How to Use the Information

As you continue to build and develop the network, maintaining the trust and anticipating possible concerns of your members will ensure the future success of your COIN.

Develop policies and procedures for the information you gather and maintain confidentiality of contact information for your COIN members. As you continue building and updating your database, the information you collect will likely become very attractive to other partners (including federal and state agencies), and you might get requests to share contact information for your network members.

The success of your network is built upon trust. Demonstrate your commitment to COIN members by having clear policies for how contact information will be used and by clearly defining confidentiality issues at the start of your relationship with each member. As keeper of this important contact information, decide ahead of time if you would be willing to disseminate messages on behalf of other partners during normal, non-emergency times, and include policies and procedures for non-emergency communications.

Expand and update your database. You will want to continue expanding the database you created in the "define" phase by adding contact information for community collaborators and program partners. You might also want to add the places where you have been able to locate at-risk populations and their gathering spaces.

As the work to locate and reach at-risk populations continues over time, members of your COIN might change or their contact information might change. Keeping your database current will be extremely important as your work moves forward.