title: Roles of organizers and champions in building campus-community prevention partnerships.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A campus-community partnership can be an effective vehicle for launching environmental strategies to prevent college alcohol-related problems. In this study, the authors' primary aim was identifying key factors that facilitate or impede colleges' efforts to build campus-community partnerships.
  
  
  METHODS
  From fall 2004 to summer 2006, administrators at five 4-year colleges participated in a multisite case study. Level of partnership development was the primary outcome.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three interrelated factors facilitated higher-developed partnerships: college staff assigned to facilitate the partnerships who worked as community organizers, higher-level college administrators who served as aggressive champions, and community initiation of the partnership. The authors did not observe this trio of factors among the less-developed partnerships. A lack of administrative support made it more difficult for a champion to emerge, a college administrator who staunchly advocated for a campus-community partnership, and for those assigned to facilitate the partnership to carry out their work.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Colleges should appoint higher-level administrators to serve as champions, while also ensuring that those assigned to facilitate a partnership can apply community organizing skills.
authors.affiliation: Oregon State University, Department of Public Health, College of Health and Human Sciences, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA. rzakocs@bu.edu
authors.forename: Ronda C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Zakocs
authors.forename: Rashmi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tiwari
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vehige
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: DeJong
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D006801:Humans; D013334:Students; D014495:Universities / Q000458:organization & administration*