With our roots in both public health and strategic communications, ICF International offers a unique combination of skills and expertise to develop campaigns and programs that work. Based on the latest research and practices in these fields, our approach to health communication ensures that our campaigns and programs bring about behavior change through a rigorous focus on the needs of target audiences.
ICF develops communication strategies and tactics that recognize knowledge, attitudes, and practices of these target audiences—developing messages, creating materials, selecting channels, and nurturing partnerships that change behaviors. Our health communication, risk communication, and social marketing professionals have experience in a wide range of issues, including:
ICF provides support from full campaign development and implementation to developing award-winning creative, podcasts, and social networking sites. Our full range of services include:
ICF Macro is playing a critical role in the federal efforts to reduce underage drinking through its support of the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) underage drinking prevention initiatives. A major thrust of ICF Macro's support is increasing capacities of states and communities to address underage drinking problems. Through its contract with SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, ICF Macro facilitates development of partnerships with states, national organizations, and community-based organizations to support a variety of capacity-building programs and activities, such as: 1) managing thousands of coordinated nationwide Town Hall Meetings to increase awareness about underage drinking and galvanize local support, 2) providing production support for state-specific videos highlighting evidence-based underage drinking prevention efforts, 3) developing targeted materials development to communicate to specific audiences with information that meets their needs, 4) delivering technical assistance and training to help increase the capacity of states and communities to effectively address underage drinking issues and related problems, and 5) providing planning and logistical support for national conferences and stakeholder meetings to increase and strengthen the U.S. Federal Government's response to underage drinking. For more information, visit Too Smart to Start.
For more than 10 years, ICF Macro has helped the National Eye Institute (NEI) make vision a health priority by supporting the National Eye Health Education Program in developing and implementing effective eye health communication programs and strategies. Translating science and emerging research findings into local eye health programs, activities, and health promotion efforts is an integral part of ICF Macro's work with NEI. ICF Macro has conducted focus groups and developed environmental scans, audience profiles, and literature reviews. We have directed the design, implementation, and evaluation of eye health education programs. Key audiences include African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, older adults, children, and health professionals. ICF Macro has also been involved in the development and coordination of several NEI flagship programs, such as the inaugural commemoration of Healthy Vision Month, an annual national eye health observance dedicated to promoting the vision objectives in Healthy People 2010.
Responding to increased tobacco use among junior active-duty military personnel, ICF Macro has worked with the U.S. Department of Defense to plan, implement, and evaluate a national marketing and education campaign. Using both traditional and emerging Web 2.0 techniques, Quit Tobacco. Make Everyone Proud is a campaign aimed at helping our active military personnel quit tobacco and lead healthier lives. The campaign targets 18- to 24-year-old active-duty, junior, enlisted personnel, particularly those with an expressed intention to quit. Through marketing and outreach strategies that include leadership briefings, collateral materials distribution, and Web and electronic marketing, the campaign encourages its audience to visit www.ucanquit2.org. This Web-based cessation support and education tool features a personalized quit plan, facts, games, multimedia features, quitting tips via text messages, and private chats with trained cessation counselors. Download the PDF of the flyer.
ICF International employs 10 Regional Resource Coordinators (RRCs) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Regional Resource Network Program (RRNP) . RRNP is committed to achieving the best possible physical, intellectual, and emotional health of communities of color throughout the United States. The RRNP accomplishes this by providing training and technical assistance on social- and health-related issues that reduce the risks of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS in targeted communities. Currently, the RRNP has more than 1,100 community partners located across the country. The RRNP team ended the 2009 contract year with notable successes, such as reaching more than 20,000 individuals across the nation with HIV/AIDS and STD prevention messages, testing 1,205 individuals for HIV and STDs at RRC participating events, and reaching more than 7,000 individuals for National HIV/AIDS Testing Day.
The RRNP also reached more than 950 youth, ages 16–18, who participated in Pass It Forward educational events, which tap the power of youth to contribute to positive social norms and effect change, with a focus on providing youth with accurate information to prevent STDs and HIV/AIDS. More than 470 commitments were made by youth to pass prevention messages forward to their peers and communities. In addition to the educational events, ICF also developed a standardized Pass It Forward curriculum and processes in the form of an Overview, Facilitator's Guide, and Toolkit.
In Fiscal Year 2010, the ICF RRNP team plans to continue to support communities in reducing HIV/AIDS and STD rates across the nation by granting capacity building funds to community-based organizations; using new media to disseminate prevention messages to youth, ages 16–24; creating prevention awareness during HIV/AIDS Observance Days; creating a 100-person Youth Sounding Board; and developing an on-line training curriculum from community organizations who desire to carry out the Pass It Forward curriculum.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the Office of Children's Health Protection (OCHP) to support and facilitate agency efforts to protect children and older adults from environmental risks. Since January 2002, ICF International has provided communications support to OCHP to both raise awareness of the link between children's health and the environment and to encourage positive actions that improve children's environmental health. Target audiences of these efforts include the general public, communities, organizations, corporations, and the government. ICF International developed a general brochure, international brochure, and Tips and Growth Chart giveaway, and created a variety of materials for distribution during Children's Health Month.
EPA and twelve partnering federal agencies planned activities to promote efforts underway at each agency. ICF International helped this group convey the unifying theme of its efforts—to protect children—by developing a Web site, print collateral, and a giveaway. The materials were used to inform parents and caregivers, teachers, government agencies, organizations, the media, and others of activities underway within the participating agencies, and to provide parents and caregivers with steps they can take to protect children. Other efforts included designing the first OCHP booth, developing stickers with environmental messages for teachers to hand out to elementary school children, and writing a youth book to build environmental health awareness among adolescents. Moreover, ICF International managed the development and implementation of the first Annual Children's Health Environmental Health Awards Program. Support included developing an awards self-mailer, an awards program for the awards ceremony, and a tailored Press Kit for award winners; initial screening of applications; and handling all logistical support for the awards ceremony, including securing the event venue.
In response to the increasing problem of childhood obesity, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) partnered with Cartoon Network to create Spot the Block—a campaign to encourage tweens, kids ages 9-13, to look for the Nutrition Facts Label on food packages and read and think about food facts before making food choices. ICF's role is to create and implement a phased public relations campaign to raise awareness about tween obesity and increase use of the Nutrition Facts Label to help fight obesity. Through aggressive media outreach efforts, ICF was able to secure morning show circuit interviews with FOX and Friends, ABC News Now, FOX Business Daytime, and Bloomberg TV on behalf of Acting U.S. Surgeon General Galson. The campaign also involved the arrangement of a press conference and interviews with 13 TV stations for a satellite media tour, and nine radio stations around the country.
Currently, ICF is collaborating with the National Coalition of Pastor's Spouses and Bernardo Public Relations to hire and train six Spot the Block Ambassadors and Promotoras to conduct community outreach among African American and Hispanic communities, respectively. Ambassadors and Promotoras will work through faith institutions, local libraries, youth centers, YMCAs, YWCAs, and other such community centers to provide outreach, disseminate campaign messages, and ensure that Spot the Block and Nutrition Label awareness remains top of mind among target audiences. Ambassadors and Promotoras will work over a six-month period, conducting a total of approximately 12 community events each. Once the Ambassadors and Promotoras educate parents and tweens on how to read the nutrition label, they will offer these parents an optional follow-up training for more detailed information on nutrition. All Hispanic outreach will be in Spanish, including instruction, translated fact sheets, and other materials.
