Longitudinal Observation of an HIV Prevention Community Planning Group (CPG)

On December 30, 1993, the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC) issued supplementalguidance to revise the process of HIV prevention community planning. Based on input from governmental and nongovernmental organizations, the creation of com-munity planning groups (CPGs) was required by publicly funded HIV prevention programs in 65 health depart-ments (Academy for Educational Development [AED] 1994; CDC, 1993, 1998, 2003). State and local health departments were requested to share responsibilities with CPGs for assessing present and future HIV epidemics, community resources, identifying unmet needs, and developing comprehensive HIV prevention plans. The planning process was not guided by a particular theoreti-cal or program framework, but instead, was meant to be a general set of principles for improving the scientific basis of program decision making (i.e., make it evidence based