Dissemination of the Modeling Method of physics instruction to high school teachers has been considerably more successful than typical dissemination efforts in science education. In order to learn from this success, we interviewed five leaders of the Modeling Project. Based on these interviews, along with other information about the project, our preliminary findings suggest that the Modeling Project differed from standard dissemination efforts in several key ways that are likely related to its success. Specifically, the Modeling Project placed primary importance on the building of community. This emphasis on building community manifested itself in nonstandard community-based curriculum development and dissemination activities. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.