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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