This guidebook is about helping Hispanic/Latino community groups
organize their communities around a major problem facing Hispanic/Latino
youth—alcohol and drug use.
Why does this guidebook focus on the
Hispanic/Latino community?
Many parents, families, young people, and community
organizations throughout the United States are taking steps to prevent alcohol and drug
abuse in their communities. These people and organizations are building strong
local movements aimed at preventing and decreasing substance use and abuse.
And these efforts are making a difference. In fact, recent studies on the use
of alcohol and drugs by young people in the United States show a decrease in
use overall.
Yet some groups and communities may not be
experiencing these positive outcomes to the same degree. This seems
to be true for the Hispanic/Latino community.
Current research shows that there has been an increase in
substance use and abuse by Hispanic/Latino young people.
Why does this guidebook focus on youth?
This guidebook focuses on youth because many
Hispanic/Latino communities are:
realizing that they can be a critical force
in decreasing substance use and abuse among youth in their communities
effective in organizing their community for youth oriented programs
realizing the importance of strengthening youth's skills required
for resisting substance use and abuse
Prevention efforts appear to be making a difference,
but certain groups, like Hispanics, are not realizing
the positive effects to the same degree
as other populations.
There is an increase in substance use by
Hispanic/Latino young people.
How Will This Guidebook Help You?
This guidebook will:
Give you facts about alcohol and drug use
among Hispanic/Latino youth.
Explain factors that either prevent or contribute
to substance use.
Outline basic steps in community organizing.
Give you some organizing start-up tools.
Identify resources that can help you in your
organizing efforts.
II. A Fact Sheet on Substance Use in the Hispanic/Latino Community
Facts About Hispanic/Latino Youth (Age 12_17)
Cigarettes
About 2 in every 10 Hispanic/Latino youth report smoking
cigarettes recently.
About 6 out of 10 youth report they were at great risk of smoking
one or more packs of cigarettes a day.
Alcohol Use
Alcohol is the main substance used by Hispanic/Latino youth.
Two out of every 10 report using alcohol recently.
About 4 out of every 100 report `heavy use' of alcohol recently.
(There was a slight increase from 1995 to 1996, and again from
1996 to 1997.)
Almost 1 out of every 10 reports recent `binge' alcohol use.
(Binge drinking is defined as drinking 5 or more drinks on one occasion.)
About 5 out of every 10 report being `at great risk' of having 5 or
more drinks once or twice a week.
Illegal Drug Use
About 1 in 10 Hispanic/Latino youth has recently used illegal drugs.
About 3 out of every 10 report being at risk for smoking
marijuana once a month.
About 5 out of every 10 report being at risk for smoking
marijuana once or twice a week every week.
Among eighth-grade students, Hispanics/Latinos have the
highest prevalence for the use of marijuana.
Hispanic/Latino youth have higher rates of marijuana use than non-Hispanic/Latino white youth.
About half of all Hispanic/Latino youth report being at risk for
using cocaine once a month.
Hispanic youth age 12 to 17 report recent use
of substances
as follows:
• About 2 in 10 youth report cigarette smoking.
• Alcohol is used by about two out of 10 youths.
• Almost 1 out of every 10 youth reports
binge alcohol use.
• About 1 in 10 youth has used illicit drugs.
More than half of Hispanic/Latino youth see themselves as
being at great risk for using substances.
Source: Preliminary Results from the 1997 National Household Survey on Drug
Abuse, SAMHSA, Office of Applied Studies, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse Series: H-6.
Facts Related to Substance Use in the General
Hispanic/Latino Community
The main substance used is alcohol.
The two main illegal drugs used are marijuana and cocaine.
Hispanic/Latino use of `any illegal drug' has increased slightly
between 1995 and 1997.
Hispanic/Latino families living in poverty are at greater risk for
having problems with substance use.
Hispanic women often get involved with alcohol and drug use as a
way to be `supportive' of their partner who is using alcohol and drugs.
Hispanic/Latina females use illegal drugs at a younger age than males.
Hispanic/Latino families tend to keep substance use problems `secret' within the family.
Out of all individuals arrested nationally for impaired driving, 1 in
5 were Hispanic/Latino.
The school dropout rate is higher for
Hispanic/Latino students than for other
racial/ethnic groups.
The school dropout rate is higher for
Hispanic/Latino students than for other racial/ethnic groups. In
some communities, half of the youth drop out of
high school. (Substance use is related to school
dropout rates and poor performance in school.)
In at least one study, six out of 10
Hispanic/Latina pregnant adolescents report drinking beer or
wine before their third month of pregnancy, and half
report smoking marijuana.
Compared to other racial groups,
Hispanics/Latinos come in second highest in use of alcohol,
binge drinking and heavy alcohol use.
III. Factors Related to Substance Use and Abuse
Research has shown that there are many positive and negative factors at
work that either prevent, or contribute to, substance use and abuse.
Factors that help to prevent substance use and abuse are
called protective factors.
Factors that contribute to, or increase the risk of, developing
a substance use and abuse problem are called risk factors.
Research has also shown that in order to prevent substance use and abuse,
two things must happen:
factors that increase the risk of developing the problem must
be identified, and
ways to reduce the impact of those factors must be developed.
The information that follows will help you to
better understand the protective and risk factors related
to substance use and abuse, and help you to
identify those factors in your community. This, in turn,
will help you to develop the ways that your group
can work to enhance the protective factors and reduce
the risk factors.
The secret to a healthy community is the balancing of protective and risk factors by increasing the protective factors while decreasing the risk factors.
A. General Factors Related to Substance Use and Abuse
General Protective Factors
It is important to understand why some youth who are exposed to many
risk factors do not become substance abusers
or juvenile delinquents, school dropouts, or teen parents for that matter. It's because they also possess or
are exposed to some protective factors that help them resist, fight, or
`beat the odds' against substance use.
These protective factors can be grouped into the following
three categories:
1. Bonding or having access to people with
whom youth can have healthy relationships, such as
families, friends, school, and community.
Three conditions are necessary for bonding:
Opportunities: youth must have
the opportunity to contribute to their community, family, peers, and school.
Skills: youth must be taught the
skills necessary to take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to them.
Recognition: youth must be recognized
and acknowledged for their efforts.
2. Healthy Beliefs and Clear Standards,
such as
having clear, positive standards for behavior
being consistently supported
being given consistent consequences for not following standards
being committed to achieving the goals valued by the groups to
which they attach
Youth must be taught the skills necessary to
take advantage of the opportunities that are presented
to them.
