous, quality improvement should be a goal. Evaluation of a coalition’s activities provides valuable feedback that allows the organization to make quality improvements part of its process.