Daniel Perkins and Brian Bumbarger
If they are to become standard practice, prevention programs have to be able to demonstrate sustained, high-quality implementation and to prove that they lead to better outcomes for children and families.

One innovative approach to this acid-test and to the vexing set of problems it can involve brings into being and then supports community-based coalitions of key leaders who plan and implement the programs and in the process harness the resources of their schools and agencies. See also: Communities that Care under US spotlight.

A variation of the coalition model is called PROSPER (Promoting School-community-university collaborations to Enhance Resilience) which is being developed in the US by Pennsylvania State and Iowa State universities with funding from the National Institute of Drug Abuse.

In the case of PROSPER, the science-to-practice continuum links three important US infrastructure systems: the land-grant university,