The STAR Framework: Sustainability Strategies for State and Tribal Elder Justice Coalitions

Written by: Katie Block, MSW, MPH
Published: March 2026

Overview

A direct companion piece to the Center’s structural organizational guide, The STAR Framework delivers an active, actionable process for building long-term coalition stability. Moving past passive or occasional fundraising practices, this guide treats sustainability as an integrated daily web of practices. It merges decades of collective experience in the elder justice landscape with core concepts rooted in organizational development, social justice leadership, and Indigenous Systems Thinking.

The 4 Core Pillars Explored:

• Strategic Resilience (S): Blueprints for establishing reliable and adaptable leadership structures, mitigating volunteer burnout, and executing strategic, diversified funding plans.
• Trust (T): Practical approaches for cultivating deep internal alignment, building cultures of real accountability (via equity pauses and shared power), and executing targeted external awareness and legislative educational campaigns.
• Adaptability (A): Preemptive frameworks for leadership successions, scenario planning for policy shifts, and structural memory-keeping to ensure organizational continuity when founders exit.
• Responsiveness (R): Frameworks for strategic crisis and rapid response management, collaborative practices across intersecting social justice issues, and building sustainable, bipartisan legislative advocacy pipelines.

How to Use This Resource

Designed as a non-prescriptive, modular handbook, each standalone section includes collaborative reflection prompts (“Questions to Consider”), field notes from established coalitions, and dedicated resource links to streamline your operational processes.