The Community Readiness Model was developed on the basis of two research traditions: psychological readiness for treatment and community development. Nine stages of readiness are identified by the model: (1) no knowledge stage; (2) denial stage; (3) vague awareness stage; (4) pre-planning stage; (5) preparation stage; (6) initiation stage; (7) stabilization stage; (8) confirmation/expansion stage; and (9) professionalization stage. The goal of the model is to move communities through these stages to prepare them to engage in community prevention planning. The author describes the concept and theory of community readiness, which holds that communities can use a step-by-step process to move through a series of stages to develop and implement effective community prevention programs. The concept of community readiness evolved from a series of pilot studies assessing the implementation of drug abuse prevention programs in American Indian communities. The pilot studies highlighted the fact that the programming was not successful because the community was not ready to plan and implement prevention programming. Thus, researchers developed the Community Readiness Model to prepare communities to embrace prevention programming. Table, references, resources