Community Organization and School Liaisons: How to Get Programs Started

Abstract

This paper briefly reviews four intervention models, Rothman's community organization, Green's system‐centered education, Rogers' innovation‐decision process, and Watzlawick's planned change, for their applicability to help initiate community‐based programs for drug abuse prevention and health promotion in youth. An expanded model is described, including preprogram assessment of the target population, community, and drug use problem, and continuous evaluation of program process and product. School liaisons are emphasized as a key factor in early adoption and demonstration of a community‐based program for youth. The expanded model, including school liaisons, is applied to a comprehensive community drug abuse prevention project being implemented in the Greater Kansas City area. The model — and the project — suggest methods for organizing communities for long‐term drug prevention, initially at the level of school and school district, and later to the family, mass media, and community organizations in a proximal‐to‐distal sequence of programming.