Resources
Helpful Tools
Community Readiness
Before getting started, think if the community you are serving is ready for a coalition. Community readiness is the degree to which a community is willing and prepared to take action on an issue; levels range from no awareness all the way to full community ownership. Below is a 4-part podcast/webinar series on assessing Community Readiness in local coalitions, partnerships, and communities. It may be readiness to engage in a new health focus, or reinvigorate a stagnant one, or even assess if a group is ready to engage in certain programming.
Utilizing this model, partners at Connections IN Health (Indiana CTSI) and Purdue Extension Community Development conducted and led this series as a professional-development opportunity. The series overviews community readiness, its assessment, how to utilize the information, and share back with the community to move forward. The series was published in January and February of 2022.
Podcast #1: What is the Community Readiness Assessment?
Webinar #1: How do you conduct a Community Readiness Assessment?
Webinar #2: How do you analyze the results of the Community Readiness Assessment?
Podcast #2: How do you communicate the results of the Community Readiness Assessment?
Purdue Extension Community Readiness Handout
TriEthnic Center for Prevention Research Community Readiness Manual
Communication
No matter how big or small your coalition is, communication is key. We highly recommend utilizing free communication tools like Gmail for emailing and calendar features. Additionally, Google Drive is free (up to 15GB per user), allows for easy sharing of folders and documents, includes version history, and enables collaboration in real time.
If necessary, you could also upgrade to services like Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, or G Suite. When making a choice, consider what platform is likely to work for all of your team members (including those you haven’t yet recruited) and provides the features you need. The most important thing is to make sure documents are being saved in a consistent location that can be shared or transferred if the role switches hands in the coalition.
Other Communications Resources
Coalition Maps
Whether you are looking to start your own coalition or to see what coalitions are currently in your area, these maps provide information on coalition work across the state and how to get in touch
The coalition map shows local coalitions throughout Indiana and how you can learn more about them.
Purdue Extension reports each year on their involvement with local coalitions throughout the state. Use this map to supplement the Connections IN Health Coalition Map with additional coalitions that are active near you.
Data Resources
Below you will find additional free resources for collecting statistical data on your community. Click on the resource title for a direct link to site.
United States Census Bureau provides access to data about the United States, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas. The data in United States Census Bureau come from several censuses and national surveys.
SAVI is a free resource to help you make data-informed decisions. It provides data about Central Indiana communities, tools to analyze and visualize the data, and training to build your capacity to use it effectively.
The annual County Health Rankings measure vital health factors and provide a revealing snapshot of how health is influenced by where we live, learn, work, and play.
The Atlas of Rural and Small-Town America assembles statistics on three broad categories of socioeconomic factors: people, jobs, and county classifications.
STATS Indiana provides easy, one-stop access to critical statistics for states, counties, cities and towns, townships, regions, census tracts and more.
Map the Meal Gap provides national data and insight into food insecurity and food costs at the local level.
PLACES provides interactive maps for model-based estimates of 27 chronic disease related measures at county, place, census tract and ZCTA levels. The PLACES project is an expansion of the 500 Cities project. It is a collaboration between the CDC, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the CDC Foundation.