Core Competencies
About ETR
ETR is a national, nonprofit organization that has been at the forefront of developing, implementing, evaluating and disseminating science-based health programs and interventions for youth, families and communities since 1981.
Mission: To provide science-based innovative solutions in health and education designed to achieve transformative change in individuals, families and communities.
Experience: ETR has extensive experience in planning and administering major national and regional projects and currently manages over 45 funded projects that have annual budgets ranging from $9,000 to nearly $2 million.
Staff: ETR has maintained its commitment and mission while growing to a multidisciplinary staff of over 100 health educators, program developers, trainers, curriculum specialists, writers, editors, graphic artists, librarians, publication and distribution experts, technologists, and social scientists.
Capacity Building
ETR is devoted to building the capacity of health and education professionals to promote the health and well-being of youth, families and their communities. Our services build capacity through skills training, technical assistance, team building, strategic planning and organizational development.
Primary clients include state departments of education and health, local health departments, schools and school districts, juvenile justice organizations and community-based organizations.
- In California: Funded by the California Office of Maternal Child and Adolescent Health (MCAH), ETR has increased the capacity of thousands of sexual and reproductive health specialists and organizations, other community-based organizations and local health departments across the state of California to influence sexual health promotion policies and practices. The majority of these serve populations at disproportionate risk for HIV/STD, teen and unwanted pregnancy, including low-income communities of color.
- Across the United States: ETR’s multidisciplinary staff has worked with organizations in every state and territory in the U.S through support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Corporation for National and Community Service, as well as private foundations.
See capacity building Project Examples >>
Program Development
ETR is a nationally recognized leader in the development and evaluation of evidence-based health promotion and risk prevention programs, particularly in the areas of HIV/STD and teen pregnancy prevention. Our experience has translated into a unique understanding of how effective interventions are constructed and what practitioners need to implement them effectively.
- We’ve developed, piloted, evaluated and trained to nationally known evidence-based programs aimed at reducing sexual risk-taking behaviors and HIV/AIDS, including Reducing the Risk, Safer Choices, and Draw the Line/Respect the Line and All4You! All of these programs were tested with diverse ethnic populations and showed statistically significant outcomes.
- We’re building tomorrow’s diverse technology workforce by providing research-based programming that inspires youth and mobilizes communities to pursue technology education and careers, especially women and Latino/a youth.
See program development Project Examples >>
Research & Evaluation
ETR's Research Department and staff are nationally recognized for their significant contributions to education and public health through applied research, evaluations, intervention development and research synthesis.
- We have particular expertise in school-based randomized-controlled trial studies, which have resulted in the development of multiple evidence-based programs, including those listed above under program development.
- We have extensive experience designing, conducting and analyzing data from both quasi-experimental and randomized controlled trials of health-related behavioral interventions. Outcome analyses are performed using various methods including repeated measures multilevel modeling, multilevel multiple imputation, and factor analysis.
- We have provided expert technical assistance and training to funded grantees, both regionally and nationally, in the implementation and evaluation of evidence-based health and wellness programs, including grantees across the nation funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- We also conduct applied research in schools and community colleges that is used to inform the development of educational interventions, particularly for ethnic minority youth in the areas of reproductive health and STEM education.
See research Project Examples >>
See evaluation Project Examples >>
Online Resource Centers/Learning Communities
ETR maintains several state-of-the art online resource centers that have proven to be innovative and cost efficient vehicles for providing technical assistance and training, as well as dissemination of information and resources, to health education and social service providers across the United States.
See resource center Project Examples >>
Content Development & Publishing
ETR is the largest not-for-profit publisher of health education resources and evidence-based prevention programs in the country.
- We publish approximately 1,000 products including curricula, videos, pamphlets, books and other teaching aids, such as flip charts, and ship approximately 8 million books and pamphlets worldwide every year.
- Our evidence-based prevention programs include Focus on Youth with ImPACT, Reducing the Risk, Safer Choices, Draw the Line/Respect the Line, All4You! and Becoming a Responsible Teen.
- ETR is the developer and publisher of HealthSmart, a comprehensive K-12 health education program that is aligned to national standards and the characteristics of effective health education curricula defined by the CDC.
- Our skilled writers, editors, business planners and graphic designers have many years' experience in providing content development and publishing services, with a particular focus on instructional design, readability and ease of use.
