Child & Family Service/The Institute For Family Enrichment
Wahiawa, Hawaii
Youth-led Town Hall Creates Positive Prevention Flow
Introduction
Since 1899, Child & Family Service (CFS) has supported programs
and services to strengthen families and foster the healthy development
of children on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The Institute for Family
Enrichment (TIFFE) is a subsidiary of CFS and operates the Together We
CAN: Care, Aspire, Nurture project funded by the Hawaii Department of
Health’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division to promote prosocial youth
development activities. The project invites youth to participate in
service-learning activities that support drug-free lifestyles and
discourage experimentation with alcohol and other drugs. CFS/TIFFE
believes that Together We CAN prevention efforts must grow from an
understanding of the environment in which underage drinking occurs.
According to the 2013 Report to Congress on the Prevention and Reduction of Underage Drinking state profile for Hawaii,
16.5 percent of Hawaiians between the ages of 12 and 20 reported
past-month binge drinking. Drivers ages 15 to 20 accounted for 39
percent of all traffic fatalities in Hawaii involving drivers with a
blood alcohol concentration of 0.01 or higher.
Event Description
Positive Flow II was the theme of a CFS/TIFFE Town Hall Meeting on
May 21, 2014, which was planned, implemented, and evaluated by youth,
and held at the Wahiawa First Assembly of God Community Hall. Building
on results of the group’s 2012 SAMHSA-supported Town Hall Meeting and
another held in 2013 using other resources, CFS/TIFFE’s 2014 Town Hall
Meeting was designed as a series of interactive exhibits and an open
discussion to assess and increase community readiness to use
environmental prevention strategies. Most of the 64 teen and adult
attendees posted answers to prepared questions, which helped drive the
day’s conversations. For example, consumption of alcohol in the local
park was a concern. Among the Town Hall Meeting audience, 26 reported
observing drinking in the park. Of these, 20 said they had seen teens
drinking, and 25 had observed parents consuming alcohol in the park. A
disturbing finding was that 13 respondents said they had seen athletic
coaches drinking at the location. Asked how youth in the community
obtained alcohol, responses included unsupervised coolers; home,
family, friends, and relatives; older people; fake ID use; and shoulder tapping.
Other exhibits delivered specific information about underage
drinking consequences and showcased community resources. Two
student-produced videos about different aspects of underage drinking
prevention were included. Nearly all of those on hand signed cards,
which were displayed on a Healthy Living Pledge Wall and subsequently
added to the Facebook page for SAMHSA’s 2014 National Prevention Week
Healthy Living Prevention Pledge Wall.
Measures of Success
Twenty-one 2014 Town Hall Meeting participants completed a post-event
knowledge test. All of them indicated enjoying the interactive
binge-drinking exhibit and answered correctly that the brain’s
executive function matures at 25 years old. Eighty-five percent knew
that “there is a social host law that applies to serving alcohol at
your house party,” and that “teens caught drinking and driving can get
their license revoked for a minimum of 180 days.”
Town Hall Meeting attendance grew from 42 participants in 2013 to 64
in 2014. Responses to the environmental questions gave CFS/TIFFE
valuable insight into current community norms and direction for
Together We CAN prevention planning. Young people at the event took
still photos and shot video footage, which was subsequently used to
create public service announcements for airing on the community’s
public education and government (PEG) access channel.
Next Steps
Plans to form a community coalition specific to preventing underage
drinking are underway, and CFS/TIFFE and Together We CAN staff will
pursue opportunities to build on their collaboration with faith-based
leaders. A team of students attended the 2014 Camp TIFFE, a summer day
camp where young people used video and photos from the Town Hall
Meeting to develop counter-advertising messages to preventing underage
drinking. Their work is being edited for placement with the PEG
station. Based on the increased level of community interest in 2014,
CFS/TIFFE and Together We CAN staff plan to hold another Town Hall
Meeting during 2015.
Contact:
Harvey Lee
hrlee-tiffe@cfs-hawaii.org
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