3. Individual
Characteristics which can include the following
gender
a resilient or "beat the
odds" temperament
positive social attitudes
intelligence
physical and mental health
personality traits
General Risk Factors
Risk factors are often grouped into the
following four categories:
1. Community Risk Factors, such as:
exposure to alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use
conflicting attitudes in the community about drug use
extensive exposure to drug use as shown in the media
high rates of mobility, or people `moving from one place to another'
a low `sense' of neighborhood and community
amount of poverty, poor housing, and crime
2. Family Risk Factors, such as
family history of behavior problems, including substance use
family management problems, including a lack of
clear expectations for behavior and failure of parents to
monitor their children.
family conflict among caregivers or between caregivers
and children.
parents' attitudes about drug use, or their use of alcohol and drugs
3. School Risk Factors, such as
early and ongoing behavior problems in school
student academic failure, and failure of the school system to meet
the needs of students
negative attitudes about schools, going to school, and learning
4. Individual Risk Factors, such as
not feeling bound by rules, or not believing in trying to be
successful (alienation and rebelliousness)
having friends who have behavior problems, including
delinquency, substance use, violent activity, early sexual activity, and dropping
out of school
a change in attitude toward self-acceptance of the behavior
problems, especially upon entering middle school
early start of behavior problems, especially in the early teens
behaviors have a mental or physical basis that may need diagnosis
and treatment
Generalizations about Risks
The following five points reflect some generalizations
that can be said about risk factors:
1. Risks exist in all areas of life
2. The more risk factors present, the greater
the risk
3. Common risk factors help to predict
various problem behaviors
4. Risk factors do not vary across racial or
cultural groups
5. Increasing protective factors can reduce risks
A major protective factor for the
Hispanic/Latino culture is its concept of family—which
is rooted in cultural tradition.
B. Protective and Risk Factors in the Hispanic/Latino
Community
Protective Factors for the Hispanic Community
The Hispanic/Latino culture provides many of the protective factors that
help prevent substance use and abuse. These include:
Bonding
— "Familialismo"
— Multigenerational kinship network
— Ethnic pride
— Commitment
— "Simpatia"
— Strong female presence
Healthy Beliefs and Clear Standards
— Spiritualism
— Respect (hierarchical based on age)
— Trust
— "Confianza"
— Concern for children
Individual Characteristics
— Dignity
— "Personalismo" (interpersonal skills)
Risk Factors for the Hispanic Community
Community Risk Factors,such as
exposure to alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use
conflicting attitudes in the community about drug use
extensive exposure to drug use as shown in the media
high rates of mobility, or people `moving from one place to another'
poverty, poor housing, and crime
barriers to employment, communication problems due to lack
of proficient English skills, and discrimination and
acculturation experiences
Family Risk Factors, such as
parents' attitudes about drug use, their use of alcohol and drugs, and
in some cases, their approval of such behaviors
family management problems, including lack of clear expectations
for children's behavior and failure of parents to monitor their children.
family conflict among caregivers or between caregivers and
children, particularly if youth assimilate much quicker than their parents
or caregivers, which results in conflict between the generations.
family history of behavior problems, including substance use
School Risk Factors, such as
academic failure beginning in elementary school
failure of school system to meet the needs of students
difficulty `fitting in' at school and in social activities
Individual Characteristics,such
as
early start of behavior problems, especially in the early teens
having friends who have behavior problems, including
delinquency, substance use, violent activity, early sexual activity, and dropping
out of school
not feeling bound by rules, or not believing in trying to be
successful (alienation and rebelliousness), not knowing how to relate to
peers from other cultures and groups in the community, having weak
social ties with peers and a reduced sense of belonging to the school
particularly for migrant youth or youth who move from place to place
a change in attitude toward acceptance of the behavior
problems, especially upon entering middle school
behaviors that have a mental or physical basis that may need
diagnosis and treatment
Please see Figure 1 for a graphic presentation of protective factors and
risk factors within the Hispanic/Latino culture and community
There are many children and youth who have been
able to have a healthy growth and development despite the
many risks that present odds against them.
In general, youth experience high levels of
personal and social stress and conflict. Hispanic
youth encounter and face additional risk factors.
IV. What Can You Do?
If you are asking yourself what you can do to help prevent substance
use among the youth in your community, there are many options for you.
A. As a parent and family member ...
You can take some simple, everyday actions that
can make a big difference in children's lives.
Listen to what they are saying
Talk with them
Find out how they are doing in school
Give them advice
Provide encouragement
Get them involved in activities
Play games with them
Be aware of the messages they are getting from the media
Have clear expectations for their behavior
Let them know what your expectations are for their behavior
Know where your children are
Know who your children's friends are
Be consistent in your training and discipline
Develop ways to have meaningful participation in children's lives
Acknowledge children for their efforts
Talk with them about substance use and abuse!
B. As a community member...
You can help your community organize to develop effective substance
abuse prevention programs.
Communities that are organized have been able to increase the
protective factors and decrease the risk factors that are related to substance use and
abuse. They have done this by developing programs that:
Help youth develop behavior skills
Develop and improve parenting skills
Provide needed support services
Improve the environment
Make acculturation easier
You can take some simple, everyday actions that
can make a big difference in children's lives.
Increase community influence
Please see Section VI and Figure
2 for a list of strategies that are proven effective in
enhancing protective factors and decreasing risk factors.
Please keep in mind that
successful community organizing happens
when community members, like you, become the experts, define the protective and risk
factors for your community, and come up with
creative solutions that make use of the
community's energy, commitment and resources.
it is most important that community organizers engage in a process
of strategic planning which can guide them through their efforts.
C. Become Successful!
What can your group do to make sure you succeed?
As your community action group begins to work and grow, you should
consider why some movements succeed and others fail. A few reasons for success
of action groups are as follows:
The group includes all persons and organizations that have a stake
in the work of the group.
The action group develops clear goals, sets priorities, and makes
sure everyone in the group understands the goals and priorities.
The group works toward a consensus on the actions to be taken
to accomplish the goals, and sets timelines for taking those actions.
The group uses good organizational and management skills
and conducts itself in a businesslike manner.
The group is realistic about the amount of
time and planning it will take to meet its goals.
The group starts with small steps and does
not take on too much at once—avoiding burnout and frustration.
Members of the action group continue to
`grow' as community organizers by adding to their awareness and
knowledge of the community.
The group meets its goals and becomes more visible to its
supporters, current and future funders, and to the community-at-large.
The next section in this guidebook will help you get started in your
community organizing efforts.
The action group develops clear goals, sets
priorities, and makes sure everyone in the group
understands the goals and priorities.
