Learning Community

12/11/06

Welcome and greetings!    Cathy Lillehoj shared her difficult decision to resign from PPSI and PROSPER and move on to new opportunities with the Department of Public Health.  She will miss all of us and we will miss her!

School Reports

Cleve and Eugenia presented a Power Point on the school reports and school visits that the PC’s make to the schools each year.  Some things to remember and of importance are:

- Data belongs to the school district.  It is up to the Superintendent to decide about sharing the data.   If a team is interested in the data, the TL can talk to the school co leader about seeing if it would be ok to share with the team.

- The Iowa data was for all 14 schools, Cohort 1 is in the 5^th wave and Cohort 2 the 4^th wave.

- We do not know what the data would look like if we were not in the community, we can’t say that the numbers are what they are for sure because of PROSPER, various factors make the differences

- We will and are doing analysis for comparison vs intervention.  We will never be able to say 1 school results are because of PROSPER, but combining we will be able to do so.

- Perceptions of use – Higher than actual use.  If we can tell them, “No, not everyone is doing it”, we may be able to make a difference in use.

- Relationships with parents are good predictors of substance use

- Assertiveness scales help with the substance use refusal.

- When the scale is from 0 – 50, sometimes the % differences may look larger than they are in significance.

- How would you use the information?  Perhaps in grant writing to show trends, can use as a validator that there is a need for programming

- Differs from the youth survey, not the same wording and not longitudinal.  Schools do get comparisons to schools of the same size.  Timing is different on when it is administered.

Team Sharing – what have been your challenges and successes with funding this year?

Hampton – businesses so far have just been asked to sponsor and help with the wrist bands, but they will be talking to them about more.  20 businesses have agreed to discounts with a wrist band, and have signs in their windows.  School is keeping the safe and drug free school $, they did get permission to do some concession stands and have raised some funds that way.  The movie theater puts a promotion on their screen before movies.

Ottumwa – Nancy shared that the local coalition isn’t able to provide any grant $ this year because they can’t do direct services.  They are getting some DECAT $.

Mt. Pleasant – Janet reported that for some Drug Community grants, they aren’t able to do direct services either, but can provide more training, and can get incentives, etc to help with the program.  They can also use it for marketing and advertising.

Fort Dodge – Paulelda talked about how she has contacted businesses and feels that they are starting to get some relationships built.  The connect families that participate in the program to businesses in town and go to them and share how this is making a differences for their workers.  She gets some to sponsor a family or two. 

Muscatine – Paul Carroll and Bob talked about County Community Foundation grants.

Paul is from the Muscatine Community Foundation.  He felt it was good to look at endowments for the long term.  It is good to have someone from the Foundation board either on the team, or in communication with someone from the team so they know PROSPER exists and knows what the teams are doing.

Challenges – some grants wont provide operating funds or program, but will the “stuff”.   They also see that this appears to be duplication of services with some agencies.  Both do programs, and the challenge is to show different audiences, and different programs – SFP being evidence based.

We don’t always market enough, hard to get audiences to talk to the decision makers.

Each family can be an advocate/ market the program.   Maybe the school can give data on where student’s parents are employed so that letters or contacts can be made to the businesses.

Safe and Drug Free School $ - this is State DOE money that is for evidence based programs.   Estherville receives some of the funds.  Holle is on the action team.   In Ft. Dodge, Marcy is the one that handles the requests.  In Hampton, it is used for teacher support, in Muscatine, Mary Wildermuth handles it and does give it to the team to use.  Ottumwa, Winterset and Mt. Pleasant don’t receive any of it.

DECAT $ - are state block grants and there aren’t many of them.  Especially used for schools, looking at aggression, and empowerment.

Paul Carroll from the Muscatine Community Foundation

Marilyn and Eugenia came and did Finance Project training with them and he felt that it was a good start to get different groups looking at the same thing and starting to work together.  He plans to get the group together again.

There is a gap between non profit and volunteer groups and knowing what to ask for.

One funder is more willing to help when they know there are multiple partners.  No one wants to feel like they are the only one to sustain the program.

Relationships are key to getting funding.  Making contacts and getting to know people.  We are all sales people and can be successful. 

How and what to ask?   

            Face to face is best way

            Find common interests

            Show interest in them/family

            Show vulnerability - tell a story and help them believe in the program

Publicity

            Try and get school mailing lists

            Follow up cards

            Phone calls

            Newspaper connections

            Radio call in show

            Posters in businesses

            Parent Teacher conference displays

            New SFP brochure and the community PROSPER brochures

Farm Bureau - works with Quality of life - make a connection with them

PR - people don't remember or see or hear - tell them 7 times~!

