Building capacity for prevention

What makes an organization have the capacity to conduct effective prevention programs? So much of our training focuses on the “how” to do prevention. We teach about definitions of prevention; we share “best practices” and highlight what the “evidence” tells us.

However, actually making change requires much more than that. Implementing effective prevention requires setting up systems within our organizations and shifting the culture of how we approach our work. For example, a prevention educator may fully understand a new innovative prevention practice. But in order to get the support to succeed, that person needs the organization to support the work.

In the last I have attended two web conferences on building capacity for prevention where Jeanne Bell, the CEO of Compass Point, looked at her experiences in leadership development and capacity building in other fields, and lead a discussion about strategies to increase the individual, organizational and institutional capacity of rape crisis centers to conduct effective prevention efforts.

Click here for slides from her presentation on September 27, 2010 conducted for California’s Rape Crisis Centers. This web conference was supported with funding from the California Department of Public Health, Safe and Active Communities Branch (formerly the EPIC Branch) and the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant.

Click here for a link to the recording of this web conference.

Jeanne Bell, MNA is CEO of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services —one of the country’s leading providers of training and consulting services to community-based organizations. She is the co-author of Financial Leadership for Nonprofit Executives: Guiding Your Organization to Long Term Success (Wilder). In addition to frequent speaking and consulting on nonprofit strategy and finance, Jeanne has conducted a series of research projects on nonprofit executive leadership, including Daring to Lead 2006: A National Study of Nonprofit Executive Leadership and Securing the Safety Net: A Profile of Community Clinic and Health Center Leadership in California. Jeanne is Chair of the board of the Alliance for Nonprofit Management and a board member with the Nonprofits’ Insurance Alliance of California (NIAC) and with Intersection for the Arts. She serves on the advisory board of The Nonprofit Quarterly.