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URC/CHS Projects

Past Projects in Communications & Outreach

SAMHSA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI)

As a subcontractor to Social & Health Services, Ltd. (SHS), URC supported all NCADI service areas and managed its Outreach Component, which serves as the link between the Clearinghouse, its customers, and the intermediary organizations that help NCADI expand its reach. URC employed strategic communications and outreach to support NCADI in its mission to disseminate accurate and timely substance abuse prevention and treatment information and to serve national, state, and community audiences based on their information needs. URC experts in social marketing developed and implemented communication strategies, prepared and disseminated educational and promotional materials, promoted multicultural and media outreach, and maintained liaison with a network of hundreds of national, state, and local organizations.

URC staff played a lead role in developing NCADI's highly successful bilingual public education campaign to respond to the devastating impact of substance abuse on the Hispanic/Latino population. Guided by a group of exceptional steering committee members, the Initiative produced 18 health communication materials, held 21 promotional events, disseminated more than 2 million copies of these materials across the United States, and developed websites that received more than 2 million hits per month.

Campaign for Our Children Media Initiative

In 1997, URC and its partner, Marketing Resources, Inc., supported the implementation of Phase II of the Campaign for Our Children (CFOC), a media initiative funded by the Maryland Governor’s Council on Adolescent Pregnancy. Mass media advertising and a public relations campaign were integrated with in-school programs to influence and change attitudes about sexuality among 9- to-14-year-old youth. At the start of the project, qualitative and quantitative studies had not defined the extent to which teens perceive teen pregnancy as a problem nor where teen pregnancy fits in the line of key issues for teenagers. Research also had not indicated how the needs filled by sexual activity could be legitimately filled by alternative activities or how messages could change the way youth think about sexual activity.

URC’s challenge was to uncover new insights and information on these issues. Through monitoring existing and ongoing studies as well as conducting new field work, URC provided information that enabled the campaign to sustain the product-market fit and make adjustments to respond to changes in youth attitudes and environments. URC facilitated the design, implementation, and evaluation of the second phase of CFOC’s activities.

The CSAP Communications Team was a nationwide technical assistance and training contract designed to serve the communication needs of local, state, and national organizations in their efforts to prevent and reduce alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use and abuse. Serving as the communications technical assistance team for the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention from 1992-2002, URC assisted organizations to develop and implement multi-pronged communication strategies to combat misinformation and conflicting messages from conflicting messages from the media that glamorize substance abuse. Drawing on established program models and research findings, URC staff worked as partners with client agencies to enable them to use the health communication process and behavior change model in practical ways, to effectively involve audiences in needs assessment, development and pretest of culturally appropriate messages and materials, and to plan effective media relations and media advocacy. URC provided hands-on instruction in social marketing, developing culturally competent approaches, media relations, media advocacy, media literacy, and other strategies for communicating with a specific audience. In addition, URC developed a large number of resource materials to enhance the communication capacity of national, state, and local groups, including bulletins, fact sheets, videotapes, reports, and training courses.

Communication Support for the National Eye Institute Information and Education Program

Through the National Eye Health Education Program, the National Eye Institute supports activities to increase awareness of glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy in selected target audiences in the United States and raise public and professional awareness of the importance of early detection of glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy in preventing visual loss. URC provided technical support to the National Eye Education Program from 1988 to 1993, including materials development, maintenance of a library and eye health database, survey research, program evaluation, conference planning, and liaison with public and private organizations with an interest in eye care.

New and Emerging Issues Project

The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) initiated the New and Emerging Issues (NEI) Project to adapt and implement new electronic methods and technologies to shorten the traditional time lapse between the publication of research data and the application of findings to substance abuse prevention and treatment practices. The six-year project, which ended in 1998, adapted new and innovative technologies to accomplish a two-pronged objective: community recognition of the link between violence and alcohol and drug use and demonstration of cost savings associated with cost-effective drug prevention programs. As subcontractor to Social Services Inc., URC drew from its experience in changing outmoded dissemination procedures to electronic methods appropriate to the technological capacity of the intended audience. Under the NEI Project, URC provided support for the development of http://p2001.health.org, a web site that gives access to over 55 CSAP training courses and a range of other resources. In addition, URC assisted in the development of Prevention Dollars at Work, an interactive computer-based tool that assists program planners to determine cost savings gained by the implementation of prevention programs. We also developed workshops to train community teams and coordinate local prevention efforts as well as computer program formats that were adaptable to the needs of diverse ethnic populations.

Another important component of the NEI Project was to support CSAP’s Hispanic/Latino Initiative to design communication activities for alcohol and drug abuse prevention to reach the growing Hispanic/Latino population. URC adapted and developed communication products to respond to the information needs of Hispanic/Latino audiences in a culturally appropriate. Products produced included resource materials for community organizations, children's activity books, a fotonovella, and posters designed for Hispanic/Latino populations.

Support for the Education Programs of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Widespread concern with reducing a broad spectrum of health risks led the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health to initiate several national health education programs and initiatives aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality related to undetected and untreated acute myocardial infarction, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, and smoking and lung diseases. From 1987 to 1993, URC assisted NHLBI in implementing several risk factor reduction programs for cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, including the National Cholesterol Education Program, the National High Blood Pressure Education Program, the National Heart Attack Alert Program, the NHLBI Obesity Education Initiative, and the NHLBI Smoking Education Program. In addition, URC assisted in planning, developing, and implementing the National Blood Resource Education Program and the National Asthma Education Program. URC played a key role in helping these programs to accomplish their goals through the development and dissemination of professional, patient, and public education materials. URC also provided technical support to state and local organizations, such as health departments, through workshops and conferences. URC services included developing continuing medical education courses, educational pamphlets, fact sheets, posters, booklets, videos, brochures, and slide kits and providing computer, social marketing, and data analysis and evaluation support. URC was also responsible for marketing these educational materials through the media and professional organizations. To complement the major program areas, URC provided expertise in areas of special interest to the risk reduction efforts of NHLBI, including minority health, workplace health promotion, and community program development.

Weight Control Information Network (WIN)

URC, in partnership with prime contractor Educational Services Inc., on a contract that ended in 2005, supported the services offered by the Weight-Control Information Network (WIN). WIN, a program of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), serves as a national source of up-to-date, science-based information on weight control, obesity, physical activity, and related nutritional issues. To assist NIDDK in performing its vital function of encouraging people to reach and maintain a healthy weight, URC supported WIN's efforts to reach a diverse and varied audience through the design and implementation of innovative communications programs and multicultural outreach. URC maintained a database of over 2,400 educational materials on weight control, obesity, and weight-related nutritional disorders, provided logistic support for meetings of the National Task Force on Prevention and Treatment of Obesity, and promoted WIN products through exhibiting at health-related conferences throughout the country. Educational materials were produced in a wide range of formats and disseminated to the general public, health professionals, the media, and Congress. WIN Notes, an information bulletin, provided to more than 9,000 health professionals the latest research findings on weight control and related topics from NIDDK and other organizations.

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