CADCA National Coalition Institute

The Best Laid Plans. . .

Forum week has come and gone and our plan of blogging daily has done the same. Sometimes, there just aren't enough hours in the day!

As all of you who know us are aware, CADCA's National Leadership Forum is our biggest week of the year. And our small staff of about 30 people plus a cadre of great volunteers, including a number of fantastic National Guard troops, work from before sunup to well after sundown to make everything happen. We will bring you stories, photos and several podcasts from the Forum and we'll add a number of the handouts and PowerPoint presentations to the the Institute's Web site in the coming days.

The Forum always has many ups and a few downs and most often those downs revolve around Washington, D.C.'s wintry weather mixes. This year was no exception and our worst down came on Tuesday evening when Eduardo Hernandez, CADCA's Director of International Programs and Deputy Director for Dissemination and Coalition Relations for the National Coalition Institute slipped on ice on his way out of the Capitol Hill reception and broke his left shoulder. He's undergoing surgery today and we know you share our prayers and best wishes for a very speedy recovery.

Our staff is grateful indeed to Sen. Tom Coburn from Oklahoma who was the first person on the scene. Turns out Sen. Coburn also is an M.D., and he made sure that Dr. Hernandez (who is one of our regular writers for this blog) was cared for until the ambulance and paramedics arrived.

While our staff was shocked and concerned about Dr. Hernandez, the Forum continued with plenaries, workshops, exhibits and lots of networking. Each of us got the opportunity to talk with coalition leaders from around the country and to learn about the incredible things that community anti-drug coalitions are doing. The time went so fast that it's hard to believe Forum XVIII is over.

If you were able to participate, please share your experiences and photos here!

If you weren't able to make it to this year's Forum, we hope you'll save the date and plan to attend CADCA's National Leadership Forum XIX on Feb. 9-13, 2009 in Washington, D.C.

This post was written by Sue Stine, Senior Manager of Dissemination and Coalition Relations for CADCA's National Coalition Institute. Her e-mail address is sstine@cadca.org.

It's Forum Time in D.C.

CADCA's National Leadership Forum XVIII starts today! It is a four-day event for which our staff and volunteers have spent months preparing. Throughout the week, we will have guest bloggers helping us tell you, our readers, about the events from today's pre-conference  and CSAP Community Prevention Day workshops to Tuesday's Capitol Hill Day when our participants will hear from keynote speaker Dr. Drew Pinsky before they "take to the Hill" to encourage their Senators and Representatives to support the ongoing efforts of community anti-drug coalitions.

On Wednesday and Thursday, speakers from around the country will offer workshops in a variety of topic area tracks from sectors and strategy to systems change, state and community relations and science and technology. Throughout some of our country's best and brightest youth will participate in the Summit for Youth Leaders and the National Youth Leadership Initiative.

The Forum is the highlight of every year for our members, guest coalitions and, particularly, for our staff. It is our best opportunity to get to know the inspirational coalition leaders that we work with, often by phone or e-mail, throughout the year. It is our chance--and yours--to put faces to names. 

We hope that you are among the more than 2,500 community leaders participating in this year's Forum. If not, we hope you will enjoy some of the highlights through this blog. Let the Forum begin!

This post was written by Sue Stine, Senior Manager of Dissemination and Coalition Relations for CADCA's National Coalition Institute. Her e-mail address is sstine@cadca.org.

One More Chance to Participate in DFC Grant Applicant Workshop

Friday, Feb. 15, is your last chance to participate in this year’s Drug-Free Communities Applicant Workshops. Several hundred potential grantees have participated in the previous workshops held in New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles and Denver. The final workshop will be held at the Washington, D.C., Convention Center on Friday following CADCA’s 2008 National Leadership Forum which opens with pre-conference workshops and CSAP's Community Prevention Day on Monday, Feb. 11.

The workshops are sponsored by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to assist coalitions better understand the application process and prepare quality applications. Approximately 150 new grants will be awarded this year for communities seeking to reduce substance abuse through a community-based process. Staff from CADCA’s National Coalition Institute participates in each of the workshops.

“The Coalition Institute wants to create effective coalitions throughout the country,” noted Dr. Eduardo Hernandez, Deputy Director for Dissemination and Coalition Relations during his remarks at the Los Angeles workshop. The Institute presentation, entitled “What is a real coalition” highlights the differences between true coalitions and prevention programs. It also examines the concept of environmental strategies, highlighting research-based approaches.

Dr. Hernandez also noted that CADCA has numerous resources to help coalitions understand how to become effective and which could be of value to them as they prepare their applications. He specifically noted the CADCA Institute’s Primer Series on the elements of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Strategic Prevention Framework: assessment, capacity, planning, implementation, evaluation, sustainability and cultural competence which are available in PDF format on the Coalition Resources page of the Institute’s Web site. The Institute also provides free technical assistance to any community anti-drug coalition in the U.S. Free technical assistance can be accessed by calling our toll-free hotline at 1-800-54-CADCA, ext. 240.

While CADCA’s Institute has many valuable resources that can help coalitions frame their applications, staff will not nor cannot answer questions specific to the RFA. Nor does the Institute write or review proposals. For example, we can help you understand a community planning process but will not review your plan for inclusion in the application.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn more about the Drug-Free Communities Support Program!