Community Transformation and Sustainability: An Assessment

A vast literature exists describing the benefits of community coalitions as active partners in health promotion and chronic disease prevention efforts at the local level.  However, understanding the status and roles of coalitions with regard to sustainability of coalition-based projects and programs after funding has been discontinued is not well understood. As part of its evaluation efforts, the Illinois Community Transformation Grant ‘We Choose Health’ [WCH] conducted a status assessment using an online survey to understand the activities, experiences and future plans of all 22 grantees and their partnering coalitions with regard to the sustainability of WCH activities at the local level. The data included questions on barriers, successes, sustainability status and current needs for sustainability on each coalition. Findings indicate a majority of coalitions will sustain at least some of their activities (86%) with a majority planning to continue with coordinated school health, smoke-free outdoor public places and worksite wellness activities and strategies. Major barriers to sustainability were suspension of CTG funding at midpoint of programming, staff cuts due to funding cessation and need to re-prioritize activities. Major successes reported were local community engagement and increased recognition of the importance of policy change at the local level.  CTG funding encouraged collaboration among community entities who had not worked together previously but will continue to work in the areas of policy, systems and environmental (PSE) change. This investment was an important step in the community transformation process and valuable experiences  were obtained, despite the unexpected funding discontinuation.