The Community Based Coalition of Moose Jaw South Central Region – known colloquially as “the CBC” – forms a liaison between community stakeholders and the organizations that act on their behalf to improve the collective well-being of the community.
On April 24, Rom Jukes spoke on behalf of the CBC during a lunch-hour meeting at the Cultural Centre to address a few foundational topics.
Earlier, Jukes sent out a group survey to explore what sub-groups may be needed in Moose Jaw, which sub-groups require ongoing support, and how best to organize the CBC.
He noticed that, on one side of the equation, publicly funded agencies possess a lot of authority and revenue, but these organizations tend to lack rapport and connection with the community.
“People on the margins of society tend to have some mistrust in government agencies, at least in my experience interacting with various populations,” he said. “So, we definitely need one another.
“Our community needs us to be in communication because someone might not want to walk into the ER, or they might not want to walk into Crescent View Clinic,” he explained. “But they will go to John Howard (or the) Salvation Army (or to) the library.”
These places, however, likely don’t have the same resources as better-funded alternatives which haven’t earned the trust of these individuals.
The CBC helps overcome this by providing – in the good-nature wording Jukes used – “a dumping ground in the best possible sense for all your cares and concerns.”
The CBC then shares these individuals’ concerns with the respective agencies.
The meeting addressed another topic: how can community coalitions remain strong in the long term?
Jukes explained that community actors can be rational, meaning they assume their own actions will not make a collective difference, or irrational, meaning they participate based on their belief in group efficacy.
Group efficacy means that an individual believes a group’s actions affect the group’s goals collectively, and this helps predict an individual’s level of collective support and participation.
The downside to each position is that rational actors feel their involvement makes no difference, so they tend towards freeloading, whereas irrational actors only act when their belief is strong enough.
Jukes then proposed a third approach: participative efficacy.
Participative efficacy is the belief that one’s contribution matters, and thus they’re more likely to participate because they believe their own actions will make a difference.
In a participative efficacy scenario, group members are more likely to hold each other accountable as they feel that individuals matter and are “not just a mass of automatons,” as Jukes put it.
Collective action is not a one-size-fits-all matter, however. One task faced by the CBC is to determine how collective actions apply to residents in Moose Jaw. Answering this will help determine the best way to structure the group going forward.
If an individual feels their involvement will be recognized and is important, they’re more likely to invest in the group, Jukes explained.
The CBC also faces the “silo effect,” where separate agencies do not interact with one another. “I don’t know what Agency X is doing,” Jukes said in an example. “I only know what I’m doing.
“(This) siloing is one of the major things that we’re trying to overcome.”
In an example, Jukes said it’s unlikely a given agency knows what the multicultural council views as lapsing in the community or what the Ministry of Social Services is prioritizing.
“(These agencies) might not know what each other is doing, and it’s not for lack of interest or lack of relevance,” he added.
As a result, the organization says they fail to see the value in others (on a structural level), and with no opportunity to express an individual’s values, a long-term, healthy, and effective organizational structure may not be possible.
He described the process as “a marathon, not a sprint,” and noted that today’s meeting is the result of a year-long process.
“Everybody here is valuable,” he said. “Everybody here has the opportunity to contribute, and we’ll try and find ways to make sure that we feel like what we’re doing matters, and what we’re doing has an impact.”
The CBC now aims to hold three yearly meetings tentatively set for April, July, and November.
To contact the CBC, Rom Jukes can be reached at 306-630-2719 or by email at Rom.Jukes@SaskHealthAuthority.ca.
You can also reach the CBC via Prairie Skies Integration Network at 306-692-6892.
