Conducting a strong needs assessment is the foundation for developing a successful prevention plan. The Prevention Technology Transfer Center (PTTC) Data-Informed Decisions Working Group has designed this review sheet to support addressing data gaps through primary data collection. It provides several methods and select resources as a starting point for prevention team’s planning. These methods can involve varied means of data collection, including oral narratives, written text, photographs, video, and others.
Relevant, locally specific data provides critical information to any community-based environmental prevention effort. This information forms a Management Information System (MIS) which supports necessary changes in the efforts of local environmental prevention both to made modifications as needed and to determine whether key intermediate variables are moving in desired directions. Environmental Prevention focused on the entire community population seeks to make changes in the entire local system including structure, economics, physical, etc. in order to increase public health and safety.
Before conducting a community assessment, it is important to identify the key individual and organizational stakeholders, and what skills and community resources they bring to the assessment.
The purpose of this guide is to equip youth-serving providers with substance use prevention messaging
and share guidance on how to effectively deploy this messaging with middle and high school age youth.
SOPHE has developed an easy-to-use guide to assist communities and leaders through the process of building a coalition.