Template for Letter Requesting Community Readiness Interview
Dear_____[Potential interviewee]___,
_____[Your CAPP agency]_____has embarked on an important project to help reduce teen pregnancy as well as STD and HIV infection among young people in our community. The Comprehensive Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (CAPP) initiative promotes comprehensive sexual health education and preventive health care services for adolescents. The initiative is funded through a grant of the NYS Department of Health.
To help guide our project, we are working to understand the community’s readiness (i.e., awareness, strengths, and challenges) to address _____[Your issue, e.g., to reduce teen pregnancy among foster care youth, or to promote comprehensive sexual health education in middle schools, etc.]_____.
In your position as ____[role or title]____ in ___[organization or community]___, you have a very important perspective on this issue. With the support of the ACT for Youth Center of Excellence at Cornell University, we have developed a model and interview process for measuring community readiness. Through the interviews, we are asking a small number of knowledgeable people about how the community views issues related to ____[teen pregnancy/sex education]____.
I would appreciate it very much if you could give me about 30 – 45 minutes of your time for an interview. The information we gain through the interviews will be used to help us move forward in addressing issues related to ____[your issue]___. If you agree to be interviewed, your name will not be revealed in any public report of the assessment without your permission.
We would like to start interviewing as soon as possible, so that the assessment can be completed by____[date]____. I will contact you ___[when, e.g., next week or in a few days]___ to answer your questions and see if we can schedule an interview at a time convenient for you. The interview may be conducted either in person or by phone. If you prefer, feel free to call me at ___[phone number]___with any questions you might have about this project.
I hope we can count on you to participate as an interviewee. Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
______[Your name]______