Effective Strategies for Coalition Building: Lessons from NYC Smoke-Free Parks and Beaches Advocacy Campaign

Introduction: Building strong community-based coalitions is vital to an advocacy campaign. In 2010, the New York City (NYC) Coalition for a Smoke-Free City partnered with community-based organizations, the NYC Health Department, and environmental and health advocacy groups to build support for a policy to prohibit smoking in all parks and beaches in NYC. This presentation outlines components of a successful advocacy campaign and best practices and challenges to coalition building when advocating for tobacco-free policies in one's community.

Methods: Building a community-based coalition requires working with a broad spectrum of community partners, including local and national organizations, government agencies, and community members. Engaging elected officials early and often will increase support for your coalition and policies. Utilizing current research to create communications advocacy materials will help build relationships with key stakeholders and the press and in turn increase earned media and support for a policy. Finally, include potential challenges to coalition building and advocacy when developing a campaign strategy, including working with different stakeholders, competing policy priorities, and managing political landscapes.

Results: Utilizing these methods resulted in a new policy on February 2, 2011 that prohibited smoking in all public parks and beaches in NYC.

Conclusions: These methods incorporate best practices, potential challenges and solutions for coalition building. They describe key components and strategies for a successful advocacy campaign, including an impact assessment of community-based coalitions on passing tobacco-free policies. Overall, developing strategies for building a strong, community-based coalition can greatly assist advocacy campaigns for tobacco-free policies.