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About Tom WolffBiography
Tom has published numerous resources to help communities solve their own problems. His most recent book is The Power of Collaborative Solutions – Six principles and effective tools for building health communities published by Jossey Bass-John Wiley in early 2010.His earlier writings on coalition building include From the Ground Up: A Workbook on Coalition Building and Community Development (with Gillian Kaye, 1997) and The Spirit of the Coalition (with Bill Berkowitz, 2000; American Public Health Association). He is passionate about looking at issues from a community perspective and empowering local communities to solve their own problems. His writings combine theoretical understanding with rich stories and on-the-ground experience. From 1985 to 2002, Tom Wolff founded and directed Community Partners, a technical assistance and training program in coalition building and community development affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Tom Wolff is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, which granted him its 1985 National Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Practice in Community Psychology and its 1993 Henry V. McNeil Award for Innovation in Community Mental Health. In 2000, he received the For the People Against the Tide Award from Health Care for All for his “outstanding efforts to energize and educate local communities in areas of health care justice.” He has held academic appointments at the University of Massachusetts School of Public Health, the University of Massachusetts Medical School Department of Family Medicine and Community Health and Wellesley College’s Stone Center. He received his undergraduate degree from Clark University and his doctorate from the University of Rochester. Download Tom Wolff's current resume in PDF format. PhilosophyCollaborative processes are the key to addressing the critical challenges that confront our communities, our states and our nation in the new millennium. Through collaboration, individuals, organizations and communities become empowered to impact the world around them. Our work exemplifies the power of these processes. For example, in the North Quabbin region of Massachusetts, a community collaboration mobilized the formation of a regional rural transportation system and a grassroots child abuse prevention program. In Worcester, Massachusetts, a Latino Coalition became the impetus for hospitals and HMOs to create medical interpreter programs. In Santa Barbara, an anti-violence collaborative brought police and youth into a successful partnership, dramatically reducing the violence and homicide rate. And, from Washington, DC, The National Funding Collaborative on Violence Prevention successfully launched ten collaboratives across the U.S. to reduce violence and promote peace by engaging the grassroots community in community empowerment. These and hundreds of other success stories have been sources of inspiration and wisdom for us. Yet when we started this work over twenty years ago, we discovered that the task of creating successful coalitions was very challenging. Many energetic and well-meaning groups were struggling and failing. We loved their enthusiasm and wanted to help reduce their failures and frustrations. As we began to work with these groups and discover the keys to success, we shared them with others across the country - through newsletters, tip sheets, consultations and trainings. The positive response to our efforts reinforced our core process - work closely with a wide variety of collaborative efforts, learn from them, create tools and processes to help them progress, and share these gems with others so that more communities can succeed. These remain the core principles of Tom Wolff & Associates today. We are proud to offer the specialized tools and services that can help individual organizations and systems of coalitions work though the challenges of building and maintaining multi-sector collaborations. We aspire to bring greater joy and a deeper sense of spirit and purpose to those seeking to create healthy communities - places where we all want to live and raise our children. Selected Client List
Recent Clients
Feedback from Our Clients“Our contacts with Tom have shown him to be dynamic, extremely knowledgeable and, most importantly, able to provide very clear, simple and practical techniques to help a coalition achieve its goals and vital tasks. Tom has a great style. He helped our group address difficult issues without becoming defensive. He provided us with important information without lecturing and acknowledged our accomplishments and achievements.”Coalition Leader after a Retreat, Ohio “I have worked in or with organizations for over 15 years and attended too many trainings to count. I have never before experienced learning without having to deal with some level (either underlying or overt) of classism or racism until this session. It was a blessing. Thanks.”Training Participant, Massachusetts “I wanted to let you know how much I appreciated the excellent work you did at this years Summer Institute on Population Health. The feedback we have received allows me to say that the Institute was a huge success and you were the reason for it. The participants especially liked the simulation exercise and the learning that came from it. Many thanks for a job well done.”Training Institute Coordinator, Canada Training Participant, Chicago Letter of Support for Tom Wolff
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Tom Wolff & Associates 413-253-2646 or email Home | Healthy Communities | Multiple Coalitions | Customized Consulting | Keynote Addresses | Tools and Resources | About Tom Wolff | Contact Us Copyright © 2003-2015 Tom Wolff & Associates |
Tom Wolff, Ph.D. is a nationally recognized consultant on coalition building and community development, with over 30 years’ experience training and consulting with individuals, organizations and communities across North America. His clients include federal, state and local government agencies, foundations, hospitals, non-profit organizations, professional associations, and grassroots groups.