Communities in Action Oregon

Oregon Advocates for Recovery
Communities in Action Plan


OAR has a tremendous opportunity to bring together the general public, the media, recovery community, treatment professionals, local government and private business is the process of carrying out a grassroots strategy to develop conversations around the state of Oregon in order to create a substantial and meaningful positive impact on the issue of addiction and recovery.

Proposals: Town Halls, House Meetings and Community Meetings

Campaign: Phase I

February 15 – March 30th

Establish primary contacts from Alcohol Advisory committees in all Oregon counties.
Establish primary contacts for all relevant Oxford Houses.
Contact all responsible parties.
Send out campaign plan and programs descriptions to all parties.
Confirm viewing locations and times for all county town hall and house meetings.
Create complete database of names, addresses, primary and secondary contacts for viewing events.
Continue to develop partnerships with local organizations that represent culturally specific populations.
Develop statewide “Oregon ‘Communities in Action’ Strategy Team”
Develop fundraising focus group to ensure that resources are available or forthcoming to carry out campaign






House Meetings: Oregon Advocates for Recovery

Oregon Advocates for Recovery is made up of people in recovery, their loved ones and people impacted by recovery or substance abuse related issues. OAR is the most successful recovery community organizing group in Oregon.

OAR has a structure that is also based on county geography. OAR has county core teams and each team has co-chairs and those co-chairs make up the strategy team, or primary decision making body of Oregon Advocates for Recovery.

OAR has core teams in five counties and each county will host a house meeting each month through out the campaign.


OAR will bring together all parties to fully develop the issues arising out of the film.

Lead Person: Gary Cobb RAP Government and Political Liaison



Phase II: Community Involvement and Discernment
March 15-June 30th

This Phase is the gathering together of community partners in communities across the state to prioritize the focus of conversations arising out of house meetings and community meetings. Recovery advocates, business leaders, treatment professionals will be brought back together for focused discussions to determine specific strategic initiatives.

Town Halls:

OAR will work with State DHS to facilitate town hall style meetings in all thirty six counties in Oregon. Oregon State DHS has agreed to involve the statewide County Alcohol and Drug Abuse Advisory Committees.

There are thirty six Alcohol Advisory committees around the state that meet regularly to discuss and guide the development of substance abuse, resources and services related to recovery.

Each Committee will host a viewing of the Addiction Documentary and hold a town hall style meeting to discuss the issues that arise out the film.

Each committee representative will then report those issues that arise out the discussion to the OAR statewide planning team coordinating the Communities in Action campaign.


Lead Person: Claudia Wilcox of the Oregon Department of Humans Services



Town Hall Meeting Structure




6:00 Gatherings Conversations – Coffee, Refreshments

6:30 Opening-Overview of Evening, Overview of Communities in Action

6:45 Introductions

7:00 Show “Addiction” Documentary; Selected Segments

8:30 Question and Answer

8:45 Discussion and reflection on local community issues

8:55 Proposed next steps. Schedule next meetings. Commitment Sign-up

Each town hall meeting will have facilitation assistance, were possible from members of the Oregon Communities in Action Campaign Strategy Team.

Once the viewing has been completed.
The overriding issues will be brought into focus such as, insurance discrimination and other local issues relevant to that specific community will be the focus of the meetings.








Media: Oregonian, Willamette Week

Strategy of media outreach
Raise public awareness about the prevalence and reality of recovery
Move people to take some action on selected priorities
Put pressure on public officials or other decision-makers to prioritize recovery in policies and practices

We have more than one target audience.
We need to reach:
Recovery community
General Public
Influential local businesses and business leaders
Specific elected officials
Communities of color
Youth
Seniors
Treatment Professionals

Our media strategy is based on what’s likely to be most effective in reaching the target audience.
We will seek interviews on local radio stations targeting their demographics to get the word out about our work (as opposed to writing an opinion piece for the local newspaper, which may be a more effective tool for reaching elected officials or the larger public).
Developing key messages
Different audiences respond to different messages. The next step in planning our media strategy is to figure out the best message for our audiences.
We will frame the issue in two or three main messages aimed at our selected audience.
Our message will not just be a restatement of our goals. It will make the case in a way that persuades our target audience to our point of view so that we will accomplish our goals.

Our message will inspire interest in our target audience (and the media), evoke emotion, and appeal to its sense of right and wrong and its political self-interest.
We will draft short sound bites—catchy one-liners, attention-getting statements, quotable quotes—that capture our issue, will stick with our audience, and use messages that reporters will use and messengers will remember.
We will compile stories and statistics that will make our message more credible, powerful, and persuasive and that ground our message in the facts.

