Offers ways to develop evaluation components of community-based projects focusing on children’s health. Seven projects nationwide (Arizona’s Blowing Smoke Project, California Endowment’s Healthy Eating, Active Communities, Kentucky Center for Smoke-Free Policy, Healthy Maine Partnerships, North Carolina’s Color Me Healthy Project, Washington State Steps to a Healthier Washington, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Prevention Research Centers Program) illustrate the following steps: evaluation design, process and partnerships, outcomes, and result dissemination. Evaluation design identifies salient questions and develops partnerships between evaluators and program administrators. The process and partnerships phase requires integration of stakeholders in the evaluation process. Outcomes rely on distinct evaluation goals that focus on participants to champion the evaluation process. Dissemination of results is best achieved through press releases, newsletters, conferences, journal articles, websites, or national initiatives. When evaluation is an integral part of program development, programs can determine critical success factors that need to be measured and avoid unnecessary measurement. A list of tools, with Internet addresses, is provided for each evaluation phase.
