ABSTRACT
Despite their potential for substantially enhancing public health, evidence-based family and school interventions remain underutilized, failing to reach enough of the U.S. population to have their intended impact. The need to address this problem is underscored by the 2009 National Research Council and Institute of Medicine report Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People, with its urgent call for research on the integration of prevention programming into service systems “which routinely involves the formation of partnerships and the development of an infrastructure” (p. 325). One approach strongly recommended in the NRC and IOM report is for the dissemination of evidence-based interventions through programming implemented by community-based partnerships (Butterfoss, Goodman, & Wandersman, 1996; Kumpfer, Turner, Hopkins, & Librett, 1993; Minkler & Wallerstein, 2002). Salient literature provides a compelling case for the role of coalitions in prevention-related activities, suggesting that they can enhance the capacity of collaborating organizations by sharing information, pooling resources and skills, and minimizing the duplication of efforts (e.g., Butterfoss, Goodman, & Wandersman, 1993; Spoth, Rohrbach et al., 2013; Wandersman & Florin, 2003). Moreover, community coalitions have demonstrated effectiveness in addressing behavioral health issues such as the prevention of substance misuse, delinquency, and violence (e.g., Chou et al., 1998; Hawkins et al., 2009; Miller & Hendrie, 2008; Spoth & Greenberg, 2011).
