Ohio Coalition Wins Top Award

When a bouquet of flowers was presented more than a decade ago to the Coalition for a Healthy Community - Oxford, Butler County's (Ohio) first coalition, directed by Karen Murray, as it was called to action as a "Community of Hope" and future DFC recipient, the seeds of success were planted for Murray's involvement in The Butler County Coalition for Healthy, Safe and Drug-Free Communities. Since the coalition's roots, it has helped to achieve significant outcomes.

According to their biannual Student Drug Use Survey, past 30 day use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana by 7th through 12th graders in Butler County has declined significantly from 2004 to 2010. Alcohol use declined 37 percent, tobacco use 27 percent and marijuana use 34 percent.

Like most coalitions, however, Murray’s coalition didn’t rest on its laurels. They knew there was and is work to be done: From 2004 to 2008, student perception of harm related to alcohol use increased 6 percent while student perception of peer disapproval of use increased 33 percent.

For engaging multiple strategies across multiple sectors and building capacity, the coalition was named the “Outstanding Coalition of the Year” in the region during the 15th anniversary Coalition for a Drug-Free Cincinnati breakfast. That coalition is a regional training and technical coalition comprised of member coalitions in tri-state area. Murray’s coalition is a member and she serves on its board and fellow coalition members serve on its work groups.

The award was accepted by coalition director Murray and presented by former Ohio First Lady Hope Taft, one of three presenters at the breakfast who were among the founders of the Cincinnati Coalition. Fellow Ohio coalition founder and one of the keynote speakers at CADCA’s 2011 National Leadership Forum, Sen. Rob Portman, also attended the awards breakfast.

Long-time coalition member and project manager Dan Urra said, “Awards validate the work, encourage current volunteers and staff, increases visibility, engages media, contributes to capacity building, highlights the work of the community and the issues being addressed.”

But, he and Murray stressed that winning awards is not why they do what they do.

For example, the day after their award was presented, the coalition helped staff eight sites throughout their county and together, 4,000 pounds of medications were collected throughout Butler County on RX Take Back Day. Success like that doesn’t come in a vacuum, Urra said.

“I believe that it takes all members of a community to recognize the issues that need to be addressed in the community and to sit down together and come up with strategies that contribute to real change for the health and safety of all. Change happens when we are all rowing in the same direction,” he said.

Murray said their coalition mobilized quickly and effectively to address their community’s problems because “we built on an existing foundation of prevention excellence and we are diligent in working with the local coalitions and our community partners (sectors and organizations).”

Media advocacy is a strategy that has worked well for Murray’s coalition. They met with local editors and reporters early on and are frequently contacted to be sources on drug, alcohol and youth-related issues. They even have a monthly column in their local newspaper. She says an editor even contacts the coalition sometimes to make them aware of news items that the coalition may be of interest in.

“Capacity, community mobilization, media advocacy…Our recipe for success is to embrace the Strategic Prevention Framework, live it, breathe it, and grow with it,” Murray, the CADCA National Coalition Academy graduate said.