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Gwinnett Coalition Town Hall Meeting
Hosted by:
Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services
How does alcohol and other drug misuse affect your community?
Our coalition continues to address underage drinking through partnerships with multiple agencies. Prevention tends to lag on the list of priorities next to other issues in our community. The lack of prioritization hinders our efforts to mobilize more resources and concerns us that our efforts will reverse in the future.
What challenge(s) did you face in planning your activity this year?
- Unforeseen difficulties when planning our activity
- Unforeseen difficulties when planning our event, COVID-19
How did you overcome these challenges?
Our event was held one day before our community received a stay-at-home order due to COVID-19, which impacted our attendance. We hope to have another town hall in the future when the community opens back up, but we may consider hosting a virtual event as well.
What are your next steps?
- Host follow-up meetings or activities
- Conduct research efforts to learn more about issues in our community
Which Communities Talk resources (or other SAMHSA resources) were most helpful for your activity?
- Communities Talk website
- Communities Talk e-Alerts
How did a Communities Talk event help you address those issues?
- Mobilized coalition members or other stakeholders
- Engagement with local government leaders and business owners to consider policy changes such as social hosting laws or restaurant worker trainings
- Educated youth and parents
- Built community cohesiveness and support for our efforts
- Created an opportunity to share resources and practices with other community stakeholders
- Raised awareness of substance abuse and/or underage drinking issues in our community
How did your event make an impact on underage drinking in your community?
We designed our event to mimic a fair. Attendees visited booths, asked questions, and had personal time to learn about the many great programs in our community relating to underage drinking prevention. Those who attended felt like the event was well organized and useful.
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