Figure 2
Strategies for Decreasing Risk Factors for Substance Use
Strategy
Specific Activities
Information dissemination
• Drug-free workplace policies
• Messages that appeal to youth
• PSAs that air when youth watch television
• Youth-oriented mass media campaigns
Prevention Education
• Parenting and child management skills
• Parental leadership activities
• Communication skills
• Problem solving skills
• Coping skills
• Role of parent in child development and child learning
Alternatives
• Classes on cultural history, values and traditions
• Sessions on coping with challenges of growing up a in
new country
• Ethnic appreciation events
• School organization activities
• Sessions to develop social competence skills and
youth/peer behavior skills
• Community service opportunities
• Mentoring programs
• Drug-free activities and social events
• Health care needs, including family therapy, mental health
needs early and unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted
diseases, home visits
• Education issues, including ESOL, GED academic support,
school failure and delinquency
• Career and family planning services
• Social support, including child care, transportation, and
meals.
Problem identification and referral
• Build connections between school and families
• Develop local and statewide coalitions
• Develop multi-agency activities
• Enhance community involvement
Community-based process
Environmental
• Clean up community
• Enhance signage
• Develop campaigns to influence media messages
• Develop anti-drug use media materials
• Influence establishment and enforcement of minimum
purchase age requirements
• Influence development of price deterrents
V. Models for Organizing and Building Successful Prevention Programs
What types of programs work?
Programs that target systems and
groups and use many strategies are most effective in
affecting substance use
and abuse
among youth.
This toolkit provides you with three models that can be followed in
your organizing efforts and in developing programs to address substance
use among the youth in your community. You can use the models as is
or adapt various steps from each to create a tool that is useful to you
in undertaking your activities.
The following three models are included in this section.
(Please see the Appendices B-D for additional information on each model.)
A Five-Step Process for Organizing Your Community
A Sixteen-Step Model for Becoming Part of a Solution
Seven Steps to Building a Successful Prevention Program
Five Steps to Community Organizing
Step 1: Define Your Community
Step 2: Research Your Community
Step 3: Set Your Priorities
Step 4: Make a List of Stakeholders
Step 5: Hold a Stakeholders' Meeting
A 16-Step Model for Becoming Part of a Solution
The following 16 steps were developed by the National Council of La Raza (May 1989) to
help community leaders become more effective and appropriately involved, based on a logical
decision-making process. The steps have been adapted to help you figure out how to proceed with
strategies for impacting on substance abuse in your community.
1. Learn the basics about the problem.
2. Educate your organization
3. Identify the local players
4. Become known as a player.
5. Assess Hispanic community needs
6. Help develop a plan
7. Study alternative roles
8. Understand what you're getting into
9. Decide on your agency's role
10. Develop a plan of action
11. Become wise
12. Develop networks
13. Become a Hispanic voice
14. Find the money you need
15. Make a difference
16. Monitor and assess your progress
Seven Steps to Building a Successful Prevention Program
1. Determine Your Community's Readiness for Organizing
2. Conduct a Community Assessment
3. Translate Data Into Priorities
4. Identify programs and services that exist in the community.
5. Target Your Efforts
6. Follow Guiding Principles and Best Practices
7. Evaluate
VI. Developing Prevention Programs
Designing an effective substance abuse prevention program
involves following some `tried-and-true' principles and strategies. Below
you will find the six basic categories used for describing
prevention strategies, followed by some specific strategies for
developing prevention programs. You will also find a list of some general principles
and practices for designing and developing prevention programs.
A. Strategies for Prevention Programs
Types of Prevention Efforts
Prevention strategies have been categorized in a
variety of different ways. SAMHSA/ CSAP promotes
the following six strategies:
1. Information strategies seek to provide
awareness and knowledge about: 1) the extent and effects
of substance use and abuse on individuals,
families, and communities; and 2) the prevention
programs and services that exist in the community.
Develop a planning process that will result in a
clear program purpose, an organizational structure, and a
plan for action.
2. Education
strategiesseek to increase communication on activities
that will affect critical life and social skills, including
decision-making, refusal skills, critical analysis (for example, of media messages),
and systematic judgment abilities.
3. Problem Identification and Referral
strategiesseek to identify those who use illegal drugs, alcohol, and tobacco and refer them
to prevention-education and treatment programs.
4. Alternatives are strategies that seek to provide
substance-free activities for targeted populations.
5. Community-based strategiesseek to enhance the community's ability to effectively provide prevention programs and services.
These strategies include networking, organizing, coalition
building, collaboration activities, planning, and program development.
6. Environmental strategies seek to establish or change written
and unwritten community laws, standards, codes, and attitudes in order
to lessen the extent and effects of substance use.
B. Specific Prevention Strategies
This section provides examples of specific strategies for developing
prevention programs. Figure 2 depicts the program components in a chart format.
Information Dissemination
Develop education programs that are designed to increase
the knowledge youth have about the hazards of substance use, and
to develop negative attitudes toward alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
Use the mass media to change knowledge, behaviors, and
attitudes about substance use and abuse.
Create media campaigns that are geared toward youth and avoid
using authority figures and threats to get the message across.
Prevention Education
Create educational program components and activities that are led
by youth, for youth.
Offer educational programs that are intensive and repeated, year
after year.
Design interactive educational programs that have youth acting-out
or role-playing prevention scenarios.
Establish programs that include the whole family.
Problem Identification and Referral
Be prepared to identify and refer youth who come into the
prevention program and who already have an alcohol or drug problem.
Provide transportation to drug treatment programs.
Be aware that early identification programs can pose risks to the
youth involved. For example, labeling youth can pose risks to them.
There also may be risk in exposing youth whose patterns of use may be
only experimental to youth with more problematic substance abuse
and other deviant behaviors.
Identify the needs of the youth who come into the prevention
program, and then identify the types of programs and services that exist or
need to be developed in the community to meet these needs.
Alternatives
Create different kinds of activities for different types of youth
groups, and involve youth in the development of these programs.
Create opportunities for community service which allow youth to
"give back" to their community.
Set up adult-youth mentoring programs.
Develop recreation and cultural activities that are
structured, supervised, and monitored.
Create opportunities for community service which
allow youth to "give back" to their community.
Develop programs that provided family therapy
and training in parenting skills.
Develop programs that are ongoing and offer youth many hours
of involvement.
Develop programs that provided family therapy and training
in parenting skills.
Design programs that address not only substance abuse, but
also physical and mental health problems, family problems, early
and unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, school
failure, delinquency, and the needs of juvenile offenders.
Create program alternatives that take part in the community's
overall prevention effort and the development of strong community
norms against substance use.
Community-based Processes
Create community partnerships that include groups from all parts of
the community and prevention activities that reach a large number
of individuals.
Develop activities that will increase coordination of efforts
between public and private agencies, including law enforcement and
service providers. Such coordination can increase the chances of
getting funding, which in turn will increase access to and quality of
prevention and treatment services.
Establish community-based coalitions that have a clear
understanding of their purpose. This will facilitate coalition development
and, ultimately, coalition success.
Develop a planning process that will result in a clear program
purpose, an organizational structure, and a plan for action.
