GOT OUTCOMES! Coalition of Excellence Award Winners 2011
Coalition of the Year Award
Local assessment information led the Drug Free Charlotte County coalition to focus on the alarmingly high rates of youth alcohol and marijuana use and to develop a strategic plan to address the local conditions contributing to the use of each substance. For example, environmental scans indicated that exposure to public drinking contributed to student’s low perception of risk of harm from drinking. To address the issue, the coalition modified policies to pass an open container ordinance for all public spaces and they worked with community event coordinators to implement beer tents and set limited hours of consumption. The coalition also developed a required online alcohol curriculum for 9th graders and worked on a variety of initiatives to reduce access to alcohol in the home, such as increasing parental awareness of the issue and educating parents with alcohol in the house on how to properly monitor and store it. As part of a comprehensive plan to address marijuana use, the coalition implemented a social norms campaign to increase the perceived risk of smoking marijuana among middle and high school students. These efforts and others contributed to a decrease in past 30-day alcohol use among middle school students, from 32.6 percent in 2000 to 14.6 percent in 2010; and among high school students, from 54 percent in 2000 to 36.7 percent in 2010. Marijuana use also declined substantially among middle school students with 7.4 percent reporting past 30-day use in 2010 compared to 10 percent in 2000. VIEW VIDEO
Coalition in Focus Award
The Coalition for a Safe and Drug-Free Fairfield conducted a community assessment consisting of student surveys, archival data, and key informant interviews thatrevealed high rates of underage drinking in Fairfield. Access, permissive attitudes towards underage drinking and low peer disapproval contributed to the behavior. The coalition dug deeper and identified local conditions that contributed to the root causes. They carefully selected a comprehensive set of interventions such as working with local police to increase enforcement of social host, keg registration and curfew laws; limiting alcohol availability at school and community events; providing leadership training to freshmen high school students; and implementing a media campaign on youth access to alcohol in the home. Their efforts contributed to a decrease in 30-day alcohol use among 7-12 graders from 25.8 percent in 2004 to 14 percent in 2010. In addition, there was an increase in the age of onset of alcohol use among youth jumping from 12 years of age in 2004 to 13.9 years of age in 2010. VIEW VIDEO
Milestones Award
The Logan County Drug Free Youth Coalition collected data by utilizing school surveys, developing youth and adult surveys and conducting community forums. Their community assessment identified numerous community conditions contributing to high rates of youth alcohol use including retailers selling to minors, adults providing to youth, and peer influence to drink alcohol. Based on these local conditions, the coalition implemented a comprehensive set of strategies including providing responsible beverage server trainings to local merchants, creating a social host awareness campaign for parents, and assisting law enforcement in developing policy on compliance check procedures. Their efforts contributed to drastic changes in adult perceptions of retail availability of alcohol to youth between 2010 and 2011. For instance, fewer adults report that alcohol is “easy” or “very easy” for youth to get, decreasing from 31 percent in 2010 to 14 percent in 2011; and more adults indicate that alcohol retailers are careful when it comes to preventing the sale of alcohol to minors, jumping from 36 percent in 2010 to 51 percent in 2011. VIEW VIDEO
