Utilizing Grant-Provided Support

The TAS assigned to your site from the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention can provide vital support during program implementation. Your TAS has developed an in-depth understanding of the goals, assets, and challenges facing your site.

During program implementation, your TAS may provide the following types of support:

• Guidance on developing your needs assessment plan
• Recommendations for alternative EBPs, given your assets and community needs (note: any changes in selected programs need to be approved by your federal project officer)
• Help in connecting your site with Web-based and print resources to aid in program implementation
• Assistance in establishing peer-to-peer networks with other SS/HS Initiatives using the same EBPs
• Suggestions for strategies to sustain your program

As you work on program implementation, you will want to maintain regular contact with your federal project officer (FPO). Your FPO oversees the success and integrity of your SS/HS Initiative and can serve as an important resource during program implementation.

During program implementation, your FPO can provide the following types of TA:

• Information and guidance related to regulatory, administrative, and programmatic requirements
• Assistance with programmatic changes and refinements
• Approval of and assistance with fiscal requirements, including funding, budgets, and budget revisions
• Approval of key administrative actions, including changes to activities, grant scope, or personnel

The NET, coordinated by Manila Consulting, is an important collaborator in evaluating the effectiveness of your program. The NET can assist you with both cross-site evaluation and local evaluation in a variety of ways (e.g., planning the evaluation design, collecting data, reporting evaluation results). The NET may assess your evaluation TA needs via focus groups, brief online surveys, site visits, and/or document reviews.

In addition to site-specific evaluation TA, the NET provides universal evaluation TA on topics that are challenging for many grantees (i.e., measuring program fidelity, cultural/ethnic considerations, selection of comparison programs).

The NET’s training and TA may be provided through a variety of methods, including:

• Training for all grantees at national grantee meetings
• Information distribution for local evaluators via an e-mail list
• Web conferencing for Project Directors and Evaluators, offering distance-learning and peer-to-peer information-sharing opportunities
• One-on-one training for Project Directors and Evaluators, by telephone, via e-mail, or during the evaluation site visit, to meet site-specific needs

Your CS, from the Communications and Social Marketing Team, can assist you in developing and implementing communications tools and strategies to support the work of your SS/HS Initiative. Your CS may work with you over the telephone, by e-mail, during site visits (at your request and with FPO approval), through webinars, and at Communication Institute meetings conducted by the Communications and Social Marketing Team.

Your CS can provide the following types of assistance:

• Communications planning for promoting and/or sustaining EBPs
• Public and media relations
• Assistance in planning a social marketing campaign
• Web site development
• Creation of materials to promote and market your SS/HS Initiative
• Presentation and spokesperson training
• Communication resources through the team’s e-newsletter and e-mail list