Communities Talk What’s New articles share information to help event organizers plan, host, and evaluate events aimed at mobilizing a community around evidence-based prevention of underage drinking.
07/19/2012
This e-alert is the third in a series on measures of success for Town Hall Meetings to prevent underage drinking. Measures of Success: Part I reviews the process being used by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to solicit organizer and participant feedback. Measures of Success: Part II describes other general types of assessment and evaluation that community-based organizations (CBOs) might use to measure how well their events are furthering underage drinking prevention. Part III focuses on tools available to CBOs to conduct their own evaluation. Many CBOs are eager to capture information that shows the results of their events and how well their Town Hall Meetings are contributing to measurable progress in reducing and preventing underage drinking.
SAMHSA’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT) offers a growing collection of easy-to-use Training and Technical Assistance Tools to facilitate various kinds and levels of evaluation, data collection, and reporting. Some of them might not apply to your needs and interests, but they can help you decide whether to undertake your own Town Hall Meeting evaluation and how to go about doing so. Titles and hyperlinks to some of these CAPT documents follow:
Even if you will not be conducting a formal evaluation of your 2012 Town Hall Meeting, there is value in documenting information from your event and any media coverage it generated. This information will make it easier for you to plan for and assess the effectiveness of your future Town Hall Meetings.