Att 6b_Introductory Letter_12

Case Study Introductory Letter for Nonfunded Organizations

Organization

Street Address

City, State ZIP

Date

Dear [prefix] _______________ (Principal Investigator or Program Director):

Greetings! We are writing you today to invite your organization, [insert organization name], to participate in an exciting new project. We are exploring the ways in which organizations offer support to help meet the unique needs of Young Breast Cancer Survivors (YBCS). Specifically, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and ICF International are collaborating on this project to conduct case studies to learn about organizations’ efforts to offer structured support services and develop educational and awareness resources for YBCS. We hope you are interested in being a part of this important work. Overall, the aims of this project are to determine: (1) the strategies programs are using to support YBCS and the factors that affect implementation; (2) the extent to which these strategies used are effective; and (3) the extent to which these strategies are sustainable.

Fourteen programs were selected as candidates to participate in case study site visits: seven funded though the DP11-1111 cooperative agreement and five not funded through the cooperative agreement. We would like to visit with you and your organization to learn about your YBCS intervention first hand. If you agree to participate in this project, participation will entail the following activities:

• Sharing relevant program documents to help our project staff members learn about your intervention prior to conducting a site visit.

• Participating in a 3-day, in-person site visit in order for the ICF project staff to conduct interviews with intervention staff members and partners that support your organization’s YBCS work, and (if applicable) observe your program in action.

Overall, the information gathered from your program will contribute to our knowledge and understanding of how your program operates and has contributed to YBCS support efforts. These insights will be critical for achieving long-term improvements in the processes that support YBCS and will be used to help inform CDC’s recommendations for replicating promising strategies to support YBCS in other settings.

Participating in this project is voluntary. We expect to provide your program with insights from our visit that you may find helpful in strengthening your work. As part of the site visit we will provide feedback on your program strategies and some on-site technical assistance to enhance your capacity to conduct future program evaluation.

We believe we can learn a great deal from your organization and hope you will graciously open your doors to us. A member of our project team will call you in a few days to address any questions you might have and see if your organization is interested in participating. More details about the case study and the project are provided in the enclosed documents. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Sarah O’Dell, ICF Project Manager, by phone at 404-321-3211 or e-mail at Sarah.Odell@icfi.com. We will be contacting you in a few days to confirm your interest in participating in the case study and to answer any questions you might have for us.

Thank you so much. We look forward to speaking with you.

Sincerely,

Sarah O’Dell, MPH Temeika Fairley, PhD

Project Manager, ICF International Epidemiologist, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, CDC

Enclosures:

Site visit steps and requested actions and materials