Iowa Grants guide, can search by community to see what is available.   www.iowagrantsguide.org.

Smaller Foundations, businesses, private industry - see if want to support a family.  Ask for a specific amount or range.  Offer options/ranges like on a pledge card.

Thank the donors.   Also get ideas when you see in the paper someone has thanked a group for support, see who they are, and maybe they will support you too.

Really need to close - at the end, ask if they can support you.

Talk about them, find out what is important to them, get the hook, family pictures in the office? 

Ask families if they would be willing to be a reference in case funders want to talk to them.  Get permission from family of course before.

Have someone else go with Extension staff or instead of, so it doesn't look like just an Extension program, but a community program.

Have each person at a meeting make a list of names and businesses they know, or could contact or think would be interested.  See if you have any matches.

Grant Development 

Jim shared a power point and there was a hand out on steps to getting ready and main points in grant writing.  Revisit the vision/mission statement that was done when PROSPER began and see if it needs revising, and use that in your grant writing.

Be sure and include in school as well as family programs in the number of families, and students served.

There was a sample of a logic model that can be used.  This is often needed or required by some funders.

Guidelines -  be sure and read carefully and thoroughly all the guidelines and requirements to see if a grant is a good fit for what you want to do before getting going on it. Read carefully and be sure that you include all that they require and how they want it to be presented. 

You can get a Co. Budget audit from the State of Iowa web page at the State Auditor’s page.  This will help with one question often asked in a local grant. 

Organizational chart sample was shared.  Some other thoughts were to be sure and include the Extension Council because any funds will go through them.  They are the Bd of Directors.  Volunteers can perhaps be the PROSPER team as a subsample.  Usually volunteer names that help in the Extension office are confidential.

Think about points and focus the funder would like, does it match with goals, etc.  Reduce Substance use, reduce problem behaviors, etc.

Youth survey is on the Web by county and schools also have the data and this can be helpful.

School reports from us may help if school is willing to share.

Anecdotal information – for example  x number of athletes suspended last year because of substance use helps.  Needs expressed by the Extension Council can be included.

Sources:  Health plans by county and Dept of Public Health, Healthy Iowans 2010 – state based.  Juvenile Justice Data from court officers.  Iowa Tobacco Survey.  United Way has done some county wide needs assessments.

How old can data be and still be useful?   Not more than 5 years is recommended and with Meth, it needs to be 3 at the most.  Meth has really evolved and there is now a different supply, lab arrests are down, but need and dealing is still there.

Watch the newspapers and keep track of some of the arrests, or articles that involve substance use.  Drunk Driving, etc.  Make it personal.

Drop out data may be helpful.   SETA website has educational data.

What if reports show we don’t have an impact yet.  Show trends and we hope to make impact the next year.  It takes awhile for it to show up.  Also, the school report data is for a different age group now and not the target audience.    When students make better choices, there are better outcomes.

It takes time to see community effects.  When looking at the trends, think about that it could have been even higher without what we did. 

SFP benefits are there even if a person didn’t attend the sessions.  There is a network effect that ripples down as parents share with others and teens work with positive peer pressure. 

Key Benefits

A handout of slides from PROSPER concept summary from Dick.   These are results that we have seen in PROSPER and other studies.

We realize that not all reviewers will understand the graphs.   We will work on putting language to these that interpret them/ translate to numbers in communities.  

The # of students can convert to $ and this is one thing that is being studied.  We are working on finding treatment $.  If you use treatment $ that you have, that is ok, but it would be conservative.   Important to remember that the $9.60 per $1 invested figure for SFP that is published, is for Alcohol ONLY.  That doesn’t count other substances.

The case for the need to do evidence based programs and studies – why?

Outcomes, Implementation Quality, economics, family discipline, youth outcomes, better communities, youth leadership, better decision makers.

Measurable outcomes that are not just for next year, but long term.

Teams can report recruitment measures they collect and also fidelity.

Budgets

There were budget samples and also justifications.  Be sure the two match!!  Really look at the Foundation to see if the information will be a fit. 

Announcements

The Project Family Partnership Award this year went to Bev Peters.  She was recognized earlier, but we recognized her again.

The Statewide meeting will be April 20^th in Ames.   Friday, during VEISHA weekend.

SFP Videos – the new ones are almost ready.  We will give each team 2 sets and larger communities will get 4.  We will give them out at the statewide meeting.  We would like this years programming to be done with the current videos.  TL’s will decide whether they want VHS or DVD or one of each.  Catherine will have this information for you to do next spring.

Year 6 review.  All Team leaders received a review of what would be covered and not covered in Year 6 which begins Dec 1 of 06. 

Next Learning Community will be March 9^th – Friday.