Coalition Building Process in Early Learning Childhood Communities

One of the tools Pontomos clients have used over the last couple of months is the Coalition Building Process.

Collective action, building multiple organizations into broad coalitions, tempts many communities. However, there are many initial challenges and difficulties that preclude the coalition from reaching the anticipated results. Pontomos offers a highly specialized approach that guide any community to a higher level of connectivity.

The model has three main pillars

1. ‘The Why’: Every coalition starts with a good idea and a couple of people imagining how much good the coalition can bring to the community they serve. The motivation might be rooted in reaching more people with fewer resources, or it could be motivated by offering a more comprehensive service level to the end-users. ‘The Why’ becomes clearer and the people involved at this point in time are typically highly motivated.

2. ‘The Whos and the Whats’: Secondly it is time to figure out who should be involved and what kind of tasks the coalition should focus on – the ‘The Whos and the Whats’ has to start to take form to become a successful coalition.

3. ‘The How’: Then it is time for ‘The How’, which is the final step. The coalition will need to settle on the tools and platforms that will make the efforts a true coalition. The detail level goes up and some of the very motivated individuals from the beginning of the process might not feel particularly engaged during this phase; however there will be others who will get more motivated. This is normal and the coalition should plan for it.

The model’s three main pillars are supported by seven elements that are meant to guide the communities through their coalition building process.

For more information, please reach out and we can have an informal conversation to see if the approach might also work for your needs.