In many communities risk and resource assessment results indicate target communities rich in program resources but lacking in either service coordination or healthy community beliefs and clear standards for behavior. Unlike traditional, program-focused change models the Community Prevention Grants Program does not specifically focus on developing new programs, but also encourages communities to implement systems change efforts as well. The aim of such efforts is to reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors through better coordination and less duplication of existing community services and more collaboration among local service providers, or by changing the laws, norms, and policies by which a community operates. As a result, many Title V communities implement prevention plans that focus, in part, on systems change strategies designed to improve existing service delivery systems or change community norms. The next section discusses two common systems change strategies and, in addition, explores the systems change inherent in the Community Prevention Grants Program model.

"Title V has made us less program oriented and made us realize that multiple, collaborative strategies are better"

— Joseph Martino, Prevention Coordinator,
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania