Effective coalition building requires coordination, collaboration, and involvement of diverse community partners from the beginning. FIGH aimed to build coalitions and develop leaders through health systems work by creating an adult coalition and a separate youth leadership development program, which empowered individuals, engaged the community, and advocated for a healthier coalition for underserved communities.

Dignity Health Systems aimed to embed equity in health systems by establishing safety net hospital programs and social services. A multilingual, multicultural program offering health services and education to underserved communities was created to address social determinants of health and reduce disparities.

BCBS MN aimed to address health and racial inequities by establishing coalitions and community partnerships with healthcare systems. This effort led to the development of successful coalitions, increased awareness of equity issues, and the promotion of comprehensive approaches to tobacco control through community engagement.

BCBS MN hoped to reduce inequities affecting diverse and underserved communities through an organizational and systemic approach to racial and health equity. BCBS MN adapted broad, planned structural solutions for internal equity policies and created steering committees to embed equity in health systems.

CPACS formed a youth task force to advocate for tobacco policy change through work with policymakers, partnerships with national nonprofits, and the local tobacco control GATE coalition. Engaging youth in policy initiatives allowed for greater community support for smoke-free ordinance passage and legislative change.

APPEAL adapted the transtheoretical model into a framework for analyzing community readiness for policy change. APPEAL employs the community readiness model to help communities identify and evaluate priority areas of focus to develop policy strategies to change social norms.

APPEAL developed a framework for engaging communities in policy change from identifying policy champions for leadership development to coordinating collaborative efforts with priority populations. The model targets 4 levels of policy change to reduce and eliminate health disparities within communities.

A leadership training institute in MN created infrastructure for policy change through application of the APPEAL leadership model. This case study demonstrates how building community capacity for leadership in tobacco control requires tailored approaches and priority population input for social change.