Michael McCline did not begin his career intending to build coalitions. He began as a social worker in foster care and later became a school principal and athletic coach. Those roles, he explains, shaped a person-centered philosophy that now defines his work as founder of Impact Community Supports.
“As a principal, I saw students disciplined for behavior that was often rooted in something deeper,” McCline says. “I was always asking what happened before the incident, what was happening at home, what support was missing.”
Before leading a school, he worked as a case manager in foster care in Philadelphia. That experience exposed him to the social drivers that influence health, education, and long-term stability. According to McCline, the common thread across those roles was the recognition that challenges rarely exist in isolation. “A student struggling academically might also be facing housing instability, trauma, or unmet mental health needs,” he notes. Addressing only one dimension, he says, rarely changes the overall outcome.
That observation informed the creation of Impact Community Supports in 2020. Rather than building a nonprofit around a single program, McCline structured the organization around a Communities of Solutions model. The framework centers on coalition building, bringing existing organizations together under a shared umbrella while allowing each to remain a specialist in its field.
“We are not trying to replace anyone’s work,” he explains. “Our role is to connect, align, and strengthen what already exists so that people are not navigating systems alone.”
The context for this approach is a nonprofit landscape that is both mission driven and resource constrained. According to a report, the United States has more than 1.8 million registered nonprofit organizations. That density reflects commitment and civic engagement, McCline notes, yet it also means many groups operate within limited funding pools while addressing overlapping needs.
From his perspective, fragmentation is often structural rather than intentional. Organizations are typically funded to solve a defined issue, whether housing, substance use, workforce development, or mental health. He notes that the result can be strong single-issue programming that does not always intersect with complementary services.
“A family might receive housing support, but without access to mental health care or employment pathways, that stability can be fragile,” he says. “Real change requires an ecosystem.”
Research increasingly supports that systems-based view. The report shows social and economic factors account for approximately 80% of health outcomes, underscoring the importance of coordinated approaches that extend beyond clinical care. For McCline, those findings affirm what he observed in schools and foster care.
Impact Community Supports operationalizes its coalition model through referral pathways and cross-sector partnerships. Instead of delivering all services directly, the organization acts as a warm handoff intermediary. Schools, community members, and partners can connect individuals to mental health providers, substance use resources, or workforce development programs through coordinated networks.
Listening is central to that process. More recently, McCline engaged directly with individuals in community drop-in settings to listen to people with lived experience of substance use and recovery. He frames those conversations as formative, explaining that they continue to shape how the organization designs training and referral models.“We are not designing training or programming in isolation,” he says. “We are asking people what barriers they face, how systems make them feel, and what would actually help.”
Those insights inform capacity-building workshops for organizations that serve populations affected by substance use disorder. Rather than focusing solely on awareness, the training emphasizes policy shifts and practical frameworks that reduce stigma and increase access.
The coalition philosophy extends into innovation as well. Through a new media arm called Unfaded Media, Impact Community Supports plans to embed prevention messaging into short-form content and storytelling formats designed for digital audiences. According to McCline, the goal is cultural change through engagement rather than lecture.
“Young people and adults consume information differently now,” he says. “If we want prevention to resonate, we have to meet communities where they are.”
Ultimately, McCline envisions a nonprofit ecosystem where collaboration is the norm and shared infrastructure reduces duplication. He uses a team analogy drawn from his coaching background. “On a team, everyone can be a star in their role,” he explains. “Success does not require dimming someone else’s light.”
As Impact Community Supports scales initiatives statewide, McCline hopes funders and partners will see coalition building not as an auxiliary function but as core infrastructure. In his view, safe and economically stable communities depend on integrated strategies that acknowledge the interconnected nature of health, education, and opportunity. He says, “If we shift from scarcity to collaboration, we can create systems that feel human, responsive, and sustainable.”