by: Al Fredrickson, Prevention Coordinator, Chemical Dependency Program Division, Minnesota Department of Human Services

Well here we are with a federal budget, finally! The good news is that there weren't the kind of cuts that many of us feared. It sure was difficult living and planning through all the rumors and the continuing resolutions. This whole thing really underscores the unstable nature of funding for many prevention projects. What lessons can we learn from this? What can we do to minimize future impact of events such as these?

It seems to me that this serves to reinforce the need for us to become creative and aggressive in our program evaluation efforts. We can't afford to rely on the hackneyed phrase that "you can't measure prevention!" This doesn't mean that large portions of program budgets need to be dedicated to evaluation. Some evaluation efforts can be done at little or no cost. It is important that as program goals and objectives are developed, evaluation is also considered and built into the goals and objectives.

While most of us prefer to look at evaluation as an effort to improve our program and better target our activities, it also can provide useful information to policy makers. Evaluation information can show others how our efforts are impacting the communities and individuals we serve. It is important as we develop our evaluation plans that we look for ways to measure our impact, outcome and processes. These measures will yield the information needed to improve our programs and to "tell our story" to the policymakers and community.

As funding gets tighter and more competitive, evaluation results will be looked at more closely. Government will be looking for the best programs to fund and evaluation (results or plans) will certainly be one measure of quality.

There are good resources available to help in understanding and planning evaluation efforts. MPRC and the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) are sources for this information. It is also a good idea to develop contacts at area colleges and universities for assistance with your evaluation efforts. Often, there are professors or students that are interested in the topic and in need of projects to work on.

Remember, good evaluation that helps us to develop better programs and services will also help us to build our case for funding.