As a result of our intentional work using the Strategic Prevention Framework to build partnerships, the Genesee County Prevention Coalition’s hosted representatives from every sector,
November 2025, the GCPC hosted its 10th annual meeting to report on our activities, provide training for our partners, and honor our Partners in Prevention award winners. We met our goal for representatives from every sector present at our annual meeting. The GCPC worked intentionally in 2025 to identify sectors with low representation in the coalition and make sustainable connections with partners to build representation. Following the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF): Assess, Capacity, Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation, the GCPC began initiating active engagement across sectors.
We utilized the Strategic Prevention Framework to intentionally build sector engagement in the sectors that were represented: Business, Healthcare, Law Enforcement, Media, Parents, Religious or Fraternal organizations, Schools, government agencies, Youth-services, and other organizations with expertise in substance abuse.
Sustainability and Cultural-Competency are core components of the SPF that are factored into each step. For our assessment, we tracked sector representation at monthly partner meetings, coalition activities, and work group meetings. We then identified individuals and/or organizations in specific sectors where we needed to grow and intentionally pursued relationships within these sectors.
During the planning process, we engaged our community partners to assist in building additional sector relationships. Work groups helped us to identify individuals and/or organizations who should be at the table. This shared approach to planning created buy-in and built capacity across the provider network while also reducing duplication of efforts. The GCPC implemented an Activity Tracking Log to monitor and communicate internal activities as we utilized our staff relationships with partners to achieve collective impact. While leveraging each organization’s strengths and resources to create shared ownership, we expanded our capacity to engage the coalition in September 2025 by hiring a Health Communications Specialist.
The GCPC integration of sustainability throughout the process evaluates effectively maintaining and building sector partnerships to achieve long-term outcomes. It is important for the GCPC to develop relationships with those deeply embedded in their communities as we recognize that one organization cannot represent all people. We have identified key community leaders to serve as connecting points for the GCPC. We work to find voices who are influential leaders in the community and develop relationships with them. Together, we co-create prevention initiatives that are relevant and appropriate for the community. Community-level change is a slow process involving multiple strategies and partnerships to achieve the outcomes that make a difference.