Ensure that all members of the coalition have a shared purpose
and plan for action. If coordination of services is the task,
organization leaders need to be involved. If community mobilization is the
task, grassroots activists and community citizens must be involved.
Ensure that coalition members see that the time and effort they
have contributed to the coalition have been worthwhile, and that they
receive awards and rewards for participating.
Organize the coalitions and programs in a way that makes it easy
for members to work well together. For example, complicated
committee structures are often not productive and can even be
counterproductive. Committees or task forces without specific purposes or
responsibilities tend to lose members.
Implement strategies that have proven to be effective. Use
the knowledge that has come from research on prevention strategies.
Design programs that address not only substance abuse, but
also the many other problems youth may manifest.
Environmental Approaches
Price Interventions
Petition for a tax increase on alcohol and tobacco, thereby
increasing the price and decreasing the use of these substances.
Minimum Purchase Age Interventions
Petition to raise the minimum age for buying alcohol to age 21.
Petition to raise the minimum age for buying tobacco.
Petition to have existing minimum-age laws enforced.
Develop a public awareness campaign about noncompliance with
the above laws if you find that retailers in the community are
not complying with these laws or are not being punished
for noncompliance.
Deterrence Interventions
Petition to reduce the legal BAC (blood alcohol content) limit to .08.
Create interventions addressing location and density of retail outlets
Promote limits on how many alcohol retail outlets can be in
the community and restrictions on where those outlets can be located.
Develop community and neighborhood anti-drug activities, such
as neighborhood watch and citizen patrol activities, that will
decrease sales of illegal drugs.
Restrictions on use
Help establish restrictions on substance use in public places and
private workplaces.
Server-oriented interventions
Create training programs that teach servers about laws,
enforcement, and penalties regarding selling or serving alcohol to
intoxicated patrons and minors.
Create training programs that teach servers how to identify signs
of intoxication, use of fake or false identification, and how to refuse
sales in these situations.
Counteradvertising
Create counteradvertising campaigns that disseminate
information about the hazards of products, such as alcohol and tobacco, and
about the industry that promotes and benefits from the sales of
these products.
The five-step process outlined below will help you in your organizing efforts
in your community. Several forms are included that will help you carry out
some of the tasks involved in this 5-step process.
Develop community and neighborhood anti-drug activities
C. Guiding Principles and Best Practices for Prevention Programs
Prevention programs should:
be designed to strengthen protective factors and reduce risk factors
target the use of all forms of drug abuse, including tobacco,
alcohol, marijuana, and inhalants
include training on how to resist drugs when offered, and work
to strengthen personal commitments against drug use
work to increase social competency (in communications,
peer relationships, self-efficacy, and assertiveness), in conjunction
with reinforcement of attitudes against drug use
be designed for specific age groups
include interactive learning activities, such as peer discussion
groups, rather than just direct teaching by an instructor
be long term and ongoing, and especially provide repeat
interventions during the transition from elementary school to middle high
school, and to high school
include a component for parents and caregivers so they will be able
to reinforce what the children are learning about drug use, and feel
more comfortable about having family discussions about drug use.
address the drug abuse problem as it relates to the local community
be culturally sensitive
be adapted to the specific nature of the drug problem in the community
include a focus on the family, a factor proven to have a greater
impact than efforts that focus on parents only or children only.
include a more intensive prevention efforts and begin earlier, if
the level of risk factors is high within the target population
include media campaigns and policy changes, such as new
regulations that restrict access to alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs, in
conjunction with school and family intervention programs in the community
strengthen norms against drug use in all drug abuse prevention
settings, including the family, the school, and the community
use the schools which are a place where prevention efforts can
reach many different populations — schools also serve as
important prevention settings for reaching special populations at risk for
drug abuse, such as children with behavior problems or learning
disabilities and those who are potential dropouts
prove cost effective if the program is effective. For every dollar
spent on drug use prevention, communities can save 4 to 5 dollars in cost
for drug abuse treatment and counseling
To find a brief description of what programs are doing, please go to the
next section of this book, Appendix A.
Include a component for parents and caregivers so
they will be able to reinforce what the children are
learning about drug use, and feel more comfortable
about having family discussions about drug use.
Appendix A — Resources To Help You
This section identifies programs and organizations that can provide
you with additional information. A chart is also available on
"Learning About Alcohol, Tobacco, and Illicit Drugs"
social activities; educational and enrichment activities.
Parental leadership activities.
****
SMART Leaders
Tena L. St. Pierre, Ph.D.
D. Lynne Kaltreider, M.Ed.
The Pennsylvania State University, Institute for Policy Research
and Evaluation
N253 Burrowes Building
University Park, Pennsylvania 16802
Phone: 814-865-9561
Fax: 814-865-3098
Target population: 14 to 17 year olds at risk who have completed a
Stay SMART program.
Activities: An educational curriculum focusing on self esteem; coping
with stress; and resisting pressures to use drugs and to engage in sexual
activity; peer leadership activities; monthly youth activities.
****
Strengthening Families Program (SFP)
Dr. Rose Alvarado
Department of Health Promotion and Education
University of Utah
300 S. 1850 E, Room 215
Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0920
Phone: 801-581-8498
Target population: children of substance abusers; and families
with children ages 6 through 10.
Programs at Work in the Community
These prevention programs are examples of comprehensive, integrated
programs that attempt to strengthen protective and resiliency factors in children
and families.
Across Ages
Andrea S. Taylor, Ph.D.
Temple University, Center for Intergenerational Learning
1601 N. Broad Street, USB 206
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
Phone: 215-204-6708
Fax: 215-204-6733
http://www.temple.edu/cil Target Population: sixth grade students (ages 11 to 13 years old).
Activities: Intergenerational mentoring on a one-on-one
basis; engaging youth in community service activities; training classroom
teachers to administer the life skills curriculum; providing weekend
and evening activities to engage families, mentors, and youth.
****
DARE To Be You
Jan Miller-Heyl, MS
Colorado State University Cooperative Extension
215 N. Linden, Suite E
Cortez, Colorado 81321
Phone: 970-565-3606
Fax: 907-565-4641
Target population: primary prevention program for children
ages 2 to 5 and their families
Activities: Family component: parent, youth, and family training
and activities that teach self responsibility, personal and parenting
efficacy, communication and social skills, and problem solving and decision
making skills; school component—training and support for child care
providers; community component—training in the DARE To Be You strategies
to community members who interact with the target families.
****
Family Advocacy Network
(FAN Club)
Tena L. St. Pierre, Ph.D.
D. Lynne Kaltreider, M.Ed.
Irwing Feller
The Pennsylvania State University, Institute for Policy Research
and Evaluation
N253 Burrowes Building
University Park, Pennsylvania 16802
Phone: 814-865-9561
Fax: 814-865-3098
Target population: parents of participants in SMART
Moves programs, ages 10-17.
