GROWING EFFECTIVE HEALTH PROMOTION IN RURAL PENNSYLVANIA: THE PROSPER PROGRAM

The PROSPER (PRomoting School-university-community Partnerships to Enhance Resilience) began in Pennsylvania in 2001 as a large, federally funded dissemination project. The goal of PROSPER is to promote healthy development and to avoid long-term health and behavioral problems in rural youth through the use of universal, evidence-based interventions. These programs are locally managed by the Penn State University Extension System, which provides expertise in positive youth development. PROSPER has demonstrated impacts on the well-being of rural youth. Pennsylvania is currently in the grip of an opioid epidemic, ranking 4th in the nation in opioid deaths in 2016. The proposed project will allow expansion of PROSPER into new rural communities in Pennsylvania. Following the conclusion of federal funding in 2005, six of the original PROSPER communities assumed local responsibility for sustaining their PROSPER programs, and resources were located to expand PROSPER to additional communities throughout the state. PROSPER utilizes a community partnership model that engages schools, community stakeholders, CES leadership, and university-based prevention scientists in implementing universal, evidence-based interventions in rural communities in Pennsylvania. Programs are delivered to students and their families in grades 5-8. PROSPER provides ongoing technical assistance to teams to assure ongoing high quality of program delivery. The PROSPER evaluation involved a rigorous trial that followed participants through aged 19 and compared long-term rates of substance use, problem behavior, family strengths, and positive youth development in communities that did and did not receive PROSPER programming. Findings were significant for all outcomes measured.