SCOPE OF WORK – NARRATIVE SUMMARY  

[for more details see the RFA]

The Narrative Summary section provides an overview of the Scope of Work by explaining the need for the objective, how activities will build upon each other to achieve the Objective, and how evaluation will support and inform those activities. It demonstrates that your project understands the purpose of every activity and how intervention and evaluation activities connect together to achieve desired outcomes.

The narrative consists of four parts:

I. Community Assessment (600 word limit): This section describes the need for the Objective. Explain why this objective is needed at this point in time to alleviate the problem affecting these specific populations in these particular jurisdictions. Cite any relevant data collected in the past from local lead agencies or other projects in the area as well as state or national trends that can serve as context for why the problem should be addressed. Provide rationale for why the objective will focus on the population(s) of interest. This could be because of health inequities that affect the population unequally and/or because your project is particularly effective at engaging them. Lastly, explain why the project proposes to work in those specific jurisdictions. Has the project worked there previously? Are there indications or conditions that seem to point to forward movement or policy readiness?

Begin the Community Assessment Analysis narrative with these required statements:

This project will primarily address the following priority population(s) of focus: [list the selected population(s)].

This project will primarily work in the following geographical communities [identify the chosen jurisdictions; describe the demographics of each community].

II. Theory of Change: This section will be pre-populated and will not be scored. However, it may provide some clues as to the path your activities might take toward achieving the Objective.

III. Major Intervention Activities (400 word limit): More than just a list of major intervention activities, this section should lay out a logical path for achieving the Objective. Explain how activities will build upon each other in a logical sequence to generate momentum toward the goal. Describe the nature, purpose and desired outcomes of each major intervention activity. Based on your organization’s expertise and what you know of the communities you hope to engage, explain how activities will be uniquely tailored to each population of interest. If any Optional Activities were deleted from your plan, provide justification for why they were not necessary. 

IV. Evaluation Summary Narrative (500 word limit): Explain how evaluation activities will inform and support progress toward the objective. Describe the purpose, parameters (sample size and composition, frequency, scope), and intended use of each evaluation activity.  In particular, state how populations of interest can be involved in collecting, making sense of, disseminating and utilizing data to promote change. Describe how findings will be shared with various other CDPH/CTPP-funded organizations and stakeholders. If any Optional Activities were deleted from your plan, provide justification for why they were not necessary.

SAMPLE NARRATIVE SUMMARY 

(the data and sources cited in this example are fictional)

Indicator: 1.1.6

Number and type of tobacco company sponsorship at public and private events including county fairs, rodeo, motor sports, other sporting events, parades, concerts, museums, dances, festivals, business, etc.

-or-

Proportion of entertainment and sporting venues with a voluntary policy that regulates tobacco company sponsorship including county fairs, rodeo, motor sports, other sporting events, parades, concerts, museums, dances, festivals, business, etc.

-or-

Proportion of communities with a policy that regulates tobacco company sponsorship at entertainment and sporting venues such as fairgrounds, concerts, museums, and events such as dance, business, festivals, etc.

Objective: 

By June 30, 2027, at least five annual community events (such as the Gold Panner Days, High Valley Rodeo, Harvest Festival, Farmhand Hoedown, Achumawi Pow Wow, Barnyard Agricultural Fair, etc.) will each adopt a policy banning tobacco industry contributions.

The following is an example of what the narrative summary might look like based on the activities listed above:

SAMPLE NARRATIVE SUMMARY

Community Assessment (459 words) 

This project will primarily address the following priority population(s) of focus: members of rural communities. This project will primarily work with event organizations in the following geographical communities: Dry Creek, Thirsty Mesa and Empty Wells Counties, a sparsely populated rural region. The region, with a combined population of just 80,032, is mostly White (74%), with Native Americans 8.6%, Hispanics 7.2%, Blacks 3.3%, Asian 1.1%, Multi-ethnic 5.8% making up the other 26% (US Census, American Community Survey, 2023). 

Tobacco plays an outsize role in rural communities. Unlike in more populated regions and in other priority populations, tobacco use rates of rural populations have remained relatively unchanged.  Dry Creek County has one of the highest tobacco use rates in the state of California – with 28% of adults and 22.7% of youths currently using. Empty Wells and Thirsty Mesa also have higher use rates (19.5% and 21%) than the California average of 11.4% (CDPH, “California Tobacco Facts and Figures 2024”). The Youth Tobacco Use Survey found that tobacco use, particularly smokeless tobacco, or “chew”, begins early in rural settings – frequently beginning at age 11 or 12  (CDC 2023). The addictive nature of tobacco products means that consumers can often be hooked for life into using products known to cause harmful effects on the health of hearts, lungs, mouths, etc. This has serious individual and community level consequences. People residing in rural areas have a higher overall disease prevalence and rates of premature death than the United States in general (Matthews et al., “Health-related behaviors by urban-rural county classification—United States, 2013”, 2017). Therefore, changing community norms around tobacco use and reducing the impact of tobacco industry marketing can play a big role in improving health disparities.

In rural areas where populations are spread out over large expanses of land, special events such as rodeos, festivals, and celebrations draw residents and outsiders together and give people a reason to gather and socialize (Dry Creek Tobacco Prevention Program, Final Evaluation Report, 2020). Event sponsorship allows tobacco companies to have a seemingly benevolent presence in communities. It also gives them the opportunity to distribute free samples of their addictive products and marketing paraphernalia.  By working with community partners to sponsor tobacco-free events and promote educational messaging, we can end tobacco company sponsorship in rural areas and help reduce the tobacco uptake rate by local populations. 

Local lead agencies in the area have worked to reduce tobacco product marketing in retail settings and secondhand smoke in public areas, but the topic of tobacco sponsorship is a new angle which has not yet been pursued. Our project, with its rural focus and ties to community groups in the region, can mobilize local residents around this issue and leverage their support into voluntary policies covering popular community events.

Major Intervention Activities (384 words)

The intervention activities for this objective are designed to create public awareness and support for tobacco-free sponsorship of community events in order to persuade event organizers to adopt voluntary policies that ban tobacco industry sponsorship. The campaign will begin by collaborating and coordinating with tobacco prevention projects and coalitions in Dry Creek, Thirsty Mesa and Empty Wells Counties to capitalize on existing relationships they may have with event organizers and community groups with large followings. With them, the project will create a list of special events occurring in target jurisdictions and prioritize which events to focus on. We’ll seek out organizations within the American Indian, Latino and ranching communities to partner with in 3 Community Engagement Agreements of $2,500 each. In exchange, they will provide volunteers to help develop materials, do community outreach, collect data, and educate event organizers about adopting a tobacco-free sponsorship policy.

Together, the project and funded CEA recipients will develop educational materials tailored to each audience to distribute to event attendees and decisionmakers: e.g., postcards, fact sheets, letters of support. Materials will be consumer tested for appeal, effectiveness, cultural resonance. A webpage will be created for our project’s website to publicize the issue, share how tobacco is harming rural communities, promote Kick It California cessation support, and highlight how people can support campaign efforts. Spokesperson training will prepare volunteers who staff educational outreach tabling or meet with each event’s organizers to clearly explain why tobacco sponsorship should be banned from local events. Once trained, project staff and CEA recipients will establish a presence at 8-10 community events with information tables to educate the public and distribute fact sheets. Visitors will be asked to sign postcards of support urging decisionmakers of each event to adopt a tobacco-free sponsorship policy. In readiness for “the ask” to event decisionmakers, the project will adapt model policy language from the Public Health Law Center that each event can adopt to ban tobacco sponsorship. Project staff and trained partners will meet with the boards and/or executive directors of each event organization to share evidence of public support (postcards, survey results) and propose a voluntary policy to ban tobacco sponsorship. Once each policy is adopted, trained CEA partners will organize media activities to publicize the policy and provide technical assistance to the event organizers about educating attendees.

Evaluation Narrative Summary (382 words)

Evaluation activities will support and inform intervention activities by gathering evidence to persuade event attendees and organizers that tobacco sponsorship is harmful to rural communities. The impact of Big Tobacco will be highlighted by a 10-week Photovoice project. Six to 12 youth CEA partner volunteers will participate in sessions to cultivate community activism through photography, critical thinking, participatory analysis, event planning, and public speaking. The project will culminate in a community exhibition of photos, captions and short participant presentations designed to give voice to local perspectives. 

Next, the partners will lay the groundwork for pinpointing events to target for the campaign by conducting 10-15 key informant interviews with community event organizers (members of the board, executive director, etc.) to find out if they already have a written policy banning tobacco sponsorship. If they do, interviewers will ask how the policy came about, how it is working, and what effect it has had on the financial sustainability of the event. This data should help allay any concerns about losing tobacco sponsorship. If they have no policy, informants will be asked about what factors/evidence/processes would encourage them to consider one. This information will be used to inform the tactics for educational outreach, presentations, and individual meetings that encourage policy adoption by each event venue.

As community events occur, CEA volunteers will attend and collect a total of 100-150 public opinion surveys (a minimum of 30 at each event). The brief survey will ask whether the attendee is a local resident, concerns about the impact and uptake of tobacco use, and support for tobacco-free sponsorship policies. Data will be used to leverage public support into persuading each event to adopt a ban on tobacco sponsorship.  Instead of education/ participant surveys, data collector trainees will be assessed for readiness by observation during training.

At the end of the contract period, the project and its evaluator will analyze and summarize the effectiveness of strategies employed during the campaign in a brief evaluation report and state whether or not the objective was achieved. Extracts of the report will be shared in various formats (fact sheets, project webpage, presentations, Partners posts, etc.) with community partners, nearby coalitions and projects, and the general public so that others can build on the project’s experience of tackling tobacco sponsorship in their communities.