Engaging communities to prevent underage drinking

I often get questions about community coalitions, like Prevention WINS, and our role in preventing youth substance abuse.  An article appearing in a recent edition of Alcohol Research & Health (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) explains how communities engaged in preventing underage drinking are particularly effective.  Following are a few excerpts about what makes for a successful coalition from Engaging Communities to Prevent Underage Drinking:

Community-based efforts offer broad potential for achieving population-level reductions in alcohol misuse among youth and young adults.  A common feature of successful community strategies is reliance on local coalitions to select and fully implement preventive interventions that have been shown effective in changing factors that influence risk of you engaging in alcohol use . . .

Although coalitions are a common element of effective community-based prevention, not all coalition efforts have produced significant changes in alcohol use . . . The evaluations [of unsuccessful community efforts] indicated that . . . the mere presence of an active, well-intentioned coalition is not enough to prevent AOD [alcohol and other drugs] use.  In other words, simply gathering local stakeholders and asking them to collaborate to do their best to solve local drug problems or preventing underage drinking does not produce desired changes.

Instead, the evidence suggests that in order to be successful, coalitions must ensure the following:

~ They must have clearly defined, focused, and manageable goals;

~ They must have adequate planning time;

~ Prevention decisions must be based on empirical data about what needs to change in the community and on evidence from scientifically valid students of what has worked to address those needs;

~ They must implement prevention policies, practices, and programs that have been tested and shown to be effective; and

~ They must carefully monitor prevention activities to ensure implementation quality.

MT coalitions work to repeal medical marijuana law

A bill to repeal Montana's medical marijuana program has been approved by their state legislature and is awaiting the signature of their governor. Fifteen states (including Washington) and the District of Columbia have passed laws in favor of medical marijuana. If the bill passes, Montana would be the first state to repeal medical marijuana.

Montana coalitions came together to push for the repeal.  A medical marijuana primer was produced to educate lawmakers and fellow health advocates.  They also:

• visited lawmakers at the capital, Helena, early in the legislative session;
• distributed flyers describing youth use and the effects of marijuana on the teen brain;
• emailed, called and sent letters to policymakers;
• pinpointed setbacks in the current medical marijuana law and made suggestions to policymakers as they drafted a reform bill;
• collaborated with other group to create a united front, and a consistent argument;
• sent information to the media;
• responded to medical marijuana articles in a community forum on the newspaper blog;
• presented evidence as a panelist on medical marijuana repeal;
• began a statewide coalition to address policies related to drugs and alcohol.

Montana’s medical marijuana laws have created an environment favorable to drug use as marijuana becomes less taboo, coailtions testified. With dispensaries lining their streets and more than 28,000 cardholders in a state with a population of only 974,989, marijuana use among their youth is slowly rising. Coalitions also testified that youth are obtaining marijuana illegally from legal medical marijuana card holders. 

Though it is expected that the governor will veto the repeal, there is a reform bill on its heels.

Coalitions making a difference

Since this is the season for celebrations, I decided to blog about hopeful things today. So, I am starting with an excerpt from a message sent by the DFC Administrator on the ONDCP list serv earlier this month:

At a time when many national surveys are showing increases in youth substance use, the past 30-day use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana have declined significantly and in all grade levels (middle school, high school) between DFC coalitions’ first and most recent data report. Additionally, perception of risk increased significantly for alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use among youth in DFC-funded communities. Both markers are clear evidence of the success of your work and the effectiveness of this model.

I wanted to share that with you as a harbinger of hope. The Prevention WINS coalition accomplished quite a bit over the past 4+ years and now, with DFC support, we have the wonderful opportunity to accomplish even more, creating a safe and healthy community for our children.

What is environmental prevention?

During the DFC New Grantee Training last week, we learned more about environmental prevention strategies.

Environmental strategies address the place, settings, occasions and circumstances in which alcohol and other drug use and/or sales occur. Over the last four years, the Prevention WINS coalition mostly worked on individually focused prevention programs like Life Skills Training and Guiding Good Choices.

The DFC grant requires that we focus on environmental strategies.

While the coalition's DFC strategies will focus on environmental prevention, we will continue to work with and support community organizations that offer individual prevention programs.

Copies of this presentation and others from the New Grantee Training are available on the coalition's website.

Sharing: DFC New Grantee Training

Earlier this week, I spent three days in Washington, DC participating in the 2010 Drug Free Communities New Grantee Training. The Prevention WINS coalition is one of 169 coalitions that were awarded DFC grants this year. Nationwide, 741 coalitions receive DFC funding and there are now 30 DFC coalitions in Washington!

In addition to the workshops about managing the grant, I was fortunate to participate in other sessions that are of interest to many coalition members. I will blog about them over the next few days.

Here are a few things I took away from the training:

-- Coalitions across the nation have been successful in reducing youth substance abuse. Coalitions that include all community sectors are the most successful. Everyone has a role to play. Help individuals and organizations recognize their role.

-- Infuse prevention into all conversations about public health and safety.

-- Coalition coordinators are community facilitators and barrier removers whose job it is to support community members and their prevention activities.

-- Tell your community's story. Don't rely only on data but share with others what you see in our community.

-- Take advantage of CADCA materials and trainings.

-- Take advantage of the Above the Influence campaign materials.

-- Sugarland's Stand Up is catchy. Jack Claypool, the federal administrator for the DFC program, played it several times during the training and it didn't leave my head until I got on the plane back to Seattle.

Strong coalitions support evidence-based prevention programs

Strong coalitions help communities implement evidence-based prevention programs, according to the results from a study conducted at Pennsylvania State University. Researchers found that the following coalition traits were significant when it comes to supporting local evidence-based programs:

• perceived strength of coalition leadership;
• task-oriented coalitions;
• positive relationships among members, staff, and community organizations.

Other factors included adhering to the CTC (Communities That Care -- similar to the SPF -- Strategic Prevention Framework used by Prevention WINS) process with ongoing technical assistance and funding for coalition staff, resources, and materials.

Highly involved partners boost coalition success

A recent study evaluated the efforts of the Allies Against Asthma Program, demonstrating that community coalitions with highly involved partnerships are the most successful in producing policy and systems change. The results offer useful implications for anti-drug coalitions to achieve community-level outcomes, according to CADCA's latest Research Into Action bulletin.

At the end of the bulletin, CADCA notes that growing evidence demonstrates that coalitions can achieve community-level outcomes by focusing on policies and systems to affect key health indicators.

The findings also suggest that coalitions with fewer highly engaged partners, as opposed to many less engaged partners, contribute to greater changes.

Effectiveness of coalitions discussed during UN meeting

In March, representatives from the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) participated in a session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna, Austria. They highlighted the vital role that community coalitions play in reducing substance abuse and how bringing various community sectors together has yielded real results.

"Research shows that community coalitions were a key contributing factor to the steep decline in substance abuse rates among American youth that occurred over the last eight years," said General Arthur T. Dean, CADCA CEO.

A coalition success story

An example of how a community coalition can change community norms about youth alcohol use and reduce underage drinking rates is described in the most recent edition of CADCA's Coalition's Online.

The story describes a Missouri coalition's many activities including a social marketing campaign aimed at parents who provide alcohol to teenagers; a social norms campaign to promote the fact that most teenagers do not drink alcohol; policy change advocacy regarding accessibility of alcohol; and working with law enforcement with compliance checks at stores. Like Prevention Works In Seattle, the coalition used the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) to guide its decisions.

This provides another example of how PREVENTION WORKS! It takes time (the Missouri coalition was formed in 2000) and a great deal of community effort, but communities can make a positive difference in the lives of youth.