Planning a Diabetes Activity for Your Community

The NDEP developed the Community Partnership Guide* to provide individuals, organizations, diabetes health educators and other health professionals with ideas, tools, and tips to help communities take action toward controlling diabetes. The Guide provides specific instructions on how to plan, promote, and evaluate diabetes activities.

How do you go about starting a successful diabetes education activity?

The Guide can help you:

• Select and work with partners to help with the activity (pages 17-20)
• Outline the planning meeting (page 21)
• See what your diabetes activity plan might look like (page 22)
• Ask questions about the problems and possible solutions for diabetes control from the community's perspective (page 25)
• Choose an activity, and complete an event planner's checklist, and sample timeline (pages 26-30)
• Publicize your event (pages 32-33)
• Use NDEP campaign PSAs (page 103, print ads in back of guide)
• Identify calendar opportunities to tie your event to national dates with a health focus or cultural significance, e.g., October is Family Health Month, November is American Indian/Alaska Native Heritage Month and National Diabetes Month (page 37)
• Customize camera-ready campaign ads (back of partnership guide), Visit the NDEP Web sites: ndep.nih.gov, and www.cdc.gov/diabetes/ndep
• Evaluate your efforts (page 92)

The Guide also provides lists of resources:

• State Diabetes Prevention and Control Programs, www.cdc.gov/diabetes/states/index.htm (page 125)
• Local diabetes experts (page 15)
• American Indian organizations (page 136)
• *the Community Partnership Guide is available from NDEP by calling 1-800-438-5383 or by downloading an order form from the NDEP website, ndep.nih.gov/diabetes/pubs/catalog.htm#PubsPatCont.

National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP)    http://ndep.nih.gov
NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD

A Joint Initiative of the National Institutes of Health and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention