CLEARINGHOUSE FOR MILITARY FAMILY READINESS AT PENN STATE

For the last six years, the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness has been located at Penn State University (Clearinghouse at PSU). During that time, the Clearinghouse at PSU has established itself has a solid partner with expertise in implementation science, technical assistance models, and recognizing the needs of military families. The Clearinghouse at PSU focuses on emphasizing the use of evidence-based programs and practices, improving awareness of and access to these approaches, decreasing real and perceived barriers to their use, increasing the use of evaluation as part of program implementation, and reducing the lag time between the creation of scientific knowledge in prevention/intervention and evaluation sciences and their translation to the field.The current RFA has three main areas of work: (1) continued development of a repository of programs that have been vetted for evidence of their effectiveness; (2) implementation and technical support on program deployment and utilization including programs and curricula previously developed by the Clearinghouse at PSU, such as the 5210 Healthy Military Children messaging campaign; and (3) further development of materials for the THRIVE Universal Parenting Program. The Clearinghouse at PSU can commence activities immediately and with no down time needed for developing an infrastructure as it has staff already in critical roles (e.g., scientists experienced with vetting, implementation specialists experienced with providing support and technical assistance, scientists experienced with creating Grow! and Take Root programs within the THRIVE initiative, and multimedia specialist experienced on web and video development).