Talking points
We will draft a few key talking points to help our and other spokespersons stay focused on the issues we want to communicate to the media.
We will tailor our talking points to our audiences.
Generate media lists
Our plan also includes putting together a list of local media contacts—newspaper, radio, television, magazine, newsletter, and Internet—that cover we neighborhood, related issues, and constituencies. Also, add reporters we have talked to in the past. Having a list prepared will allow we to quickly and comprehensively identify reporters, columnists, editors, producers, and talk-show hosts to call or e-mail when we are ready to pitch a story.
Find out if any of our coalition members and supporters have prepared a media list they are willing to share. Given our resources, we may, purchase a media database from a commercial vendor as well.

OAR will meet with editorial board of the Oregonian. Appointments to meet with editorial board are being scheduled.
OAR Board of Directors will write letters to the editor of each paper locally.
OAR members will contact reporters directly to inform and invite the press to attend the premier of the HBO documentary “Addiction”
The Oregonian is the largest print newspaper in Oregon.
OAR has established relationships with two key editors on the paper.

Bob Landauer and S. Renee Mitchell have both written positive articles about recovery and the need for expanded recovery services in Oregon.

Willamette Week

OAR has a significant relationship with Willamette Week feature writers Nigel Jaquiss and Nick Budnick who are very open to covering recovery related stories.




House Meeting Structure

Purpose of House Meetings
Build organization by: Viewing Addiction DVD
Building relationships
Identifying potential issues for organizational actions
Engaging people in conversations about things they and ourvalue
Building constituency
Tell/Hear our stories

How house meetings can build an institution
- House meetings must be an action of that institution: board or core group of organizational leaders make a decision to do house meetings.
- Organizer introduces leaders who have agreed to hold house meetings in the neighborhood. They are sent and the community is invited to sign up to attend a house meeting in their neighborhood.
- House meetings and leaders are recognized at regular meetings and over the course of a number of weeks for all the stakeholder organizations and asked to hold small group meetings.

- Leaders form recovery community, teach about house meetings and sign-ups are done for people interested and willing to host a house meeting in their home.
- These new leaders are trained.
- An introduction of house meeting leaders is done at OAR house meetings.
- OAR Center sign-in sheets and are divided according to neighborhood and house meeting leaders do individual meetings with all on the list and invite them to attend house meetings.

- All the above but house meeting leaders not only invite recovery community members but neighbors and friends as well.

House Meeting Attendance Strategy
- Invite more people than are expect to attend, about half will come.
- Try to get firm commitments from people to attend.
- Lay out next steps: If the organization begins to act together on some of these concerns, determine if there is interest in other areas of concern. We will schedule follow-up meeting of the houses and counties to report on these house meetings and begin a strategy for action at date and time by all community leaders who have attended the viewings to commit to ongoing involvement.


Phase III – Mobilizing and Celebrating Recovery

July 1- September 15

The activities of this time period will be greatly influenced by the community meetings and town hall meetings.

Issues focused on will be the result of issues prioritized, researched and developed by the teams, counties and coordinators across the state.

Action on these issues will be determined by a statewide consensus of leaders.

Ron Williams to Organize Churches in Northwest

HOW TO DO AN INSTITUTIONAL HOUSE MEETING CAMPAIGN

1. Purpose of House Meetings

Build institution by: Training leaders

Building relationships

Looking for new leaders

Identifying potential issues for institutional actions

Engaging people in conversations about things they and you value

Building constituency

Tell/Hear our stories

2. How house meetings can build an institution

House meetings must be an action of that institution: pastor, parish council, vestry, deacon board or core group of institutional leaders with pastor make a decision to do house meetings.

Pastor preaches about house meetings on Sunday and introduces leaders who have agreed to hold house meetings in the neighborhood. They are blessed and sent and the congregation is invited to sign up in the pews or after services to attend a house meeting in their neighborhood.

OR

Pastor preaches about house meetings and announcements are made on several Sundays for “House Meeting Sunday” or “Let’s Act Together Sunday” or “(name of organization (COPS, DAI, etc.) Sunday.

After each Sunday service, people meet at church hall and after orientation break into small group meetings.

OR

Pastor preaches about house meetings and leaders are recognized at services and over the course of a week all the organizations of the church hold small group meetings.

OR

Pastor preaches about house meetings and sign-ups are done for people interested and willing to host a house meeting in their home.

These new leaders are trained.

An introduction and blessing of house meeting leaders is done at Sunday services.

Congregational rolls are divided according to neighborhood and house meeting leaders do individual meetings with all on the list and invite them to attend house meetings.

OR

All the above but house meeting leaders not only invite congregational members but neighbors and friends as well.

3. House Meeting Attendance

Invite more people than you expect to attend, about half will come.

Try to get firm commitments from people to attend.

Lay out next steps: If this congregation begins to act together on some of these concerns are you interested? We will be having a follow-up meeting at the congregation to report on these house meetings and begin a strategy for action at (date and time). Will you commit to being there?