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Tips for Soliciting Cohesive Enforcement Program Plans

NCJ Number
187411
Author(s)
Maria G. Carmona
Date Published
1999
Length
9 pages
Annotation
An important first step in providing strong leadership is to use a grant application format that encourages communities to construct cohesive proposals based on strategies that are most likely to succeed in combating underage drinking; this document provides tips on how this can be done.
Abstract
This document is a guide for planning and writing requests for proposals (RFPs), assessing the adequacy of proposals received, and providing useful feedback to applicants. The fundamental question addressed in this document is "Will the plan work?" If the grant is to achieve the desired results, the RFP must solicit cohesive proposals that include potentially effective strategies. This guide suggests that the RFP pose a series of key questions and that proposals be evaluated based on the quality of the answers. The questions are as follows: What are the project objectives? What is the nature of the underage drinking problem in the community? What causes the identified alcohol-related problems? How is the community currently addressing the problem of underage drinking? What strategies will the community implement as a result of grant funding? How do proposed strategies relate to the perceived causes of existing underage drinking problems? How will media be used to enhance proposed strategies? This guide concludes with outlines of contrasting case studies that illustrate how the aforementioned questions were answered in the programs' responses to the RFPs.