The PMI Local Site Demonstration Project: Lessons in Technical Assistance

• Published in: Social marketing quarterly 2000-03, Vol.6 (1), p.12-22
• Main Authors: Strand, John, Rosenbaum, Julia, Hanlon, Eileen, Jimerson, Ann
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1524-5004; 1539-4093
• DOI: 10.1080/15245004.2000.9961089

Community-based prevention programs are increasingly being asked to deliver better outcomes with fewer dollars. Funders and prevention researchers are challenged to transfer state-of-the-art prevention technologies for communities to readily apply. How does this happen? For five years, social marketers from the Academy for Educational Development (AED) and Porter Novelli guided five U.S. communities in using social marketing and behavioral science principles to develop HIV prevention programs for and with local teens. Because evaluation data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest these programs were effective, it is important to draw lessons from this pilot effort that will save time and money for future community-based Prevention Marketing efforts. The lessons to be learned emerge from the technical assistance providers' experience, a reflective account of “if we knew then what we know now, here's how we could have done things differently.” The lessons themselves center around: • Seeking out or establishing conditions in the community that are conducive to success; and • How to offer technical assistance that helps communities develop more effective Prevention Marketing programs.