Prevention Research Center
The Pennsylvania State University

PROSPER
Key Features of PROSPER
(PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience)*

• The purpose of PROSPER is to cultivate community-based leadership for the widespread delivery of evidence-based prevention and youth development programs.
  
  
• The PROSPER model is unique, utilizing existing and stable resources of Land Grant University and Extension systems, along with Public School systems to:
  
  
  - Help develop and maintain ongoing partnerships;
  
  - Conduct evidence-based interventions that have the greatest likelihood of producing favorable individual- and community-level outcomes;
  
  - Have the potential to reach every community in the country.
  
  
• The result is community teams that implement proven interventions, supported by:
  
  
  - Extension-based prevention coordinators and other technical assistants;
  
  - A university-based team of prevention researchers and Extension program directors.
  
  
  
• PROSPER centers on community capacity building and sustainability, so that selected interventions will continue to be implemented over time.
  
  
• PROSPER builds on an evidence base of substantial positive findings from 15 years of scientific studies.
  
  
• Evidence that PROSPER works (see www.ppsi.iastate.edu for citations on published findings)
  
  
  - The project guided effective mobilization of community teams in 14 intervention communities, successfully progressing through the team developmental phases generating initial local funding and resources to sustain both the team structure and delivery of family- and school-based EBIs.
  
  - Teams achieved relatively high recruitment rates; findings on correlates of recruitment success confirmed the importance of ongoing technical assistance.
  
  - Intervention observations have shown very high levels of implementation quality across measures, types of interventions, and cohort.
  
  - Recent analyses demonstrate positive effects on proximal family processes expected to influence longer-term adolescent behavioral outcomes.
  
  - Compared to control communities, students receiving partnership-delivered EBIs scored significantly lower at the 18-month follow-up assessment on a number of behavioral outcomes, including drunkenness, marijuana use, meth use, and use of other illicit substances.
  
  - Compared to control communities, key informants in intervention communities have a significantly more positive perception of Cooperative Extension and of school leadership.

* Conducted in collaboration with the Prevention Research Center at Pennsylvania State University. Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.



PROSPER Organizational Structure

• Local Strategic Teams
  
  - Extension System staff serve as linking agents between public school system staff and service or resource systems, such as health and social service organizations, and other local community stakeholders, including
  parent groups and youth groups.
  - Compared to “big tent” community coalitions, these strategic teams are relatively small in size, and are designed with highly focused intervention goals.
  
  
  
• Prevention Coordinator Team
  
  - Includes prevention coordinators based in university outreach or Extension system.
  - Provides support to local team.
  - Provides ongoing, hands-on technical assistance, as well as documentation of ongoing partnership processes.
  
  
• University Prevention Team
  
  -  Includes prevention researchers and Extension Program Directors.
  -  Provides resources and support to both local and coordinating team.
  -  Provides administrative oversight, offers input on data collection and analyses, and draft project reports.
  
  
  
  
  * Conducted in collaboration with the Prevention Research Center at Pennsylvania State University. Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.