Activities: Individual basic support to help families deal with stress and
to encourage involvement in family activities; regularly scheduled
group
Activities: to reduce risk factors for substance abuse and other
problem behaviors the program builds on protective factors—improving
family relationships, parenting skills, and improving the youth's social and
life skill.
****
Strengthening Multi-Ethnic Families and Communities
Marilyn L. Steele, Ph.D.
1220 S. Sierra Bonita Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90019-2552
Phone: 323-936-0343
Fax: 323-936-7130
Target population: parents of children ages 3 through 18. Focus: to reduce drug/alcohol use, teen suicide, juvenile
delinquency, gang involvement, child abuse, and domestic violence.
Activities: Parent training classes focusing on cultural/spiritual
values, rites of passage, positive discipline, enhancing relationships, and
family/community violence and community involvement.
Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco (LCAT)
1875 Connecticut Ave., NW
Suite 732
Washington, DC 20009
Tel: 202-265-8054
Fax: 202-265-8056
http://www.lcat.org
Operates a hotline assisting callers with referral information
regarding alcohol use. Provides resources on Latino health in the areas of
alcohol and tobacco use, violence and other issues effecting Latino
communities. Clearinghouse disseminates information locally and nationally
and provides tools to organize effective community coalitions. Distributes
a national quarterly newsletter.
****
National Coalition of Hispanic Health and Human
Services Organizations (COSSMHO)
1501 16th Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20036-1401
Tel: 202-387-5000
Fax: 202-797-4353
http://cossmho.org
COSSMHO is a national organization dedicated to improving the health
and well-being of Hispanic/Latinos. Services include capacity
building and infrastructure building for community based
organizations, community organizing and planning, proposal development and
grant writing, cultural competency training and resource materials.
****
National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
1111 19th Street, Suite1000
Washington, DC 20036
(800) 311-NCLR or 202-785-1670
Fax: 202-776-1792
http://www.nclr.org
Provides assistance to Hispanic/Latino
community-based organizations—proposal
development for community-based organizations, resource distribution,
program evaluation and issues training.
Puerto Rican Organization for Community Education
and Economic Development, Inc. (PROCEED)
815 Elizabeth Avenue
Elizabeth, NJ 07201
Tel: 908-351-7727 Fax: 908-353-5185
Serves Hispanic/Latino communities —needs assessment
and organizational audits, board development, staff
development, networking and collaboration links and resource distribution.
****
Center for Community Change
1000 Wisconsin Ave.
Washington,D.C. 20007
Tel: 202-342-0567 Fax: 202-342-1132
http://www.communitychange.org
The Center assists people in developing the skills needed
to improve their communities and to change policies and institutions
that affect their lives. Services include research and training. The web
site offers a preview of publications for community organizing,
definitions and explanation of community organizing, and links to
organizations that offer training and technical assistance to those who wish
to organize communities.
****
Midwest Academy
28 East Jackson, Suite 605
Chicago, IL 60604
Phone: 312-427-2114
Fax: 312-427-2307
A national training center for community organizers and
social change groups. Training includes workshops on social
change movements, direct action, choosing issues, recruiting leaders,
building coalitions and understanding power.
Where To Get Help
This list represent a few community action groups that assist
communities to organize by providing assistance in community building, and
providing information and training to individuals and communities.
Aspira Association, National Office
1444 Eye St., NW, 8th Fl, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: 202-835-3600
Fax: 202-835-3613
http://aspira.org
Provides education and training for the Hispanic community. Its
national office provides policy analysis and disseminates information
regarding conferences, health care for Latinos, current research projects, and
funding opportunities for its affiliated members.
Where to Get Additional Information
These resources include internet sites, clearinghouses and studies that
will provide you with information on alcohol and drug use, related crime
statistics, health promotion, and children and families.
SAMHSA National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug
Information (NCADI)
P.O. Box 2345
Rockville, MD 20847-2345
This site contains information on alcohol and drug
prevention, including educational materials, surveys, prevention programs
and alcohol and drug and mental health data. Also provides information
about the Regional Alcohol and Drug Awareness Resource
(RADAR) Network, which may have a resource center in your area.
****
Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
Drug Information
P.O. Box 6000
Rockville, MD 20849-6000
Toll free 800-666-3332
Fax: 301-519-5212
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov
Operates a toll free 800 number staffed by drug and crime
information specialists. The Clearinghouse disseminates information on drug
use trends, drug related crime issues and national drug control policy and
the Website provides information for children, teens and parents.
Healthfinder
http://healthfinder.com
Healthfinder is a gateway consumer health information website from
the U.S. government. This site can lead you to selected online
publications, databases, websites, support and
self-help groups, and government agencies and not-for-profit organizations
that produce reliable health information for the public.
****
YouthInfo
http://Youth.os.dhhs.gov
This website provides the latest information on America's youth.
You will find recent reports on America's youth, youth topics, resources
for parents and a gateway to other like sites.
****
National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)
P.O. Box 6000
Rockville, MD 20849-6000
Phone: 800-851-3420
Fax: 301-519-5212
http://www.ncjrs.org
Operates the Justice Information Center, which provides
information on crime prevention, criminal justice statistics, drugs and crime,
juvenile justice, research, and evaluation. Also provides an abstract database.
National Maternal and Child Health Clearinghouse
2070 Chain Bridge Road, Suite 450
Vienna, VA 2218
Phone: 703-902-1326
Fax: 703-821-2098
http://www.mchs.org
Provides resources on maternal and child health including a
publications catalog and full-text publications on line, links to publications from
other sources, State resource sheets, forums and links to related sites.
****
National Neighborhood Coalition
1875 Conneticut Ave., Suite 410
Washington, D.C. 20009
Provides information on health topics such as substance abuse,
violence, infant mortality, and diabetes.
OMH-RC offers customized database searches, publications, referral
and more for ethnic groups including Hispanic/Latino populations.
Centers for Applied Prevention Technologies (CAPT)
CAPT centers provide technical assistance, including both information
and skills development, to designated agencies and projects in the field of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Illicit Drug (ATID) prevention, Violence and AIDS prevention.
Border CAPT
Arizona-Mexico Border Health Foundation
2501 E. Elm Street
Tucson, AZ 85716
Appendix B
A Five-Step Process for Organizing Your Community
Step 1: Define Your Community How are you going to define your community?
It is important to have a clear definition of your community so that you
can focus your organizing efforts.
Community can be defined in many ways. One person might define it as
the entire town or city. Another person might think the community is
the immediate neighborhood, made up of a few blocks. One parent might define
it as a school district, while another parent defines it as the area around
the neighborhood school. Other people may be thinking of a particular age
or cultural group.
