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PAYS 2025Pennsylvania Youth Survey Explorer
Action Planning

From numbers to a plan you can defend

A lightweight Strategic Prevention Framework workflow tuned for the realities of county coalitions and school teams.

The SPF, in one screen

Step 1
Assess

Combine PAYS 2025 with local administrative data to define the problem and the conditions producing it.

Step 2
Capacity

Identify gaps in partners, skills, infrastructure, and funding required to act.

Step 3
Plan

Select evidence-based strategies matched to your prioritized risk and protective factors.

Step 4
Implement

Launch with fidelity, document adaptations, and resource cross-sector partners.

Step 5
Evaluate

Track short-, intermediate-, and long-term outcomes back to PAYS indicators.

Plan-quality checklist

A five-point sanity check before you finalize your annual workplan.

  • Top three priorities named with rationale tied to PAYS 2025 indicators
  • Each priority mapped to risk or protective factors and a population focus
  • Strategy mix balances universal, selective, and indicated levels
  • 30/60/90-day milestones with named owners
  • Outcome indicators that can be re-measured in the next administration

Worked example: a defensible line-of-sight

What it looks like when a single priority chains cleanly from indicator to budget to outcome.

  1. PAYS indicator
    32.8% of students felt sad/depressed most days, past 12 months leads to
  2. Prioritized factor
    Low school connectedness (peer–individual domain) leads to
  3. Strategy
    Universal advisory program with monthly check-ins; QPR training for all staff leads to
  4. Budget line
    $48K stipends + $12K curriculum + $9K training (Year 1) leads to
  5. Outcome measure
    Re-measure 'sad/hopeless 2+ weeks' and 'adult at school' in next PAYS cycle

Replace each row with your community's actual data, factor, strategy, dollars, and metric. Funders read this chain top-to-bottom.

Evidence-based starting points by priority

Underage drinking

Social host enforcement, retailer compliance checks, parent messaging campaigns.

Vaping

Tier 1 school policies, alternatives to suspension, retailer-focused environmental work.

Youth mental health

Universal SEL, screening with warm hand-off, sources-of-strength peer programs.

Bullying & belonging

Schoolwide PBIS, restorative practices, identity-affirming clubs.

Screens & sleep

Family media plans, phone-free overnight norms, school-day device policies.

Gambling

Awareness curriculum, coach/advisor training, 1-800-GAMBLER promotion.

Common traps to avoid

Strategy-shopping without a factor

If you can't name the risk or protective factor a program changes, you're choosing activity over impact.

Owning everything = owning nothing

A 25-item action plan is a research paper. Three priorities with named owners is a plan.

Outcome metrics you can't re-measure

If the indicator isn't in the next PAYS cycle or a stable local source, pick a different one before launch.
Funders read for line-of-sight
The strongest workplans show a clean line from a PAYS indicator → a prioritized risk factor → an evidence-based strategy → the budget line. See For Funders for the reviewer's lens.