Building Sustainable Infrastructure to Implement Prevention Programs for Healthy Development

On March 27, 2024, the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives convened internationally recognized experts on state-level systems to deliver youth-focused prevention programs in communities. The Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center at Penn State University co-sponsored the event.
The scope and magnitude of challenges facing youth and their families in the United States demand effective solutions. Scientific evidence is a critical tool for revealing what works, in what settings, and for which individuals and communities. Evidence can protect taxpayer interests by informing decision makers about where best to invest public dollars to create opportunities by ensuring people who need help can get it, and driving faster progress, thereby expanding the impact of public dollars
to improve lives. The opportunities for this process to play out can be particularly impactful with the application of evidence amassed in the field of prevention science, which direct us to well-tested strategies shown to interrupt pathways to negative outcomes and improve the behavioral health and wellbeing among our youth.
This briefing featured speakers who presented a blueprint, including specific actionable steps for building and sustaining an infrastructure, for delivering effective preventive interventions to promote healthy outcomes in our youth. Integral to such an infrastructure is the availability and utility of registries that have established, based on rigorous research, programs that meet standards for a designation as “evidence-based,” assisting states and local governments in determining how best to invest precious resources. It also identified funding needs and strategies to support the infrastructure; presented results of cost-benefit analyses of prevention programming establishing their return on investment; discussed barriers to widespread program implementation; and recommended state level policies to support the financing and infrastructure (including workforce development and data
interoperability) for promoting behavioral health.