Partnerships

A new publication, “Strategizer 55—Regulating Alcohol Outlet Density: An Action Guide,” outlines available evidence-based community prevention strategies shown to decrease the consequences associated with alcohol outlet density, the concentration of bars, restaurants serving alcohol, liquor and package stores in a given geographic area.

If you put together all 2.5 million kids who the Office Depot Foundation has reached through its National Backpack Program since 2001, they would fill up about 50,000 school buses! That’s a lot of kids – and a lot of success stories.

Tuesday marked the 28th annual National Night Out, a unique crime and drug prevention event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch. All over the country, in U.S. territories and military bases and in Canada, communities have enjoyed a night out together to heighten crime and drug prevention awareness; generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs; strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back. The Carlsbad Community Anti-Drug/Gang Coalition in Carlsbad, N.M., a CADCA member, used this year’s National Night Out to cultivate stronger community ties.

HealthDay News reports that illegal tobacco sales to minors have reached an all-time low in the United States as the result of a historic federal and state partnership, according to a new Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report.

CADCA and Nova Southeastern University’s Abraham S. Fischler School of Education (NSU/ FSE) are teaming up to provide advanced degree credits to coalition leaders around the United States.

In an effort to curb the high rates of alcohol use on college campuses, 14 national colleges and universities have launched an initiative entitled, the Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking. The initiative was created by Dartmouth University to address alcohol use and the 40 percent of college students who binge drink.

CADCA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will host a webinar at 3 p.m. EST May 26 on the department's counternarcotics policy and operations called the “Impact of Drug-Trafficking on Local Communities.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Labor Day weekend Impaired Driving Crackdown is in the planning process and coalitions are encouraged to partner with their local law enforcement agencies to help them reduce impaired driving.

By bringing together key on-campus and off-campus sector representatives, invested individual stakeholders, and other organizations affected by the problem, coalitions can implement a comprehensive set of strategies to change conditions in the community that contribute to local substance abuse problems. Campus-community coalitions act as change agents by leveraging shared resources to bring about new or modified programs, policies and practices.

The ease and relatively low cost of virtual interaction through social media allows people the opportunity to navigate and communicate with each other beyond the traditional boundaries of face-to-face communication. Connected Communities, CADCA's peer-to-peer social network, provides coalitions with a valuable tool to reach out to different sectors of the community and collaborate with peers.