3. We don't know what to do to solve the problem. | Community Tool Box

1. Have we reviewed others' approaches to solving similar problems?

• Toolkit: Analyzing Problems and Goals
• Toolkit: Developing a Framework or Model of Change
• Toolkit: Developing an Intervention
• Links to Databases of Promising Approaches
• Our Model for Community Change and Improvement
• Some Other Models for Promoting Community Health and Development

2. Have we developed a strategic plan for addressing the problem or goal?

• Toolkit: Developing Strategic and Action Plans
• Developing A Strategic Plan
• An Overview of Strategic Planning or “VMOSA” (Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Action Plans)
• Proclaiming Your Dream: Developing Vision and Mission Statements
• Creating Objectives
• Developing Successful Strategies: Planning to Win
• Understanding Risk and Protective Factors

3. Have we engaged stakeholders in designing the intervention to promote ownership and to get their feedback on the appropriateness of the intervention’s goals?

• Some Models for Promoting Community Health and Development
• Leading a Community Dialogue on Building a Healthy Community
• Gaining Public Support for Addressing Community Health and Development Issues
• Encouraging Involvement in Community Work
• Involving Key Influentials in the Initiative
• Involving People Most Affected by the Problem
• Obtaining Feedback from Constituents: What Changes are Important and Feasible
• Building and Sustaining Commitment
• Participatory Approaches to Planning Community Interventions
• Understanding Community Leadership, Evaluators, and Funders: What Are Their Interests?

4. Have we developed clear vision and mission statements?

• An Overview of Strategic Planning or “VMOSA” (Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Action Plans)
• Proclaiming Your Dream: Developing Vision and Mission Statements

5. Have we developed objectives and strategies?

• An Overview of Strategic Planning or “VMOSA” (Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Action Plans)
• Creating Objectives
• Developing Successful Strategies: Planning to Win

6. Have we developed a clear action plan for each community and system change to be sought (or intervention component to be implemented)?

• Toolkit: Developing Strategic and Action Plans
• An Overview of Strategic Planning or “VMOSA” (Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Action Plans)
• Developing an Action Plan
• Identifying Action Steps in Bringing About Community and System Change

7. Have we developed a logic model or framework (i.e., a visual picture for how you will get from present conditions to intended outcomes)?

• Toolkit: Developing a Framework or Model of Change
• Some Other Models for Promoting Community Health and Development
• Developing a Logic Model or Theory of Change

8. Have we engaged local people in selecting, designing, and/or adapting an intervention to fit the situation?

• Encouraging Involvment in Community Work
• Involving Key Influentials in the Initiative
• Involving People Most Affected by the Problem
• Obtaining Feedback from Constituents: What Changes are Important and Feasible
• Participatory Approaches to Planning Community Interventions
• Choosing and Adapting Community Interventions
• Understanding Community Leadership, Evaluators, and Funders: What Are Their Interests?

9. Do we have collaborative leadership to work on this problem or towards this goal?

• Orienting Ideas in Leadership
• Developing a Plan for Building Leadership
• Building Teams: Broadening the Base for Leadership
• Collaborative Leadership

10. Have we identified core intervention components and modes of delivery that reflect an analysis of the problem or goal and available resources?

• Choosing Strategies to Promote Community Health and Development
• Strategies for Community Change and Improvement: An Overview
• Identifying Action Steps in Bringing About Community and System Change

11. Have we determined what we can practically afford to do—financially, politically—given our time and resources?

• Assessing Community Needs and Resources
• Obtaining Feedback from Constituents: What Changes Are Important and Feasible
• Developing a Plan for Financial Sustainability
• Developing a Business Plan

12. Have we planned for how we will adapt the intervention to fit the local context?

• Criteria for Choosing Promising Practices and Community Interventions
• Adapting Community Interventions for Different Cultures and Communities

13. Have we identified anticipated barriers and resistance and how they might be overcome or diminished?

• Responding to Counterattacks
• Identifying Opponents
• Overview of Opposition Tactics: Recognizing the Ten D’s
• How to Respond to Opposition Tactics

14. Have we planned for how we can assure quality implementation and conditions for success?

• Modifying Access, Barriers and Opportunities
• Changing Policies
• Modifying Policies to Enhance the Quality of Services
• Achieving and Maintaining Quality Performance

15. Have we developed a plan to consistently monitor and evaluate our work?

• Toolkit: Evaluating the Initiative
• Introduction to Evaluation
• A Framework for Program Evaluation: A Gateway to Tools
• Developing an Evaluation Plan
• Participatory Evaluation
• Some Operations in Evaluating Community Intervention
• Some Methods for Evaluating Comprehensive Community Initiatives
• Using Evaluation to Understand and Improve the Initiative
• Providing Feedback to Improve the Initiative
• Maintaining Quality Performance