NCJ Number
188426
Date Published
2000
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes the results of a process evaluation of the Free to Grow pilot program, which provided important information about the development of community-based initiatives to combat substance abuse.
Abstract
The focus was on five grantees and how they implemented Free to Grow, a substance abuse prevention program designed to strengthen the families and communities of economically disadvantaged children in partnership with Head Start. The grantees, who were located in California, Colorado, Kentucky, New York, and Puerto Rico, received training and technical assistance from the National Technical Assistance Center. After 5 years of study, the evaluation concluded that it was feasible to implement substance abuse prevention strategies in partnership with Head Start. It also suggested that the Free to Grow program may be appropriate and attractive to other communities that were facing similar challenges. Participants in Free to Grow perceived that it achieved important family and community changes. The evaluation concluded that Free to Grow's family-strengthening and community-strengthening strategies could substantially benefit Head Start. In particular, these strategies could strengthen interventions for at-risk families, facilitate family partnership agreements, increase parental involvement, expand parent education and staff training, use parents as resources, develop parent advocacy skills, strengthen Head Start's leadership in the community, and create new types of collaborative relationships. A new national demonstration will be launched to build on the lessons learned from this study.