CADCA National Coalition Institute

Technical Assistance…What Is It and How Do I Get It?

The term “technical assistance” or TA is often thrown around and definitions can vary.  Some may think that it means assistance with technology—when you buy a new computer you often get a toll-free number for “technical assistance” for your new system.

We can’t help you get your computer running, but CADCA’s National Coalition Institute can provide technical assistance for coalitions who are experiencing new developments, growing pains, creating/updating products/documents and the like. We will listen and strategize with you over just about any coalition-related issue. Our job is to help your coalition be able to effectively address substance abuse issues, which have been identified through a community assessment, to create population-level change.

The Institute focuses on the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) as its basis for TA content and encourages skill building around 15 Core Competencies and 12 Essential Processes and the development of five products (i.e., Community Assessment, Logic Model, Strategic/Action Plan, Evaluation Plan and Sustainability Plan). Check out the Institute’s Web site, for information on these concepts and/or contact Shannon Weatherly, the Institute’s technical assistance manager, at 1-800-542-2322, ext. 240 or drop her an e-mail to learn more.Click here to request technical assistance—the service is free and available to any anti-drug coalition in the

The Institute does not provide technical assistance in several areas--we don't read potential grant submissions, provide information on grants management (i.e., funding issues, terms and conditions of the grant, etc.) and we do not typically provide templates of documents. Instead, we encourage you to create your own. Should you come to us with these types of questions, we will often redirect you to other resources (i.e., your Grants Management Specialist, Project Officer, etc.

Click here to request technical assistance—the service is free and available to any anti-drug coalition in the United States. We look forward to continuing our work with each of you!

This post was written by Shannon Weatherly, Technical Assistance Manager for CADCA's National Coalition Institute. Her e-mail address is training@cadca.org

Youth Drug Use Continues Decline

Earlier this week, President Bush announced the positive results of this year’s Monitoring the Future study. We were thrilled to see that the nation continues to have gradual declines in drug use among our youth and rather dramatic declines in meth use—a big problem that many local coalitions address.

Coalitions—the country’s grassroots prevention leaders—can take a lot of the credit for the reductions. While it is hard to document attribution, we can make a good case for contribution. (Spoken like a true evaluator!)

We encourage local coalition leaders to present this study to their coalition at meetings or through their newsletters, blast e-mails or other communication vehicles. It is important for people in your local community to know that collectively, we are helping to make a difference.

While national statistics are great, coalition leaders need to be prepared to answer this question:  Are we seeing the same decreases in OUR community as the national average?  After all, that’s what most folks care about. That means coalitions need to have a good handle on local data. If you aren’t sure where to start, check out the CADCA National Coalition Institute’s Assessment Primer or contact the Institute for free technical assistance.

Finally, while everyone in the substance abuse prevention community should celebrate and take credit for the decreases we must be sure that people don’t get complacent. The trends are good, but there is still a lot of work to do.

CADCA's National Coalition Institute Welcomes You!!

Welcome to the CADCA National Coalition Institute Blog!

You may be wondering, what is a blog and what does it have to do with prevention?  We're glad you asked. At its most basic, a blog (short for Web log) is a Web site where entries (posts) are made in journal style and are listed from newest to oldest entry. The best part about a blog is that you can participate. At the bottom of each post, you can add your comments--agree, disagree, add more information or tell us about what your coalition is doing on a particular topic. [Visit Common Craft Productions for a quick tutorial called Blogs in Plain English].

The Institute's blog is designed to support conversation on issues and current events and the local implications, sharing ideas and experiences, showcasing community anti-drug coalition successes, providing resource links and connecting coalition leaders.

Our goals are to share information, resources and current events; be a source to showcase coalition blogs; and engage in blog conversations with coalition members across America. Most of all, we want to support you to expand your Web presence with blogging that amplifies the voice of prevention across America. 

We've provided several options for subscribing to this blog--through e-mail alerts or an RSS reader. We invite you to submit your comments to each post through the comments button below, to to e-mail us to share your story ideas, photos and links to your coalition blogs.

While CADCA's National Coalition Institute will maintain this blog, it is here for you--the community anti-drug coalitions that are on the ground doing the day-to-day work of trying to create safe, healthy and drug-free communities!