Variation in community coalitions’ approaches: Strategic adaptation or unrealized promise?

Community coalitions are multi-sector alliances that collaborate and share resources to effect changes that members would be unable to bring about independently. Although their work is highly context-dependent, how local environments shape coalitions’ strategies and activities remains poorly understood. We analyzed data from in-depth interviews with directors of 36 state-funded, county-level substance misuse prevention coalitions in Tennessee to explore how community coalitions align their approaches to their contexts. We found that the approaches coalitions employ to achieve certain goals depend on the other organizations serving residents, residents’ needs and priorities, and the dynamic networks in which coalitions are embedded. Findings indicate that frameworks emphasizing context-dependent variation represent a promising direction in ongoing coalition research. Findings also suggest that coalitions may not be the optimal form of intervention in some contexts, and mismatches may lead coalitions to be drawn into other forms of collaborative work to meet community needs.