About
Tom Wolff, Ph.D. is a nationally recognized consultant on coalition building and community development, he has a lifetime of 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. As a community psychologist Tom is committed to issues of social justice and building healthy communities through collaborative solutions.
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).
Tom has learned the hard way what it takes to achieve community change. He has been a professional psychologist in practice, has run large mental-health agencies, has built statewide systems of grassroots healthy community efforts, and has consulted nationwide to organizations addressing an array of issues. His dissatisfaction with the traditional helping system led him to create a wide range of community innovations and to work with many types of communities—urban and rural, majority and minority.
He’s 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.
Between 1985 and 2002, Tom founded and directed Community Partners, a technical assistance and training program affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Medical School. It provided guidance and support in coalition building and community development, including independent publication of From the Ground Up, which sold more than 5,000 copies without formal distribution (sold through presentations and website).
Tom 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 presently runs Tom Wolff & Associates. Consulting clients include federal, state, and local government agencies; foundations; hospitals; nonprofit organizations; professional associations; and grassroots groups.
Click here to download Tom Wolff’s current resume in PDF format.
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I am anxious to join–to learn and be informed. Moreover, I need to be in the company of activists and visionaries. jean