PROGRAM PLANNING Case Study
Developing a Community Action Plan
Healthy, Empowered, and Responsible Teens of Oklahoma City (HEART of OKC) selected an asset-based approach to youth development as its overarching prevention strategy, with the goal of reducing teen births by increasing the asset base in families, neighborhoods, schools, and the central city as a whole. During the needs assessment phase, nine key assets were identified by youth and adults as critical to prevention: aspirations for the future, constructive use of time, respect for culture, skills for meaningful employment, decision-making skills to promote good health, healthy family communication, positive peer role models, positive relationships with non parent adults, and service to others.
A team that included the project staff, community representatives, and an external evaluator worked together to develop a program model based on the assets identified in needs assessment. The program model identified eight areas for prevention opportunities: life skills, positive relationships with adults, educational achievement, employment, primary pregnancy prevention, community involvement, positive peer influences, and health promotion. This program model provided the basis for community participants to develop a set of activities to develop or strengthen program opportunities for youth.
The team then worked with the neighborhoods to develop action plans. A format (Action Plan worksheets) was developed to use with the neighborhoods that included the intervention name, related HEART of OKC goal, relationships to program model and targeted assets, rationale underlying the intervention, intervention-specific objective(s), organizations to involve, number of youth to reach, and a detailed listing of tasks, deadlines, and responsible parties. Evaluation staff then held a series of meetings with neighborhood coordinators to complete the worksheets. This process was repeated annually and provided the basic framework for assessing program implementation.
1Source: Adapted from an excerpt by Michelle Kegler, as cited in National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. (2003).
Breaking Ground: Lessons Learned from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Community Coalition Partnerships Programs for the Prevention of Teen Pregnancy, p. 29. Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Available at
http://www.teenpregnancy.org/resources/data/pdf/BreakingGround.pdf.
For a longer discussion of this case, see Kegler MC, Wyatt VH, & Rodine S. (2002). Process Evaluation of an Asset-Based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Project: Healthy, Empowered, and Responsible Teens of Oklahoma City. In
Process Evaluation for Public Health Interventions and Research, ed. by Steckler A & Linnan L.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (
http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787959766,descCd-tableOfContents.html)
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For questions about this information, contact Emily S. Holder (608) 267-9170
Last updated on 2/22/2008 8:00:31 AM
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