Recorded presentation

Linda M. Bosma, MA, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454-1015, 612-624-9556, bosma@epi.umn.edu, Kelli Komro, PhD, Division of Epidemiology, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second St., Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454, and Traci Toomey, PhD, Alcohol Epidemiology Program, University of Minnesota, 1300 S. 2nd St, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454.

Two SAMHSA Model Programs that address alcohol problems use community organizing: Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol (CMCA) and Project Northland. In addition, Changing Alcohol Policies at Events (the CAPE Project) and The Minnesota D.A.R.E. Plus Project also implemented community organizing methods to address alcohol related problems. As practitioners attempt to implement community organizing projects throughout the country, it is imperative that we develop a better understanding of the complexity of the organizing process. Evaluations that focus only on outcomes do little to add to our knowledge of the implementation of community organizing or the steps that are critical to successful organizing efforts. This presentation will discuss the usefulness of qualitative evaluation methodologies for evaluating community organizing in order to learn more about the organizing process. An ethnographic evaluation of a current Project Northland Chicago community action team and a case study of the CAPE Project will be presented as examples of qualitative methodologies that provide useful information about the community organizing process. These evaluation techniques can provide valuable information to researchers and practitioners seeking to develop a better understanding of implementation of the community organizing process.

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