Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition

Silver City, New Mexico

School and Youth Engagement Follow Grant County Event

Introduction
In 2012, the Grant County Community Health Council received a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Partnerships for Success II grant to focus on youth alcohol and prescription drug abuse.  The grant created the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (YSAPC), which uses evidence-based strategies to involve youth in prevention programs and initiatives.  A part of YSAPC’s scope of work is to reach out to the community and gather the necessary qualitative data to reinforce its direction and strategies.  Most local organizations and service providers lack youth perspective and input, an additional challenge that YSAPC seeks to address.  Weeks prior to the 2014 Town Hall Meeting, YSAPC received a 4-year grant from New Mexico’s Office of Substance Abuse Prevention to continue its focus on environmental prevention strategies.

Event Description
YSAPC held a youth-led Town Hall Meeting on the campus of Western New Mexico University to discuss data from the 2011 New Mexico Youth Risk & Resiliency Survey (YRRS) and evidence-based methods of reducing and preventing alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among teens and young adults.  The YRRS finding that 33 percent of Grant County high school students reported binge drinking in the past 30 days, compared with the state average of 22 percent, helped frame the discussion.  YSAPC also sought help from community members in identifying those issues relating to underage drinking that were of most concern.

A panel of community members discussed Grant County YRRS data and evidence-based strategies to lower rates of youth substance abuse; the agenda encouraged audience dialogue with panelists about creating positive changes in the lives of students.  YSAPC timed its June event to call attention to “101 Things for Youth To Do in Grant County,” a new YSAPC summer program intended to provide young people with AOD-free alternate activities, developed in collaboration with 50 area businesses and the Silver City Arts and Cultural District.  As one indicator of the summer program’s success, the Silver City Public Library credited “101 Things” for tripling enrollment in their teen reading program.

Measures of Success
The Thursday evening Town Hall Meeting attracted 85 community members, including 15 young people.  Following panel presentations, youths, parents, law enforcement officers, prevention workers, health care workers, members of a local program for persons charged with driving while intoxicated, and representatives of New Mexico’s Department of Health joined in discussions about how to lower rates of underage drinking and other drug use in Grant County.  There was unanimous audience support for creation of a youth council made up of student representatives from each of the area’s schools.  The youth council would advise service providers and nonprofits on how to reach their target audience more effectively and make their programs more appealing to young people.  The new youth council would also recommend changes in AOD policies for schools in the county.  Since the Town Hall Meeting, YSAPC has written grant proposals to fund a Youth Council of Grant County and signed memorandum agreements with all of the county’s public and private schools to participate in the Youth Council.  The Board of Grant County Commissioners has agreed to make the Youth Council sustainable once it is established.  

Next Steps
Besides following through on the Town Hall Meeting’s youth council recommendation, YSAPC also created a committee on school drug and alcohol policies, which has hosted two follow-up Town Hall Meetings with youth-led panels to discuss policy enforcement.  After each event, the YSAPC Coordinator has met with both public school boards to discuss the information received.  A third Town Hall Meeting will be held in February 2015 to include school district officials in discussions with youth panelists.  The committee will submit final recommendations on alcohol policy transparency, enforcement, and referral to treatment rather than expulsion to the two school boards.  Because some policies are required by the New Mexico Department of Education, a statewide effort may be launched to revise policies on treatment and counseling for students.

Contact
Razanna Robinson-Thomas
rrobinson@grmc.org

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