What is Community Readiness?
Community Readiness is a nine-stage, multidimensional model that assesses the readiness of a community to develop and implement prevention or intervention efforts. It is especially effective for use with sensitive social issues because it integrates the culture of the community, is non-threatening, and uses community input to be solution-focused and strength-based.
The Community Readiness Model (CRM)is a tool that recognizes and embraces the concept of the readiness of a community to initiate HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention efforts. Communities who have used the CRM report that it (1) ensures broader involvement of stakeholders; (2) facilitates the development of practical strategies for change; (3) integrates the unique culture, values, traditions, and beliefs into the strategies; (4) provides a quantifiable, cost-effective, evaluative measure of community change; and (5) actually moves their community into action.
Although CRM was initially developed in a university environment, most of the roots of the model sprang from work on Native reserves in Canada and Native communities in the United States. These indigenous communities took the model, directed its modification, and made it the effective intervention it is today. Therefore, it truly is a community-driven model. It has been used nationally as well as internationally, and its use has resulted in over 30 published articles and six topic-specific manuals, with one translated into Chinese and one into Spanish.
Read about community "Success Stories", and check out "Training Materials" for Community Readiness on our download page!