THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY - ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF COMMUNITY-BASEDSUBSTANCE-ABUSE PREVENTION

The devolution of national programs to state and local control creates special challenges for evaluators as policy ideas are implemented in a variety of ways in local communities. This paper describes the natio nal evaluation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Fighting Back p rogram, a multi-site demonstration of community-based substance abuse prevention. The evaluation follows the dictum ''think globally, act lo cally'' and is designed to provide information to understand communiti es' response to alcohol and drug problems while simultaneously assessi ng program outcomes. The use of multiple methods of data collection, i ncluding large-scale survey's and social indicators, along with qualit ative studies of communities, allows ''triangulation'' of project find ings. The assessment of the project at early implementation suggests t hat Fighting Back communities have implemented a broad range of strate gies to arrest substance use. A baseline has been established against which the impact of the program can be measured as it matures. The pre sent evaluation underscores the essential role of both process and out come assessment of comprehensive community-based programs and the role of evaluation in helping to design more effective strategies. (C) 199 7 Elsevier Science Ltd.