NEOBHC Teen Truth

The Communities Talk activity we held was a preventative effort to educate students about the dangers of drinking alcohol and using drugs. We held this event for students from area high schools from the Cleveland Municipal School District in Cleveland, Ohio. They were trained regarding alcohol prevention and other public health efforts under the direction of the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition. We worked to recognize the impact of underage drinking on the African American community. Discussing underage drinking was vitally important because of the level of misinformation and disinformation that was affecting the community during COVID-19. There were actual messages that said that drinking certain types of alcohol kept one from getting COVID-19. The record increase in alcohol sales was disturbing. We convened youth over 3 days at three local schools. One is a male-focused school, and the others were co-ed. Our work included educating, empowering, and teaching the youth to advocate for positive change in their communities. The students were provided with a meal every day and with some handouts. Many of the young adults were student athletes, so using drugs or alcohol will affect their ability to play sports. This was a big problem that we aimed to address. They talked about their friends and family members who drank but didn’t do anything that would affect their ability to play sports. Thank you for supporting the work of the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition in Communities Talk on behalf of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Discussing underage drinking was vitally important because of the level of misinformation and disinformation that was affecting the community during COVID-19. There were actual messages that said that drinking certain types of alcohol kept one from getting COVID-19. The record increase in alcohol sales was disturbing. Many of the students have family members and friends who have struggled with alcohol use and misuse Cleveland has some of the highest poverty rates in the country. Our lead poisoning rates are twice as high as in Flint. The impact of stress and depression has been looked at when addressing the solutions to the early onset of drinking and smoking. Many of the students are overwhelmed with responsibilities for family, housing, work, and so much more. They look at alcohol as an outlet, not fully realizing the lifetime impact. 

• Environmental Strategy - focuses on establishing or changing community standards, codes, and attitudes thereby influencing incidence and prevalence of alcohol and other drug use within the community. The strategy depends on engaging a broad base of community partners, focuses on places and specific problems, and emphasizes public policy.
• Community-Based Process Strategy - focuses on enhancing the capacity of the community to address AOD issues through organizing, planning, collaboration, coalition building, and networking.
• Information Dissemination Strategy - focuses on improving awareness and knowledge of the effects of AOD issues on communities and families through “one-way” communication with the audience such as speaking engagements, health fairs, and distribution of print materials.
• Education Strategy – focuses on “two-way” communication between the facilitator and participants and aims to improve life/social skills such as decision making, refusal skills, and critical analysis.
• Alternative Strategy – focuses on redirecting individuals from potentially problematic situations and AOD use by providing constructive and healthy events/activities.

• Hold meetings or discussion groups on alcohol and/or other drug misuse prevention.
• Start a youth-led coalition on alcohol and/or other drug misuse prevention.
• Develop strategic plans to reduce and prevent alcohol and/or other drug misuse.
• Build coalitions with other agencies or programs to reduce and prevent alcohol and/or other drug misuse.

• Needed additional resources to conduct activity

We wanted to host more students but we were not able to secure additional funding in time. We have planned activities for the fall 2023 and Spring 2024. We learned the power of collaboration and BLM Cleveland will partner for future events. We are excited at the possibilities.

The repeated participation has allowed us to have greater visibility in the area of youth engagement. We were able to learn from what we did in the past and improve our activity to serve our youth better. 

To engage our primary audience, I reached out to the schools during our first year of this project and did it again this year. This was a great opportunity to continue to develop the relationship. 

• StopAlcoholAbuse.gov website
• Communities Talk website