Center for Leadership
and Civic Engagement

 

The CLCE Coalition: Combining Efforts for Positive Change

What is the CLCE Coalition?

The Center for Leadership & Civic Engagement Coalition seeks to unite and develop effective USF student organizations dedicated to community service, social justice and activism. Through on-going trainings, socials, organization development and event planning support the CLCE Coalition works to empower member organizations to turn ideas into action, fostering a community of collaboration for positive social change on campus and in the community.

 

To find out more about the CLCE coalition, please contact staff advisor Emily Odio at enodio@usf.edu.

 

Membership Eligibility

  • Coalition membership is granted to student organizations, not individual members.
  • Must be a registered student organization in good-standing with Office of Student Organizations.
  • Must be self-designated as one of the following Categories in Student Org System (Service, Social Justice, Political) – if organization seeking membership does not self-categorize into one of the 3 mentioned, approval may be granted on a case by case basis from CLCE advisors with input from Coalition Student Coordinator.
  • Member organizations must adhere to all policies of the USF Student Handbook and USF Student Organization Handbook.

 

Student organizations - are you interested in becoming a member of the CLCE Coalition? Registration will begin in Fall 2012!

 

Benefits of Membership:

  • Access to CLCE website, online database & event promotion tool (Service Herd)
    • Member organizations will be able to post upcoming events and meetings to the CLCE website.
    • Member organizations will be able to submit information to CLCE Lead and Serve Listerv to promote events and meetings
  • Access to CLCE meeting and event space (Classroom & Conference Room)
    • Member organizations may request meeting space through CLCE
    • Must follow CLCE room reservation policies.
  • On-going Leadership & Organizational Development and Support for member organizations
    • Leadership Development workshops
    • Organizational needs assessments & support
    • Development of recruitment & retention strategies for individual organizations
  • Increased opportunity and support for collaborative initiatives
    • Assistance with event planning & marketing
    • Assistance with funding development (resource sharing, education about variety of funding sources both on campus and nationally..etc)
    • Partnership Development (USF campus & community partners )
  • Participation with campus-wide Annual Coalition events such as Change the World in 1 Minute or Less and Global Issues Forum.
  • Leadership opportunities within Coalition

 

Why a Coalition?

  1. Strength in numbers. It almost speaks for itself. More people working together means more voices, more helping hands, more clout. Collaboration creates a much more effective team and larger opportunity for impact!
  2. Solidarity. People often take notice when groups with very different purposes come together for a single cause. When groups join with LGBT groups and environmental groups and fair trade groups and community service groups, they unify their message, but they also expose individual members to different elements of the change agent community. Whether between groups or among individuals, networking is essential, especially for fragmented organizations.
  3. Resource Sharing. Everyone has different connections both within campus and in the outside community. Coming together as a coalition allows for all of those connections and resources to be magnified and spread throughout the group.
  4. Communication & Collaboration. When student organizations events all fall on the same day and time this naturally takes away from the success of each event and potential impact. By opening the lines of communication and fostering a community of collaboration we are able to plan ahead to avoid event overlap (both in day/time and type of events), as well as working to get more people involved in each other’s events and initiatives.

Information adapted from: Little Black Book: Coalition Building (2005)

 

CLCE Coalition Member Requirements

  • Must designate 1 or 2 organization member to serve as Coalition representatives.
    • Representatives can hold leadership positions within their respective organizations, but it is not a requirement).
    • The Coalition encourages member organizations to create a "Coalition Representative" position on their executive board.
    • The Coalition encourages member organizations to consider selecting a rising leader within the organization (one who does not currently hold a leadership position, but shows great potential) to serve as one of the 2 Coalition representatives.
  • At least 1 Coalition Representative must attend each bi-weekly Coalition meeting.
    • After 2 unexcused absences in a semester from Coalition meetings an organization’s membership will be brought into question. This will entail a meeting with Coalition advisors and Coalition student coordinator to determine future participation with Coalition & eligibility for Coalition benefits.
    • In order for an absence to be excused notification must be provided in writing to the Coalition advisor at least 24 hours in advance. Every attempt should be made to find an alternative member to attend in representatives place.
  • In all Coalition member organization sponsored activities, members must assume full responsibility for following local, state, and federal laws as well as university regulations, including Student Government regulations as they pertain to organization conduct (elections).
  • Each organization must maintain goals and objectives that are consistent with the educational mission of the University.
  • In accordance with the Office of Student Organization Handbook - Each organization must review and update its constitution at the end of every spring semester, and complete and submit all proper forms by posted deadlines.
  • The Center for Leadership & Civic Engagement maintains a phone & email contact list of a representative from each member organization as an information resource. This list is to be updated at the beginning of each semester, and any time significant changes occur.

 

The Key to Successful Coalitions

Coalition building is an art. More than anything else, it requires individuals and groups to be willing to rise above their feelings of separateness and to actively collaborate in a spirit of mutual understanding, patience, and flexibility. When members share responsibility, goals, decisions, and leadership and energetically and enthusiastically work toward a common goal, the coalition has the potential for great success.

* Adapted from Coalition Building Primer (CDC)