Abstract
Over the last 20 years, coalition building has become a prominent intervention employed in communities across America. Coalitions provide community psychologists and those in related fields with a chance to work with whole communities and to better understand how to create community change. As we reflect on the past two decades of community coalition building, there are many questions to be answered about this phenomenon. Why has there been such an upsurge in community coalition building activity? What is the impact of this activity? What have we as students of community learned? What are the questions that we need to be asking to improve the effectiveness of coalition building efforts and their evaluation? This set of articles will review the state of the art of community coalition building in both practice and research. The structure of the articles reflects a collaborative process, with multiple contributors from different disciplines, using a variety of formats. Because this is an evolving phenomenon where the questions asked are as important as the lessons learned, many of the major sections include dialogues with community experts from across the country and from multiple fields, including community psychology, public health, political science, public administration, and grassroots organizing.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Berkowitz, W., & Wolff, T. (2000). The spirit of the coalition. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association.
Blackwell, A., & Colemenar, R. (2000). Community building: From local wisdom to public policy. Public Health Reports, 115(2/3), 157–162.
Bradley, B. (1998). The importance of the civic sector. National Civic Review, 87(2), 161–166.
De Tocqueville, A. (1945, original work published in 1835). In H. Reeve & P. Bowen (Eds.), Democracy in America. New York: Vintage. (Original work published 1835).
Hardin, B. (1999). The role of multisector collaborations in strengthening communities. Washington, DC: Union Institute.
Himmelman, A. (1996). On the theory and practice of transformational collaboration: From social service to social justice. In C. Huxham (Ed.), Creating collaborative change. London: Sage.
Kaye, G., & Wolff, T. (1997). From the ground up: A workbook on coalition building and community development. Amherst, MA: AHEC/Community Partners.
Lappé, F. M., & DuBois, P. (1994). The quickening of America. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
McMillan, D., & Chavis, D. (1986). Sense of community: Definition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 6–23.
Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. (1986). Health Promotion, 1(4), iii-v.
Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon Schuster.
Roussus, S., & Fawcett, S. (2000). A review of collaborative partnerships as a strategy for improving community health. Annual Review of Public Health, 21, 369–402.
Sarason, S., & Lorentz, E. (1979). The challenge of the resource exchange network. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
The Boston Foundation. (1994). New social contract: To make our city whole. Boston Persistent Poverty Project, The Boston Foundation.
Zimmerman, M. (2000). Empowerment theory: Psychological, organizational and community levels of analysis. In J. Rappaport & E. Seidman (Eds.), Handbook of community psychology. New York: Kluwer.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wolff, T. Community Coalition Building—Contemporary Practice and Research: Introduction. Am J Community Psychol 29, 165–172 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010314326787
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010314326787