Diversifying Local Partnerships
Mystic Valley Public Health Coalition
Overview
The Mystic Valley Public Health Coalition (MVPHC) was faced with a challenge to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion into their substance use prevention work. To tackle this issue, they partnered with ACBC Consulting to guide them through strategic visioning, value setting, and action planning. As a result, MVPHC was able to identify partnerships with community-based organizations (CBO) serving more diverse groups, nurturing new connections for wider reach.
Challenge
MVPHC wanted to create a new strategic plan for 2021 that would integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion into their substance use prevention work.
Approach
ACBC Consulting guided MVPHC through strategic visioning and value setting, where we identified professional development and CBO partnerships as the next steps to support diversity, equity, and inclusion. We then developed a roadmap for CBO partnership, identified sector gaps missing in their coalition, and future CBO partners to work with. ACBC Consulting developed a "Partnership Building Toolkit," which detailed MVPHC's value proposition for target partners and designed a CBO partnership kick start process for MVPHC to authentically engage with local CBOs.
Outcome
The CBO partnership process helped MVPHC to effectively create new connections with CBOs serving more diverse community groups. With the toolkits, MVPHC was better equipped to keep track of partner needs and identify overlapping goals and potential opportunities for support. More intentional partnerships allowed MVPHC to better reach more diverse groups and integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion into their substance use prevention work.
Conclusion
Through the partnership with ACBC Consulting, MVPHC was able to create a strategic plan that integrated diversity, equity, and inclusion into its substance use prevention work. MVPHC was ultimately able to better engage with local CBOs, manage connections, and identify opportunities for authentic engagement. The result was a successful strategic plan and a coalition better equipped to tackle the challenges facing their diverse community groups.