Failing to plan is planning to fail.

This simple statement is true for community coalitions. Strategic planning is an old military term used to determine the methods necessary to win battles and ultimately wars. In its original form it was a review of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT). The language has changed to reflect strategic planning's new, expanded role.

In Community Coalition work we talk about VMOSA (Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Action Plans).

Regardless of the words you use, strategic plans are written using the best data possible about what's happening in the field. They are living documents and should be reviewed and updated regularly to reflect changes in the community.

Vision
This is a statement that reflects the ultimate goals of a coalition, i.e. a safe, drug free community.

Mission
This is a statement about the work necessary to accomplish the goal, i.e. to reduce substance abuse among youth and the elderly.

Objectives
Objectives are the methods you are going to use to reach your mission and vision, i.e. reduce middle school students' past 30 day use of alcohol by 15 percent by 2010.

Strategies
Strategies are the things you are actually going to do. Some strategies are: a youth summit, a media awareness event; social marketing plan.

Action Plans
Action plans take your strategies and pull them out into their working steps. Elements in your action plan outlines who will do what steps and the timeline for getting them done. It is essential when you plan your strategies that you also plan how to measure their success. Be sure to include plans to collect information like how many people attend; how many articles appear in the newspaper; and results of pre/post testing. You will need all this information for Evaluation.