Thus, the first step is for your group to agree on what the
`boundaries' will be for your community organizing effort.
Defining Your Community
Identify the boundaries of the area in which
you will focus your effort.
Is the community the entire city? Is it the town? Is it
the neighborhood?
Can you identify the streets that border the outside of
your community?
Identify the group on which you will target your efforts.
Do you want to focus on elementary school children?
Or middle school children?
What about all youth under 18?
Step 2: Research Your Community
What programs and services already exist in your
community?
It is very likely that there are already some programs and services in
your community that are working to strengthen protective factors. So a
very important step is to take an inventory of services and programs that
are available in your community, especially youth programs.
Knowing what programs and services are being offered in your
community will help your group to:
Avoid duplication of services and make wise use of your funds
and efforts.
Build on the positives that already exist in your community.
Find out if and how the programs and services your group
developed made a difference. You will only know this if you know what
existed before you started your organizing efforts.
Community Intervention
Identifying Existing Services
Use the following sources to get information:
churches
schools
health facilities
youth clubs
neighborhood groups
businesses
neighbors
family members
telephone
directory
directories of city services
How do you get information on existing services and programs?
There are many sources in your community where you can get information
on programs and services. One of the best places to begin is with your
family, friends and neighbors. They are very likely to know about many of
the programs that exist. Or check out some of the sources listed in the margin
of this page.
Step 3: Set Your Priorities
What problems should your group focus on?
Your group should first find out what protective factors
do not exist in the community. You can do this by asking members of the community
which protective factors they think are missing in the community and how
important they think those factors are. Based on the information you get from
the `survey,' you should be able to list the priorities for your organizing effort.
Two tools that you can use in this task are included in this guidebook:
"Inventory of Protective Factors in the Community," and
"Identifying Community Priorities and Stakeholders."
[see Appendix E]
Once you have listed the priorities, it is important for the group to agree on
a definition of each priority. For example, consider the following:
If `adequate and safe child care settings that promote learning' is
a priority, the group needs to further define what that means. Does
it include evening care for those parents who work nights? Does
it include a required number of play activities each day? Does it
mean licensed settings only?
If `building support systems for families' is a priority, you may want
to further define what you mean by support, or whether the system is
for parents and adolescents only or new parents and their newborns only.
For help with this exercise, you may want to contact other prevention
programs to see how they have defined and set priorities. You will find a list of
these programs in the directory in Appendix A.
Step 4: Make a List of Stakeholders What are stakeholders?
Stakeholders are the persons and organizations in your community that
may benefit in some way from what your group is doing. They have a `stake'
in what you are doing, and they are the persons and organizations you need
to work with to accomplish your organizing tasks.
For example, if `adequate and safe child care settings that promote learning'
is one of your priorities, you need to find out which persons and organizations
in the community have a stake in the development of child care services.
This should include both service providers and families who need the services.
(See list at right.)
In setting your priorities, identify some small
steps. Do not take on
too much. Avoid burnout and frustration.
Make a List of Stakeholders
young people
parents
elders
clergy
elected officials
business leaders
civic group leaders
neighborhood groups
law enforcement
school personnel
social service agencies
health providers
media
alcohol and drug program
leaders
social clubs
gay and lesbian organizations
Step 5: Hold a Stakeholders' Meeting Why should you meet with your stakeholders?
You should meet with stakeholders for the following reasons:
1. To convince them that there is a need in the community for more
drug and alcohol prevention programs and services for youth.
2. To get them to join you in building a larger, ongoing organizing
group and setting up task forces to work on each of your priorities.
3. To motivate them to take some
action in supporting your prevention efforts. (Remind them of their mission and goals in the community
and what they have at stake.)
4. To inform them about the prevention programs and services that
are already in the community, and to get them to support these services
as well.
Have one meeting for each priority you are working on, and invite to
the meeting only those stakeholders that have a stake in that priority. However,
two or more priorities can be covered at the meeting if the priorities involve
the same stakeholders. But if working on more than one priority means you
are mixing stakeholders who will be going in different directions, trim back to
the most important priority.
Several weeks before the meeting, send the stakeholders the following:
An invitation to the meeting.
Background information about your group, the survey, your
priorities, the purpose of the meeting, and any other information you want
them to read before they come to the meeting.
An agenda for the meeting
It may be a good idea to follow the "Checklist for Arranging and
Scheduling Stakeholder Meeting" you will find in
Appendix E of this book.
Have one meeting for each priority you are working on,
and invite to the meeting only those stakeholders
that have a stake in that priority.
Appendix C
A Sixteen-Step Model for Becoming Part of a Solution
The following 16 steps were developed by the National Council of La Raza (May 1989) to
outline steps that help community leaders become effectively and appropriately involved, based on
a logical decision-making process. The steps have been adapted to help you figure out how
to proceed with strategies that will have an impact on substance abuse in your community.
1. Learn the basics about the problem.
This step helps to educate the leadership of your organization. It helps your staff and Board
members become informed about substance abuse nationally, and have some sense of the problem locally. It
will help ensure that your decisions are based on facts, not myths.
2. Educate your organization
This step will help you educate the rest of your committee and key leaders. Everyone who works
with you should get some basic knowledge about the substance abuse problem. This briefing can
be accomplished through a review of the research, formal presentations, and informal discussions
around substance abuse.
3. Identify the local players
This information will allow you to understand which organizations are currently working on this
issue, how they are related, and the extent to which a Hispanic/Latino perspective is provided. You
should identify the recent studies undertaken on the subject, the local coalitions or task forces, the
leading community organizations, and the individuals who are considered leaders within those organizations.
Be sure also to review and identify major local players including businesses, health providers,
schools, social service agencies, and other local organizations.
4. Become known as a player
Your organization should become visible in the substance abuse arena. Assign one individual to be
your organization's representative at meetings and conferences. The representative should be
knowledgeable, a good listener, and be able to provide a Hispanic/Latino perspective.
5. Assess Hispanic/Latino community needs
Know the extent to which substance abuse affects the Hispanic/Latino community, and the extent
to which appropriate and adequate services are provided and accessible to address the community's
needs. You should also assess the efforts of other Hispanic/Latino agencies in addressing substance
abuse issues.
6. Help develop a plan
Ensure that your organization's plan for addressing substance use is coordinated and consistent with
the overall community plan for dealing with the issue. You should know if the overall community
plan adequately addresses the needs of the Hispanic community. The plan should have two components -
a prevention and education section, and a section that addresses direct services for people with
substance abuse problems.
7. Study alternative roles
Since there are many roles for Hispanic community-based organizations in substance abuse
and education, identify the various roles that exist for your agency. You might want to refer people
for substance abuse services or to provide basic information to clients. Or you might want to
develop prevention programs, provide direct health services, or perhaps target a specific population.
