CESC

Copyright © 2014 by The University of Kansas
Community Action Guide:
A Framework for Addressing Community
Goals and Problems.

What is action planning?
A process to increase your community’s ability to:
• Affect conditions and outcomes by working
together over time and across issues of interest.

What is an action plan?
An action plan outlines:
• What should happen to achieve the
vision.
• Desirable changes and proposed
activities.
• Who will do what by when.

How does action planning help the
community?
• Understand the community’s issues.
• Generate action steps.
• Assure inclusive and integrated participation.
• Build consensus on what should be done.
• Specify concrete ways to take action.

An action plan helps assure that…
• No detail is overlooked.
• Proposed action steps are feasible.
• Collaborators follow through with their
commitments.
• Measurable activities are documented and
evaluated.

When should you utilize an action
plan?
• Within the first 6-12 months of starting an
initiative or organization, an action plan should be
created.
• The action plan should be revisited frequently and
revised to meet changing needs.

Components of an action plan
framework
• Determine people and sectors of the community
to involve.
• Convene a planning group.
• Develop an action plan to address proposed
changes.
• Review your action plan for completeness.

Components of an action plan
framework (cont.)
• Implement the plan.
• Communicate progress.
• Document progress.
• Celebrate progress and revisit and revise the
action plan.

As you begin the process…
• Document information about the problem or issue
with information and statistics.
• Learn more about your community.
• Involve other community members.

Information to gather during listening
sessions
• Information about the problem or issue.
• Perceived barriers or resistance to addressing the
issue.
• Resources for change.
• Recommended solutions and alternatives.
• Current and past initiatives.

Gather data to document the problem
• What are the issues related to the problem in your
community?
• What are the consequences of these issues?
• Who is affected?
• How are they affected?
• Are these issues of widespread concern?

Data Sources
• Government records.
• Hospital and police records.
• Local and national agencies and organizations.
• Schools and libraries.
• Government websites.

Agents of Change
• Who is in a position to create or block change?
• What neighborhood groups are most affected?
• What individuals and groups make things happen?
• Who are important contacts to reach officials,
individuals, and groups?

Reaching Consensus in Group
Meetings
• Avoid “one best way” attitude.
• Avoid “either/or” thinking.
• Combine points of view rather than “majority
rule”.
• Do not end healthy conflict prematurely.
• Solve problems by all participants communicating
and listening.

Approaches to Conflict Resolution
• Avoidance: Temporarily avoid the problem.
• Accommodation: Ask participants to yield to the
positions of others.
• Compromise: Everyone wins but also gives up
something.
• Collaboration: For issues of greatest importance,
consider many possible solutions, the
consequences of each, and select the alternative.

Tips for Group Facilitation
• Seat participants around small tables or in
semicircles.
• Ask questions frequently and use open-ended
questions.
• Create opportunities for participants to work in
teams.
• Give small assignments in advance.
• Encourage participants to offer solutions.
• Talk with quiet participants during breaks and help
them express their ideas and share their thoughts
with the group.

Tips for Group Facilitation (cont.)
• Use flipcharts or overhead transparencies to
record comments, but face participants while
writing or ask someone else to do it.
• Suggest the “next step” if a meeting seems to be
stagnating.
• Walk around to gain attention, but look directly at
participants.
• Expect to make some mistakes.

Brainstorming Sessions
• Freewheeling: suggestions are called out randomly.
• Round Robin: each member gives a suggestion in
turn.
• Slip: each member submits a suggestion on a slip of
paper.

Rules for Brainstorming
• No critical remarks allowed—evaluation will occur
later.
• Give the thought only—defense of the idea comes
later.
• Give only one idea at a time.
• You may add to or improve someone else’s idea.

VMOSA
Vision Mission Objective Strategies Action

Vision
Craft a vision statement that is:
• Understood and shared by members of the
community.
• Broad enough to include a diverse variety of
perspectives.
• Inspiring and uplifting.
• Easy to communicate (fits on a t-shirt!).

Mission
Craft a mission statement that is:
• Concise.
• Outcome-oriented.
• Inclusive.

Objectives
Develop objectives that are “SMART+C”:
• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant to your mission
• Timed
• Challenging

Strategies
Broad strategies for change include:
• Advocacy
• Coalition building
• Community development
• Education
• Networking
• Policy or legislative change

Sort generated ideas into categories:
• Providing information and enhancing skills.
• Altering incentives and disincentives.
• Modifying access, barriers, and opportunities.
• Enhancing services and support.
• Modifying polices and practices.

Factors to consider while developing
strategies
• Population levels to be affected.
• Universal versus targeted outreach.
• Personal and environmental factors, which
community sectors can benefit from and
contribute to efforts.
• Behavioral strategies to be used.

Each action step should outline:
• What actions or changes will occur?
• Who will carry out those changes?
• By when the changes will take place and for how
long?
• What resources are needed to carry out proposed
changes?
• Communication (who should know what?)

The best action steps are:
• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Timed
• Challenging

Review the Action Plan for:
• Comprehensiveness
• Clarity
• Feasibility
• Timeliness
• Flexibility

Prioritizing Action Steps
• Which changes are the most important to the
mission?
• Which would inspire, encourage, and build
credibility?
• Which need to happen first?
• Which are easier or quicker (could give the groups
member’s a sense of success)?

Communicate Progress
• Continue to hold planning group meetings.
• Publicize meetings well.
• Communicate with all relevant audiences.

Document Progress
• Helps clarify action steps so they are measurable.
• Helps provide feedback for refinement of efforts.
• Provides information about costs and effort for
tasks.

Celebrate Progress, Renew the Action
Plan
Focus on small wins in order to:
• Reward outcomes.
• Provide multiple opportunities for celebration.
• Prevent partners from getting locked into a single
course of action.
• Provide a sensitive, easily monitored measure of
progress.

Action Planning Helps You…
• Understand the community’s perception of the
issues and potential solutions.
• Assure inclusive and integrated participation
across sections.
• Build consensus on what can and should be done.
• Specify concrete ways in which members can take
action.

Action Planning Includes…
• Convening a planning group in your community
that consists of:
• Key officials
• Grassroots leaders
• Representatives of key sectors
• Representatives from all parts of the community,
including diverse ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic
groups

• Listening to the community.
• Documenting problems that affect healthy youth
development.
• Identifying risk and protective factors.
• Developing a framework for action.
• Becoming aware of local resources and efforts.

• Refining your group’s vision, mission, objectives,
and strategies.
• Refining your group’s choice of targets and agents
of change.
• Determining what community sectors should be
involved in the solution.
• Developing a tentative list of changes to be sought
in each sector.

• Building consensus on proposed changes.
• Outlining action steps for proposed changes.
• Documenting progress on bringing about
community and systems change.
• Renewing your group’s efforts along the way.

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