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Overview
A total of 19 counties have been be selected by the
SEW and CAAB to receive SPF SIG funding. (See the map
below for selected counties.) The selected North Carolina
counties are:
Alexander, Brunswick, Cherokee, Columbus, Dare, Duplin,
Franklin, Gates, Hoke, Jackson, McDowell, Onslow, Richmond, Robeson,
Sampson, Stokes, Surry, Vance, Watauga .gif)
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To select these counties, two pieces of information
were combined into a single index of high need: 1) the
percent of all crashes in the county that were alcohol
related and 2) the rate of alcohol-related crashes per
1000 population in the county. These two criteria were
combined and used to rank the 100 counties from highest
to lowest need. A final criterion was then included.
Only counties with more than five alcohol-related fatal
traffic crashes from 2001 – 2005 were included
in the final selection. This helps ensure that SPF SIG
dollars are directed to counties that are experiencing
a greater need with regard to fatalities. A total of
18 counties were selected based on funds available ($1,800,000/18
= $100,000 per county).
The Division will issue a letter of invitation to the
Local Management Entities (LMEs) that are responsible
for coordinating prevention services in the 18 high-need
counties. Each LME must invite the director of the Health
Department in the selected county(ies) and an epidemiologist
to an informational planning meeting, at which the SPF
SIG process, expectations, and timeline will be presented
and discussed. Two informational meetings will be held,
one for eastern counties and one for western counties.
In order to receive any SPF SIG funding counties and
LMEs must attend the informational planning
meeting.
At this initial meeting, the strategic planning process
will be explained and counties will learn about the
county level needs/resources assessment that must be
conducted. A time line of the various components will
be provided. RTI will provide data they have colleted
on each county and Health Departments will be responsible
for identifying other sources of relevant county/community
level data. Health Departments will need to ensure that
the data collection process is county-wide (rather than
focusing at the outset on certain communities). The
Health Department in each county is also responsible
for identifying who or what group will actually conduct
the needs assessment. Ideally, this party will be an
entity from the county.
The foci of this needs/resources assessment will be
to identify (a) high priority populations and/or geographic
areas within the county, (b) the major factors that
are contributing to the high rates of alcohol-related
traffic crashes in these populations/areas of the county,
and (c) partners in the county that have the capacity
to address the causal factors with the high priority
populations and/or areas. Based on this document, a
strategic plan for the county will be crafted to address
how to reduce alcohol-related traffic crashes and fatalities.
It will specify the evidence based strategies that will
be used in the county to address the intervening variables
and contributing factors relevant in the county. These
strategic plans will be reviewed by the state and must
be approved before a county will receive additional
funding to implement strategies.
SPF funds are available for the selected county if
the LME and county partner jointly submit a single application
to address alcohol-related traffic fatalities. It
is also required that the LME and the county prevention
partners must be willing and able to work with their
regional CPR throughout the course of the project.
In particular, CPRs will provide technical assistance
and training on the five SPF steps. Finally, it is mandated
that 100% of local SPF SIG funds pass through the LME
to the prevention partner(s). That is, the LME is to
serve as a coordination role and all funds to reduce
alcohol-related traffic crashes will reside with the
local prevention partner(s).
Expectations of Funded Communities
Each of the 18 counties will be given the opportunity
to utilize as much as $100,000 to conduct their county-level
needs assessment, with the assistance of the CPRs, and
write their strategic plans. The focus of the needs
assessment in each county will be to understand why
the county experiences high levels of alcohol-related
traffic crashes and deaths (as well as the other factors
that are part of the high-need index). In particular,
each county will need to address four primary questions:
- Which geographic areas within the county are experiencing
the problem most?
- Which subpopulations within the county are experiencing
the problem most?
- What are the key intervening variables that appear
to be contributing to the problem (e.g., easy access
to alcohol by minors, social or cultural norms that
encourage risky drinking, judicial overloads, prevalence
of outlets, low levels of law enforcement, prevalence
of rural secondary roads, lack of safety rails on
roads, etc.).
- What resources exist in the county that are currently
addressing, or could be recruited to address, alcohol-related
traffic crashes, including coalitions, schools, prevention
providers, alcohol retailers, and law enforcement.
Each county must use appropriate methods (e.g., surveys,
representative focus groups and interviews, archival
data) to obtain data to answer the four questions. A
designated CPR will provide extensive support to each
county. In addition, RTI and PIRE will facilitate a
needs assessment training for the 18 counties and will
be available for ongoing technical assistance. Because
some counties will likely have more initial capacity
than others to conduct the needs assessment, we expect
that some will take more time to accomplish this task
than others. Those with high capacity will have approximately
six months to conduct their needs assessment. Those
with lower capacity will be given more time to conduct
their needs assessment, if necessary.
After each county completes its needs assessment, it
will then work with its designated CPR to write a strategic
plan (SPF step 3), which must include plans for local
capacity building and monitoring outcomes (SPF steps
2 and 5, respectively). More specifically, each strategic
plan must include the following:
- A vision for prevention at the community level;
- A statement acknowledging the state’s priority
area and the county’s commitment to addressing
it;
- Needs assessment results, including the identification
of high problem areas and intervening variables that
contribute to alcohol-related traffic deaths;
- A statement of the community’s capacity and
infrastructure to address alcohol-related traffic
deaths, and a plan to increase capacity, where needed;
- Appropriate (i.e., logically connected and culturally
competent) evidence-based programs, policies, and
practices to address alcohol-related traffic deaths;
- Methods and measures for monitoring community-level
outcomes;
- A discussion of how the community will develop a
plan for sustaining the strategies after SPF SIG funds
have been depleted; and
- A realistic timeline for implementing the strategic
plan.
We expect that high capacity counties will write plans
that focus on developing and implementing effective
and culturally appropriate prevention strategies for
reducing alcohol-related traffic deaths. In contrast,
we expect that lower capacity counties will write plans
that focus on developing effective and culturally appropriate
capacity and infrastructure to eventually address the
problem of alcohol-related traffic deaths. We further
expect that these capacity-oriented plans will include
a timeline for shifting focus from capacity development
to implementing effective strategies within a period
of two years.
SPF SIG staff and members of a CAAB subcommittee will
review the strategic plans and recommend they be approved
or sent back to the county for revisions with further
assistance from the CPR. Upon approval of the strategic
plan, a county will receive its implementation funds
(SPF step 4). Implementation funds will vary for each
community based on an assessment of each community’s
needs relative to the needs of the other selected communities.
An algorithm for fund distribution will be developed
that is expected to include the size and population
of the community, the demographic characteristics (i.e.,
urban vs. rural), the extent to which the plan is oriented
towards addressing alcohol-related traffic deaths directly
versus building capacity to address the problem, and
other factors related to community need as determined
by project staff and the CAAB. We anticipate that implementation
funds will average $100,000 per year.
Link to additional information
Expectations of LMEs
LMEs are expected to assist communities by providing
SPF SIG funds to designated communities as necessary.
In addition, they can assist non-SPF SIG communities
in building their capacity to implement the SPF model
in their prevention work by helping community prevention
providers receive training.
Expectations of CPRs
The creation of four CPRs strategically located across
the state’s regions is intended to increase the
state’s overall capacity to provide technical
assistance to communities with respect to the Strategic
Prevention Framework. This includes teaching and assisting
communities in conducting needs assessments, building
community readiness and capacity, writing strategic
plans, implementing evidence-based individual and environmental
prevention strategies, collecting, analyzing, and interpreting
data, and evaluation. CPRs will be the first level of
technical assistance for communities. CPRs can consult
with SECAPT, RTI, and PIRE for additional training and
assistance as needed.
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