8. Understand what you're getting into
Know the implications and challenges involved in the role your agency might adopt. Agency staff
will need to accept people who are abusing substances, and avoid blaming them for their condition. Be
sure that your agency's staff has come to terms with
"cosas de la vida," be it drug abuse, prostitution,
AIDS, or homosexuality.
9. Decide on your agency's role
After identifying possible agency roles and considering the implications of substance abuse
involvement, assess various alternatives and decide what roles or role you want to play. You might want to
develop service programs, or just do advocacy work. For example, one of the special obligations of
Hispanic/Latino organizations as community representatives is to advocate for the creation of services needed
by Hispanic persons with substance abuse problems.
10. Develop a plan of action
Once your agency had decided the role or roles it wants to play regarding substance abuse, it is time
to develop a detailed, practical plan of action to guide you for at least the next year. This is the
program development phase of your planning effort. The plan should fit into the overall community plan if
one exists. It should include objectives, proposed services, tasks for implementing them, responsibilities
for carrying out the tasks, timetables for implementation, and fund-raising needs. This plan will provide
the basis for fund raising. It can also be taken to the local substance abuse task force for letters
of endorsement and support.
11. Become wise
The field of substance abuse is very political. Thus you must learn the rules of the game and
proceed carefully. Take your time in learning skills for writing proposals and developing new
evaluation techniques.
12. Develop networks
You will need to establish and maintain networks on a local, state and federal level. At the program
level, the message of substance abuse prevention is strongest when it comes from different sources.
No organization will be successful working alone. Instead, you need the varied knowledge,
skills, experience, contacts, and commitment of a wide range of organizations and individuals.
13. Become a Hispanic/Latino voice
Your agency should serve as a voice for Hispanics/Latinos on the substance abuse issue. This
means being informed and speaking up on a wide range of issues. If your organization makes a commitment
to speak out on substance abuse, it can quickly become a respected source of information for the media
and for officials in the public and private sectors.
14. Find the money you need
Most substance abuse services will require you to obtain new funds. However, the competition is
very intense. You should ensure that your organization is not driven to apply for funds that require you
to provide services that do not fit with the scope of work you have outlined for your agency.
15. Make a difference
Ensure the success of your programs by planning your strategies carefully, including having a
detailed work plan with tasks and timelines, appropriate staff, adequate funding, and ongoing management
and support. Make sure that you draw on your organizational strengths, work cooperatively with
other organizations, and get help from experts—local and national—whenever possible.
16. Monitor and assess your progress
Although your organization will probably operate in a constant state of overwork and crisis, try to
ensure that non-service activities such as documentation and evaluation get the attention they deserve.
Some Hispanic/Latino groups are denied refunding or are turned down by additional funders because they
fail to monitor, assess, and document their progress. Make sure you build in early and regular monitoring
and assessment activities, not only for funding purposes, but also so that you can identify and deal with
any problems that come up.
Appendix D
Seven Steps To Building a Successful Prevention Program
This model represents a seven-step process that can be used in organizing prevention programs.
Additional information on this model is available on the internet from
Step 1: Find Out if the Community Is Ready To Organize
It is important to find out if the community is prepared to develop and implement a substance use
and abuse prevention program. A community must have the support and commitment of its members and
the needed resources to implement an effective prevention effort.
Step 2: Find Out How the Problem Is Affecting the Community
Conduct an assessment of the community to determine the extent to which the problem or situation
(such as substance abuse) is affecting the community and to identify the risk and protective factors that exist
in the community.
Step 3: Use the Information You Gather To Set Your Priorities
Once you have completed Step 2, use the information you have gathered to help you decide which
risk and protective factors need to be addressed in your community.
Step 4: Identify Programs and Services That Exist in the Community
Conduct an assessment to determine what resources exist in the community to reduce risk factors
and increase protective factors. It will answer the question: "What's being done in my community to
deal with this problem?"
What are "resources?" They are anything that is being used or can be used to reduce the likelihood
that individuals or communities will begin or continue to abuse alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
Step 5: Target Your Efforts
Identify the magnitude of the population that will be served through your efforts. To do this you
must identify a target population. You will be ready to do this step once you know which area (your
priority risk and protective factors) you want to place your time, efforts, and funding in, and you know
which gaps you need to fill (from your resource assessment).
There are three basic population groups: universal, selective, or indicated.
Universal
Universal prevention strategies address the entire population (national, local community,
school, neighborhood), with messages and programs aimed at preventing or delaying the abuse of
alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
Selective
Selective prevention strategies target subsets of the total population that are deemed to be at risk
for substance abuse by virtue of their membership in a particular population segment—for example,
children of adult alcoholics, dropouts, or students who are failing academically.
Indicated
Indicated prevention strategies are designed to prevent the onset of substance abuse in individuals
who do not meet DSM-IV criteria for addiction, but who are showing early danger signs, such as
falling grades and consumption of alcohol and other gateway drugs.
Step 6: Follow Guiding Principles and Best Practices
After using Steps 2 through 5 to identify the target population, planners must identify
appropriate programs/strategies to implement. It is important to use best practices or, at a minimum,
promising practices, in order to ensure the greatest impact.
Best practices are those strategies, activities, or approaches which have been shown through
research and evaluation to be effective at preventing or delaying substance abuse.
If a community already has a prevention program or strategy in place,
"guiding principles" can be used to gauge the program's effectiveness. Guiding principles are recommendations on how to create
effective prevention programs. They can also be used to design an innovative program/strategy when none of
the best practices are appropriate to the community's needs.
Step 7: Evaluate Your Progress
Evaluation is the systematic effort to collect and use program information for different purposes.
Evaluation needs to be an integral part of every prevention program and strategy. It is necessary
to determine if the prevention efforts being implemented are accomplishing the goals set by the program.
There are many different ways to conduct evaluations, and professional evaluators tend to agree
that there is no "one best way" to do evaluation. Instead, good evaluation requires carefully thinking
through the questions that need to be answered, the type of program being evaluated, and the ways in which
the information generated will be used. Good evaluation should provide useful information about
program functioning that can contribute to program improvement.
Appendix E — Tools To Make Your Organizing Easier
This section contains tools you can use in your community
organizing effort. Please keep the original copy to use in future group activities.
The tools include:
A form to Inventory Protective Factors in the
Community, along with instructions for analyzing the
information. (Step 3)
A worksheet to use in Identifying Community Priorities
and Stakeholders. (Step 3)
A form for developing a Database of Community
Stakeholders.
(Step 4)
A sample Agenda for a Stakeholders'
Meeting.(Step 5)
A Checklist for Arranging and Scheduling a
Stakeholder Meeting. (Step 5)
Inventory Of Protective Factors In The Community
Below is a list of protective factors that prevent substance use and abuse. Please go down the list of factors and
mark whether you think the factor exists or
does not exist in your community. Then mark how important you think the factor
is (Priority).
