About
Video highlights of PROSPER, a scientifically proven model built on partnerships between Penn State Extension and public schools.
The PROSPER (PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience) Delivery System provides scientifically-proven programs for middle-school youth and their families.
The three-tiered structure of the State-level Partnership, which includes Community Teams, Prevention Coordinators, and a State Management Team, facilitates a feedback cycle through which Community Teams receive ongoing proactive technical assistance based on their assessed needs.
PROSPER in Pennsylvania has been funded by a variety of federal, state, and local public and private agencies, with most funding support coming from the NIH.
The PROSPER Partnership model is a third-generation model for collaborative research and program implementation that has evolved from a series of partnership-based prevention projects. The PROSPER Partnership model uses small strategic teams of community volunteers, led by locally-based Extension Educators and public school representatives, to facilitate the sustained delivery of evidence-based programs.
Positive findings from the PROSPER project in Iowa and Pennsylvania have generated interest from prevention researchers and Extension personnel in states across the U.S. This national attention suggested that members of the original PROSPER project team take the next critically important step of developing the infrastructure and capacity to support additional PROSPER State Partnerships.
For six years, 14 rural school districts in Pennsylvania and Iowa have used a unique 4-H program that coordinates a community-wide effort to reduce alcohol, tobacco and other drug use among youth.
