Best Practices Identification
For the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Macro evaluated a 7-year demonstration project used in 13 partnership programs to support their work in delaying pregnancy and childbearing among youth. Through site visits, surveys, and document reviews, the Macro team determined how communities are engaged and how community capacity is built through increased programs, improved program resources, and changes in policies. We identified helpful factors and challenges for these community efforts, and we informed policymakers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about the planning, implementation, and evaluation of similar efforts. Our efforts also resulted in the national dissemination of science-based best practices in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of community coalition partnership programs so that other communities could benefit from our findings.

Manual Development
Macro developed a school food safety guide for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We conducted interviews and focus groups with a range of audiences, including principals, teachers, school food service staff, local health department staff, and experts from national organizations and Federal agencies. Through this initiative, we identified emerging food safety risks and developed the guide to provide information on food safety, eating environments, hand washing, outbreak detection, and foodborne illness outbreak response. This manual was developed, tested, and disseminated to improve State- , district- , and building-level school food safety policies and programs.