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Mayor's Council for a Safe Community Program Highlights for April, 2004

Posted: Apr 7, 2004

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Combining Resources to Expand Safe Communities: A Case Study in Minot, ND

Collaboration. Cooperation. Coordination. Coalition Building. Every advocacy group, every grant-funded committee, and every non-profit organization has become acutely aware of these words, and their effectiveness in addressing prospective issues and solving identified problems. Each group wants and seeks key community players to serve on its coalition. Coalitions are intended to bring people together to solve community problems.

In many communities, however, collaboration and the forming of coalitions for each issue and each funding source can be a double-edged sword. Everyone knows that people working together in a grass-roots effort can be very powerful. On the other hand, the forming of a new coalition can create new problems.


  • How does an advocacy group continue to advocate when its funding is being reduced?
  • What can a committee do when its members become burdened by the number of meetings they are obligated to attend?
  • How can a non-profit group remain viable when its limited resources become over-extended?

More importantly, what can these groups do before they lose members, deplete resources, lose funding, lose community leverage and are forced into extinction? One viable answer: form a coalition of coalitions.

The Mayor's Council for a Safe Community (MCSC) in Minot, ND has successfully done just that. Five groups, each concerned for its own long-term community viability, have merged to establish a strong coalition, while continuing to define and meet their individual needs. The Prevention Group of the Region II Kids' Council, the ATOD committee overseeing the Drug-Free Schools activities, the tobacco-free advocacy group known as STAMP, the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) coalition and the Safe Communities coalition all realized the need to leverage their resources and their members' limited meeting time into one group. Because the Safe Communities coalition was the most structured of the groups, with existing operational guidelines, a constitution and defined goals and objectives that were broad enough to meet the needs of the other groups, the other organizations agreed to adopt the Safe Communities structure and policies.

The Coalition Structure. While each individual group maintains the authority to have its own internal structure, all operate cohesively under the umbrella of the larger structure of the Mayor's Council for a Safe Community. An executive board makes decisions on behalf of the coalition, assists with funding proposals, develops a community plan and conducts community assessments. The executive board consists of a chairperson, co-chairperson, secretary, and up to four members-at-large. The coalition is comprised of any person who expresses a concern for a safe community. The coalition and its committee members develop the community plan, assist with plan implementation and attend monthly meetings.

The Safe Communities Concept. Because the MCSC operates under the principles of the Safe Communities concept, seven essential characteristics define its program.

  1. Data Driven. The MCSC is a data driven program using multiple data sources from the community and from each of its merged coalitions. Each group brings to the table the data necessary to support its objectives.
  2. Expended Partnerships. Each group benefits from the others' community partners.
  3. Citizen Involvement. The coalition actively identifies the community issues and provides feedback for plan development.
  4. Comprehensive. The coalition enjoys an integrated and comprehensive control system for reduction of injuries and other issues threatening a safe community.
  5. Program Planning. A comprehensive community plan is developed to work at solving the greatest problems, while individual committees work on the issues they brought to the table.
  6. Evaluation. Measuring success is easier with more people working to solve the community's problems from different angles and combined implementation of activities.
  7. Self-sufficiency. More groups bring additional dollars to the program. These combined monetary resources allow for greater leverage of additional funding and better utilization of the current funding.

Purposes of the Coalition. Each of the merged groups found they fit very well within the identified purposes of the MCSC. These purposes are:

  • To increase public awareness through education and program planning, regarding comprehensive issues that will improve the safety of the community.
  • To act as a resource center for Minot and the surrounding communities, providing current information, educational materials and data.
  • To provide technical assistance for programming local safety issues.
  • To act as a liaison between local, state and federal agencies, providing a base for communication, information and education.

Goals. While individual groups maintain the authority to withhold additional, independent goals and objectives as they may need for their individual funding sources, the new coalition adopted the overall goals of the MCSC.

  1. Develop a safe communities approach to injury prevention.
  2. Reduce motor vehicle injuries.
  3. Reduce impaired driving.
  4. Assist with other programs to enhance overall safety within the community.

Leveraging Resources. Each group brings its own funding sources to the table. Shared manpower, educational materials and community resources means each organization can use its dollars to develop and implement cost-effective programs and activities.

The Kids Council Prevention group has dollars to reduce problems affecting children and families. These dollars may be combined with the schools' ATOD funding and FAS funding to reduce family alcohol problems. The dollars may be further leveraged with Safe Communities funding to implement an underage ID and server training project. Kids Council funds may be combined with tobacco funds and ATOD funds to develop educational programs about second-hand smoke issues. Kids Council funds and Safe Communities funds may be used to set up child safety seat clinics. ATOD funding and Safe Communities funding may be combined to reduce impaired driving. All funding may be leveraged with police department funds to implement Project Safe Neighborhoods. These are just a few examples of how combined funds can be leveraged to create a safer community.

Many members would have been involved in monthly meetings for each of the committees prior to the merger. Now, by combining member resources into one coalition, each person has fewer meetings to attend each month. Committee meetings are still essential for the nuts-and-bolts planning for each issue, but these meetings would have occurred anyway. A larger coalition membership also allows for an increased volunteer base to assist with projects and activities.

"Coalition" may be defined as "a group of people, organizations, and groups representing diverse populations with a shared vision of working together to achieve a common cause and enhance their effectiveness through collective action." Through merger and collaboration, the Mayor's Council for a Safe Community has become a viable, visible, healthy, long-term community organization. It has achieved several successes.

  • Additional funding has been acquired because of community cohesion.
  • Coordination of services has improved in the community through strong relationships, and through identification of community strengths and gaps in services.
  • The coalition creates a streamlined avenue to transmit messages to all community groups and citizens.
  • Local leadership has demonstrated an increased support for the Safe Communities projects and activities.
  • Diversity in program participation has been realized.


The Mayor's Council for a Safe Community addresses the quality of life in Minot, ND, and serves as a negotiation table for diverse organizations within the community. These organizations have merged to develop a common agenda while maintaining individuality. The coalition serves as a vehicle to define community resources and needs that are, at times, separate from the influences of outside funders.

These organizations have had the vision to plan for survival, and have come together to share a common vision - a vision of a safe community in which its citizens can raise families, work and live. Commitment to similar goals is critical to merging coalitions' success. The Mayor's Council for a Safe Community brings together knowledge, expertise and tangible assets to actively support and nurture a healthy community. It has provided a strong collective voice, expanded resources, developed new partnerships, and provided a greater visibility to bring about social change.[ end of article ]