EPIS was founded in 2008 by the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center (PRC) at Penn State and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD). Originally charged with supporting a menu of evidenced-based programs (EBPs), the work expanded to included Communities that Care in 2010, The Standardized Program Evaluation Protocol as part of Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Justice Enhancement Strategy in 2013, and the Department of Drug and Alcohol’s Community Needs Assessment Project in 2017.
EPIS Timeline:
1998
- Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) and Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center (PRC) Partner
- Evaluation of Communities That Care (CTC)
- Inform Policy
- Violence Prevention Program Funding (VPP)
1999
- Evidence-Based Research (EBR)
- Diversity & Inclusion (D&I)
- Sustaining EBPs
- Models for D&I of EBPs
2000
- Barriers to effectively scaling EBPs
- Sufficient fidelity
- High-quality
2001
- Minimal technical assistance (TA) to providers and schools implementing EBPs
- Initial run of TA support
2001-2007
- Scale menu of EBPs
- >200 replications
- Outcome evaluation
- Cost-benefit analysis
2007
- Policy Report
- Program impact
- Return on Investment (ROI)
2008
- Evidence-Based Prevention & Intervention Support Center (EPISCenter) created
- Broaden initiatives
2010
- Dedicated support for Communities That Care model
2012
- Standardized Program Evaluation Protocol (SPEP™) added to EPIS menu to assess and improve programs for juvenile Justice involved youth.
2015
- Pennsylvania EBP Gaps analysis completed, added 5 new EBPs to EPIS menu
2018-2021
- Refining logic model
- Develop TA process model
- Training Institute established
- Evaluating TA
2022
- Implementing new Tiered TA model to broaden reach of EPIS to improve general knowledge of Prevention Science, Evidence-based Practices, and Implementation Science in Pennsylvania.