Promoting Health at the Community Level

Douglas V. Easterling, Ph.D. Doug Easterling is the founder and director of the Division for Community-Based Evaluation, within the Center for the Study of Social Issues at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Through the Division, he served as the principal investigator on evaluations of the Winston-Salem Foundation's initiative to build social capital and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation's initiative to improve race relations. Doug has also assisted the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, the Warner Foundation, the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation and The Conservation Fund in designing evaluation systems and clarifying program intent. From 1992-1999, Doug served as the Director of Research and Evaluation at The Colorado Trust. In this capacity, he commissioned evaluations of the foundation's initiatives (including the seven studies described in this book) and facilitated the foundation's process of learning from the results. Doug has published articles and books on the topics of program evaluation, community-based health promotion and nuclear waste policy. He also teaches the evaluation module for the Health Forum's fellowship programs and served on the CENTERED Blue Ribbon Panel, which was convened by CDC to improve the evaluation of projects that aim to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in health. In February 2002, Doug delivered the Fischer Francis Trees & Watts Keynote Address at the Community Trust Conference in New Zealand. Doug holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. in Quantitative Psychology from the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), and a B.A. from Carleton College. Kaia M. Gallagher, Ph.D. Kaia Gallagher, Ph.D. is the Director of Evaluation and Manager for the Center for Research Strategies LLC, a research and evaluation consulting firm in Denver, Colorado. With over 25 years of experience, she currently serves as the evaluator for a number of Federal, state and local programs, focusing in particular on the effectiveness of prevention programs designed to change the risk behaviors of youth. Dr. Gallagher's career focus has been on promoting the use of strategically collected information to enhance the development and performance of programs in the health, education and social service sectors. In this capacity, she provides consulting services in the areas of strategic planning, needs assessment, outcome evaluations and the development of outcome assessment tools. She also develops business plans that disseminate research models into marketable products and services. Formerly, Dr. Gallagher worked within a number of evaluation offices within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services including the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. She currently provides evaluation services to USDHHS programs funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenting, the Family Youth and Services Bureau and the Health Resources and Services Administration. Dr. Gallagher is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics within the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. She is a member of the board of directors for the National Organization of Adolescent Pregnancy, Parenting and Prevention and earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from Brown University. Dr. Dora G. Lodwick founded the REFT Institute, Inc., which focuses on research, evaluation, facilitation and training, in 1997. Dora has evaluated programs and other initiatives in the areas of participatory, community-based development, leadership development, health, immigrants and refugees, aging, and environmental impacts and published in several of those areas for over 20 years. She has worked extensively in Latin America and speaks Portuguese and Spanish. She has been a university professor for 15 years at Miami University of Ohio, Oregon State University, and University of Denver where she established the Applied Social Research and Evaluation MA. She has served the Society for Applied Sociology (SAS) as President, Board Member, and in other capacities, as well representing SAS on the Commission on Applied and Clinical Sociology. She has also held leadership positions in the American Sociological Association.

1. Introduction - Kaia M. Gallagher, Douglas V. Easterling, Dora G. Lodwick 2. The Colorado Healthy Communities Initiative: Communities Defining and Addressing Health - Ross F. Conner, Sora Park Tanjasiri, Catherine L. Dempsey, Gabriela Robles, Marc B. Davidson, and Douglas V. Easterling 3. Using Community Indicators to Track and to Improve Health and Quality of Life - Ross F. Conner, Douglas V. Easterling, Sora Park Tanjasiri, Jim Adams-Berger 4. The Teen Pregnancy Prevention 2000 Initiative - Kaia M. Gallagher, Jodi G. Drisko 5. The Community Action for Health Promotion Initiative:Building Capacity in Small, Focused, Community-Based Health Promotion Programs - Douglas H. Fernald, Deborah S. Main, Carolyn J. Tressler, and Kathryn A. Judge Nearing 6. The Volunteers for Rural Seniors Initiative: Leveraging Community Resources to Meet the Needs of Seniors - Dora G. Lodwick and Allan Wallis 7. The Colorado School Health Education Initiative: Promoting School Health Education Through Capacity Building - Deborah S. Main, Douglas H. Fernald, Kathryn A. Judge Nearing, Donna K. Duffy, and Jill A. Elnicki 8. Home Visitation Learning Groups: Community-Based Professionals Discovering Best Practices - Thomas I. Miller, Michelle Miller Kobayashi, and Peggy L. Hill 9. What Do the Case Studies Say About Community-Based Health Promotion? - Douglas V. Easterling, Kaia M. Gallagher, and Dora G. Lodwick 10. Practical Lessons for Promoting Health at the Community Level - Douglas V. Easterling, Kaia M. Gallagher, and Dora G. Lodwick Foreword - John R. Moran, Jr.