Judith A. Belfiori, MA, MPH¹, Linda D. Mack Burch, MPH², Jennifer Rienks, PhD(c)³, Geraldine Oliva, MD, MPH⁴, Virginia Smyly, MPH, CHES⁵, Sandra Johnson, BS⁵, and Wanda L. Johnson, BA⁶. (1) Family Health Outcomes Project, Dept. of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francsico, 3333 California Street Suite 365, San Francisco, CA 94118, (415)502-3247, jhager@itsa.ucsf.edu, (2) Family Health Outcomes Project, Depart. of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 365, San Francisco, CA 94118, (3) Family Health Outcomes Project, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street Suite 365, San Francisco, CA 94118, (4) Family Health Outcomes Project, Dept. of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California St, Suite 365, San Francisco, CA 94118, (5) San Francisco Department of Public Health, Community Health Promotion & Prevention, 30 Van Ness Ave, Suite 2300, San Francisco, CA 94102, (6) Booker T. Washington Community Service Center, Family Resource Center, 800 Presidio Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94115

The SevenPrinciples Project is a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded program of the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Working together with community-based organizations (CBOs), its goal is to eliminate the disparity between San Francisco’s African- American and White infant mortality and to improve the health of African American infants and their families and communities. The project funds Community Action Teams (CATS) to promote African-American community unity and, through collective action, to address community-identified economic, social and/or physical factors or problems that contribute to the poor health of their community. The University of California, San Francisco Family Health Outcomes Project (FHOP) is the evaluator for the program. The evaluation methods include 1) team member questionnaires administered at the beginning and end of the CATS work, 2) process evaluation measures and 3) observation and documentation of team meetings and activities (case study). This combination of evaluation methods provides formative, monitoring and outcome information that is used by the project administration and staff, the participative evaluation workgroup and CBOs to improve how the CATS function, to increase the likelihood of achievement of the CATS and project objectives and to document for local use and CDC the process and results of this approach. This presentation will display the tools used to collect evaluation data, the framework for using data to improve the CATS and the preliminary findings of the evaluation. Our intent is that the evaluation informs the development of this and other local and nationwide community-driven interventions.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Describe the methods used to evaluate the Community Action Teams (CATS), an innovative community-driven intervention
• Discuss how a combination of evaluation methods can strengthen the evaluation approach
• Discuss the preliminary evaluation findings, how they have been used and implications for other programs
• Recognize the contribution evaluation can make to program improvement, the development of other programs and the development of best practices

Keywords: Evaluation, Social Activism

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.