Why is promoting fidelity in the implementation of evidence-based prevention programs like singing an Irish ballad? The policy co-ordinator at Penn State’s Prevention Research Center, Brian Bumbarger, explains the connection between the oral tradition and effective practice.

In the space of a single decade, Penn State’s Prevention Research Center’s approach to science–based community empowerment has put it in the vanguard of efforts to make a seamless connection between prevention science, policy and practice.

Ahead of a visit to the UK next week by US cost-benefit expert Steve Aos and a Prevention Action special focusing on his field of expertise, evidence from Pennsylvania should give policy makers in both countries confidence to invest in prevention programs as a means of making big long-term savings across the spectrum of children’s services.