Abstract
The relationships between community coalition processes during initial 3-year state seed funding and markers of sustainability post-funding were investigated in 20 Communities That Care (CTC) sites in Pennsylvania. Coalition processes were assessed using interviews with coalition members, ratings from the research team and ratings from state technical consultants. We found members' knowledge of prevention, coalition internal functioning, and fidelity to the CTC model during early coalition functioning predictive of later sustained coalition board activity. Findings suggest domains of early coalition functioning that may be important for understanding and promoting sustainability.
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Notes
The intervention is described elsewhere (Fienberg et al., 2004).
Description of scale construction for the independent variables can be found elsewhere (Fienberg et al., 2004). The technical report can be obtained from the second author at mxg47@psu.edu.
Scale level analysis indicate that members' knowledge in selecting empirically based prevention programs is correlated with continuing board activity (r = .65; p < .01). However, a lack of knowledge in identifying risk factors for problem behaviors does not show significant correlation with continuing board activity.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research is supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Commission for Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) to the second author. However, findings and recommendations herein are those of the authors and not official statements of PCCD. We acknowledge the enthusiastic support of Clay R. Yeager, Ruth Williams, Charles Gray, Mary Ann Rhodes, Beverly D. MacKereth, and Henry Sontheimer at PCCD in supporting the vision of this project. We thank Michael J. Rovine and Eric Loken for providing statistical consultation.
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Gomez, B.J., Greenberg, M.T. & Feinberg, M.E. Sustainability of Community Coalitions: An Evaluation of Communities That Care. Prev Sci 6, 199–202 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-005-0003-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-005-0003-4