Place a check on the line under "Yes" if you think the factor already exists in your community. (Please do not circle a number on any line where you have checked "Yes".)
Place a check on the line under "No" if you think the factor
does not exist or is missing in your community.
Then decide how important you think the factor is. Circle "1" if you think the factor is of highest priority. Circle "2"
if you think the factor is high priority. Circle "3" if you think the factor is "lowest" priority.
Factor
Yes (Factor Exists)
No (Factor does not Exist)
Priority
Adequate housing
______
______
1 2 3
Pleasant neighborhoods
______
______
1 2 3
(green space, clean, places for people to meet)
______
______
1 2 3
Low level of crime
______
______
1 2 3
Good schools that promote learning, participation, and responsibility
______
______
1 2 3
Accessible and affordable health care
______
______
1 2 3
Easy access to adequate social services
______
______
1 2 3
Adequate jobs for those who need to work
______
______
1 2 3
Jobs that provide enough Income for financial stability
______
______
1 2 3
Multigenerational kinship networks
______
______
1 2 3
Non-kin support network, e.g. supportive role models, dependable substitute child care
______
______
1 2 3
Skill building to create structured and nurturing families
______
______
1 2 3
Opportunities for parents to be involved in schools
______
______
1 2 3
Support systems for Families
______
______
1 2 3
Adequate and safe child care settings that promote learning
______
______
1 2 3
Community standards for behavior
______
______
1 2 3
Health and drug education classes for youth
______
______
1 2 3
Parent/youth groups
______
______
1 2 3
Peer counseling programs
______
______
1 2 3
Student assistance programs
______
______
1 2 3
Leadership workshops for youth and adults training
______
______
1 2 3
Life skills classes
______
______
1 2 3
Mentoring programs
______
______
1 2 3
Other (specify)
______
______
1 2 3
Other (specify)
______
______
1 2 3
Other (specify)
______
______
1 2 3
Other (specify)
______
______
1 2 3
You may want to add other factors that your group feels are important.
Analyzing the information
Once you have surveyed your community, add up the surveys and tabulate
your results. This can be done by an individual or by a group.
Steps in Analysis
Using all the forms filled out by community representatives, count
up the number of times that each factor was given a priority one.
For example, how many times did adequate housing get a priority=1?
How many times did pleasant neighborhoods get a priority=1?
Identify which factor has the highest number of priority=1.
Which factor has the second highest number of priority=1? Which factor
has the third highest number of priority=1? This list will give you the
top three factors considered priority by community representatives.
If you wish, continue this exercise until you have covered all
the factors with priority=1. Then you can do the same analysis for
factors with priority=2.
You may want to post several sheets of newsprint and list the information
under different headings such as parenting skills, jobs, or support systems. When
you are finished, you should have a good picture of what members of
the community feel exists and what is missing. Are there any gaps in services?
Are there areas where there are too many services and resources could be shifted
to fill the gaps?
Identifying Community Priorities and Stakeholders
Worksheet
This form identifies a priority of the community and a focus area for the community organizers. You
can use this form to spell out the goals of this priority, or to more clearly define the priority.
Factor:
(enter a short title for the protective factor)
Description of goal(s) for focus area:
Identify key stakeholders for this focus area:
Rank of importance/priority status: __________
(From your inventory sheet enter a number that indicates priority number: 1 is most important, 2
is second most important, etc.)
Database of Community Stakeholders
Use this form to track information about your stakeholders. Use a separate sheet for the different
types of stakeholders. For example, one sheet might represent the health service stakeholders, a second
sheet might be used to keep track of the education system stakeholders.
Type of Stakeholder: ____________________________
Name Organization Address Telephone Number E-mail
Sample Agenda For Stakeholder Meeting
Meeting Organizer
(10 minutes)
Welcome
Agenda and goals of the meeting
Community Organizer
(10 minutes)
Need for action
Call to action
Introduce facilitator
Facilitator
( 30 minutes)
Introduction of all present
Mixer to acquaint people
Goal for stakeholders
Brief history of process
Role of protective factors
Break (10 minutes)
Facilitator
(1 hour)
Small groups — Assessment of local programs and services
Small groups —Determination of new
services needed or if current services should be expanded
All _share lists and consensus
Develop a community action plan
Next steps: assigned tasks and timelines
Plans for next meeting
Checklist for Arranging and Scheduling
a Stakeholder Meeting
_____ Find the names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of the people you want to invite.
_____ Select a meeting date. Consider your audience and their work and family habits. Evenings after 7:00
PM during the school year or Sunday afternoons might be best for members.
_____ Find a place to hold the meeting. Locate a community space that is comfortable and non-threatening
to everyone. Schools and city office are often uncomfortable for people. Try a local community center, a
church where other community-wide events takes place or a local restaurant.
_____ Be prepared to explain the exact amount of space you will need and how you want the room set
up for the meeting. Do you want chairs or chairs and tables?
_____ Make a drawing of the room set-up for the person who will set-up.
_____ Select a person to present the call to action. This should be a person who can motivate others. This person
will give the call to action and thank everyone at the end.
_____ Select a facilitator to explain the process and work with the small groups. This person will also summarize
the meeting.
_____ Arrange a meeting and meet with the people who will speak at the meeting. Set the agenda, confirm
the responsibilities and find out what materials or equipment they need.
_____ Secure any needed equipment and supplies. This may include a screen, an overhead projector
or computer, a microphone, easels with newsprint and markers. You may or may not want a
microphone. A microphone can be intimidating, but it is important that every word is heard.
_____ If you are going to serve refreshments include the coffeemaker, punch bowl and cookie trays.
_____ Order any prevention materials or community documents 4-6 weeks in advance to guarantee delivery.
Decide whether materials are to be in English or Spanish or both. Arrange for and needed translation
_____ Recruit volunteers to assist you in the meeting. You will need someone to greet people at the door, someone
at the table for sign-in and name tags and someone to help people mix and get acquainted. Each person
who enters the room should feel they are important and a part of the group.
_____ Four to five weeks before the meeting, send a mailing to the people on your list. Include a letter of
invitation, the agenda, a map to the meeting site and any materials you want them to read. Ask people to come to
the meeting or delegate someone to take their place. Ask for replies. Be sure to maintain an updated list
with addresses and phone numbers.
_____ One week before the meeting call everyone to remind them and answer any questions they may have.
_____ Three days before the meeting, check your arrangements
_____ Arrange for someone to check on the arrangements earlier in the day or do the set up for you.
_____ Arrive at the meeting an hour early to check everything and greet people.
_____ Within 5 days of the meeting send everyone a thank you, a summary of the meeting including the next
steps and the date of the next meeting.
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