CADCA Primers: Prevent Substance Abuse with Community Coalitions

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) aims to strengthen the capacity of community coalitions to create and maintain drug-free communities.

Research suggests that prevention of substance use and misuse reduces substance use and its associated costs in the most effective and cost-efficient way. Coalitions are critical to the success of local prevention efforts and by engaging key community sectors, we can create population-level change and positive, sustainable outcomes.

Towards these ends, CADCA has created the Primer Series – a series of publications to help coalitions understand and implement SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Framework through the CADCA model of prevention.

Click here for all resources (in English and Spanish) or navigate to a specific primer using the links below:

• Handbook for Community Anti-Drug Coalitions
• Assessment Primer: Describing Your Community, Collecting Data, Analyzing the Issues and Establishing a Road Map for Change
• Capacity Primer: Building Membership, Structure and Leadership
• Cultural Competence Primer: Incorporating Cultural Competence into Your Comprehensive Plan
• Evaluation Primer: Setting the Context for a Community Coalition Evaluation
• Implementation Primer: Putting Your Plan into Action
• Planning Primer: Developing a Theory of Change, Logic Models and Strategic and Action Plans
• Sustainability Primer: Fostering Long-Term Change to Create Drug-Free Communities

Each primer is designed to stand alone and work with others in the series.