4252.0: Tuesday, November 14, 2000: 4:30 PM-6:00 PM

Development of Networks for Supporting Evaluation of Community-based Efforts to Eliminate Health Disparities

The national initiative to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities by Year-2010 presents special challenges for community-based strategies. The need to evaluate and attibute program impacts to specific program activities, especially in situations where there are multiple concurrent efforts, is critical for sustaining funding, yet methodologically challenging. The purpose of this panel is to share the results of a Prevention Research Center/NCCDPHP/CDC project which is addressing this challenge through the development of national evaluation support networks. This South Carolina led effort has developed a protocol which can produce the credible evaluation results required for sustaining funding for community-based programs. Guiding this effort is a national Blue Ribbon Panel composed to incorporate a broad variety of perspectives to ensure both practicality and scientific rigor. Presentors will describe the evaluation support project, the method used to select Blue Ribbon Panel members, the composition of the Panel (relative to race/ethnicity, gender, and sector of primary employment), and the process used to develop and field test the generic evaluation protocol. The panel will also present the project's support for the 35 REACH (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health) Demonstration Projects. The panel will discuss the project's Year-2 and Year-3 plans for disseminating the protocol, developing networks to train interested persons on the appropriate use of the protocol, and the development of evaluation assistance networks. Interested persons and organizations will be invited to become active in the project's national Network Development Group
Learning Objectives:
Facilitator(s):Donald J. Goodwin, MS, DrPH
Panelist(s):Gardenia Ruff, MSW, LISW
Bobby Milstein, MPH
Marshall W. Kreuter, PhD
Imani Ma'at, EdD
Quinton E. Baker
Organizer(s):Donald J. Goodwin, MS, DrPH
Sponsor:Community Health Planning and Policy Development
Cosponsors:Caucus on Refugee and Immigrant Health; Environment; Food and Nutrition; Health Administration; Latino Caucus; Public Health Education and Health Promotion; Socialist Caucus

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA