This month’s Asset Champion will profile Assets-Getting To Outcomes for Maine, a federally funded study combining the Developmental Assets framework with the Getting To Outcomes model in several communities across the state. Getting To Outcomes, or “GTO,” is a 10-step process that enhances communities’ capacity to evaluate the planning, implementation, and short- and long-term outcomes of their programs. The community coalitions and programs will also use the Developmental Assets as a part of their positive youth programming. Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, this 5-year collaboration of the RAND Corporation, Search Institute, Vision Training Associates, Maine’s Communities for Children and Youth initiative, and the University of Southern Maine will deliver the combined Assets-GTO intervention to six community coalitions across the state, with six additional communities serving as a control group.
The purpose of the project is to investigate several points, including how well the Assets-GTO intervention is delivered, how much it is used, and what coalitions think about it. The project will also evaluate the extent to which the Assets-GTO approach enhances the knowledge, attitudes, and skills of individual coalition members, as well as the prevention capacity and performance of the community coalitions as a whole. Furthermore, the study will determine if Assets-GTO improves alcohol and drug outcomes among youth by enhancing prevention capacity.
Twelve community-based prevention coalitions in Maine have been chosen to participate, and six of these coalitions have been chosen at random to receive the Assets-GTO intervention, which includes manuals, training, and regular on-site technical assistance. The other six coalitions will continue their practices as usual and serve as the control group, but will receive an abbreviated version of the Assets-GTO intervention near the end of the project.
Assets-Getting to Outcomes for Maine will demonstrate and evaluate strategies to strengthen prevention programs in community organizations using the Developmental Assets.
For further information about the study contact Matthew Chinman at RAND at (412) 683-2300 or by email chinman@rand.org.
