Planning for sustainability: The Fathers and Sons Program and the Flint community

Sustainability of community-based health programs after initial funding ends is one of the greatest challenges facing communities that engage in community-based participatory research (CBPR) in partnership with universities. Due to the cyclical nature of funding opportunities, new efforts often replace promising programs that have not been able to maintain operations in community settings before program benefits have been disseminated to others or before short-term effects can be reinforced to support the durability of positive program results. The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the sustainability plan for the Fathers and Sons Program, which is a CBPR intervention program designed to strengthen relationships between nonresident African American fathers and sons as a strategy for preventing youth risky behaviors. Several community-based organizations, the public health department and a local university formed the steering committee that guided program development, implementation, and evaluation in equal partnership. This steering committee also oversees the process for sustainability planning for the project. Our approach to sustainability is based on the guidelines provided by Shediac-Rizkallah and Bone (1998) which encompass three broad areas: 1) Project design and implementation factors, 2) Factors within the organizational setting, and 3) Factors in the broader community environment. Issues to be addressed include the operational definition used for sustainability planning, approach to strategic planning for program institutionalization, funding options, implementation strategies, and lessons learned about planning for sustainability. These lessons may be beneficial for sustaining future health programs involving families--particularly those with nonresident African American fathers and their sons.